The Quarry Review: ‘The Perfect Cure for Until Dawn’s Selfishness’

THE QUARRY REVIEW FOR PS5, PS4, PC, XBOX SERIES X|S, AND XBOX ONE.

The Quarry might not be a direct sequel to 2015’s PS4-exclusive Until Dawn, but they certainly share a lot of similarities. From the large group of teenagers who the player controls, to the remote wilderness in which players must navigate, to the supernatural creatures that players must battle, The Quarry and Until Dawn share a lot of the same elements, for better and worse. As Until Dawn was a PS4 exclusive, a lot of gamers will have missed out on the experience, making The Quarry a lot fresher. However, for those who have played Until Dawn, as many of our readers here on PlayStation LifeStyle no doubt have, does this new horror game do enough to justify the purchase? This is my review of The Quarry.

Their fate is in your hands

The story of The Quarry is pretty typical of classic teen-horror movies, with a group of teenagers left stranded at a summer campsite during the off-season. After a couple of hours where the story slowly builds up, introducing the player to many friendly and not-so-friendly faces of well-acted characters, the action kicks in and the quick-time events and other interactables are introduced.

Should the player fail to successfully navigate quick-time events or make poor decisions in dialogue options, death is a near-constant threat that haunts all nine of the playable counselors. Like with Until Dawn, the absence of “plot armor” keeps engagements intense, with even key protagonists seeming fragile. This leads to a very intense 10-12 hours, especially on the first playthrough where you have no idea what’s around the next corner, or which decisions have sealed the fate of which characters.

Though only a few decisions are truly worth stressing over, which becomes more obvious during subsequent playthroughs where some characters’ fates are course-corrected, the game sells the illusion of pressure just enough to add weight to each button push.

You’re not alone

To those who accept the aid, The Quarry gives players a helping hand with Tarot Cards. These can be found throughout chapters and provide a brief glimpse at the potential future of certain characters. This can assist with decision-making.

Additional assistance is provided in the game’s Accessibility menu. Here players can adjust the amount of time allowed for quick-time events and decisions, the choice to hold buttons instead of mashing them, and the opportunity to auto-complete “Hold Breath” moments, which can be particularly intense. Though I left everything at default for the review process, it is great to see the option for players to tone down the intensity a little.

Movie Mode takes this all one step further by removing the interactivity entirely. The Quarry then turns into a lengthy movie, with pre-determined settings chosen by the player. Default options include “Everybody Lives” and “Everybody Dies.” The latter was very fun to watch through, as the deaths in this game are brutal and satisfying.

Presentation powerhouse

The incredible visuals help to make the shockingly bloody deaths more memorable, as faces are rendered in such detail that my brain was frequently tricked into thinking that I was looking at real footage. Until Dawn looked great, but The Quarry takes things to the next level. Aside from a few glitchy stretching necks, this is premium capture that results in the immersion necessary to really sell a narratively-driven game like this.

Stellar voice-acting also contributes to the compelling story, with believable characters delivering convincing lines at almost all stages, which is impressive considering the different directions and sudden shifts in tone that you can force through dialogue options.

The soundtrack deserves a special nod, too, with a number of licensed tracks helping to set the mood. It’s particularly effective in the prologue and during the later stages of the game. With that said, as this is a very streamer-friendly game, those tracks can be disabled to avoid triggering any copyright issues.

Bring your friends

After completing the story for the first time in just over 11 hours, I started exploring the other modes. While online multiplayer functionality has been delayed to July 8 at the latest, players can still check out the aforementioned Movie Mode to explore the different fates of characters, as well as the Couch Co-op mode for some fun pass-the-controller activities. These work well and it’s nice to see co-op featured and encouraged in-game as The Quarry is definitely enhanced with more players watching and providing an influence on the decisions being made.

The Quarry Review: The final verdict

The Quarry is the perfect cure for Until Dawn’s selfishness. Not only is this game open to more platforms, but it also encourages more players to join in with the experience. For this, as well as the incredible presentation and compelling story, it deserves celebrating as a must-play horror game for fans of the genre.

Unfortunately, the many similarities to Until Dawn may act as a dampener for those familiar with the 2015 release. There aren’t enough unique elements here to make it stand out from what came before, which lessens the overall impact of the too-familiar story. I also prefer Until Dawn’s plot and characters to The Quarry’s, and I think most other players will, too.

For the uninitiated, though, and there will be many on non-Sony platforms, The Quarry will deliver a memorable tale of horror full of intense moments that are wicked fun to navigate through.

The Quarry was reviewed on PC with code provided by the publisher. We’ll update this review with PS5 performance when we receive a PS5 code.