The Quarry fiddled with its end just before the big reveal, ending up closer to the Dark Pictures Anthology games than many had hoped.
The Quarrythe latest horror title from Supermassive Games, suffers from a major narrative misstep that the developers have previously made with theirs Anthology of Dark Pictures. Supermassive Games’ interactive horror titles are connected solely through gameplay, with each game having its own unique story. Although the studio’s first foray into the genre, Until dawnwas praised for its narration, the games in the Anthology of Dark Pictures have all suffered in the same area: their big revelations.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Until Dawn, the Dark Pictures Anthology, and The Quarry]
in the Until dawn, players fight for survival against monsters called Wendigo, which set a precedent for high stakes and real dangers to Supermassive horror titles and the potential for more interesting adaptations of creatures from real-life folklore. While dark images‘Premiere, man from MedanLargely competent, the twist that the game’s supernatural events were caused by hallucinogenic gas was not only early telegraphed, but also disappointing to fans who expected legitimate supernatural horror. A little bit of hopeThe turn of had gone in a similar direction, revealing that the whole story was a hallucination, but this revelation was not staged at all. In both cases, the supernatural horror that Supermassive Games fans had come to expect was traded for a subversion of the expectation, and the endings of otherwise competent horror stories were lengthened as a result.
through The Quarry, the main characters are hunted by monsters, which are only referred to as “creatures” in the game. The nature of the monsters is hinted at throughout, but just a few scenes before the big reveal, a small detail spoils the long-awaited truth. It would be one thing if the reveal came sooner based on a player’s choices – eventually The QuarryThe many choices and endings of is its main selling point – but that it comes from a small UI element is just disappointing. While controlling Emma, players have the option to set off fireworks to repel one of the creatures. This will update players’ path to include a spoiler-filled description:”Emma set off fireworks in the attacking werewolf’s face.” As such, the theories of all players who did so were only confirmed or denied in a handful of scenes before the game apparently intended to.
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Supermassive horror games continue to sabotage their ending
By undermining the structure of their own disclosure The Quarry Werewolves, Supermassive has once again sabotaged their execution of one of the most important elements of a horror story: the ending. While Until dawn It had a cheesy slasher movie, but it also contained a complex mystery that kept players busy. Likewise with each entry of the Anthology of Dark Pictures, discovering the true nature of what is happening to the games’ characters, was their primary narrative engine. With the decisions made around the ending of these games, Supermassive has consistently subverted expectations, just not in the way they probably hoped.
Since each entry in the Anthology of Dark Pictures was published, they were mostly criticized in relation to their narratives, focusing on the difficulty of events in a short space of time rather than decision making. However when The Quarry was announced, it offered new hope for the future of the studio. Allegedly, The Quarry was a spiritual successor of Until dawn, giving fans hope that there would be a return to the studio’s roots in true horror. While the game lived up to its promise in this regard, it couldn’t escape the narrative flaws of its predecessors, and The Quarry‘s Werewolves were spoiled in the process.
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