4/5 ★ – jake84's review of The Quarry.

Pros: - So far probably the most cinematic Supermassive Games ... game. And that's saying A LOT. - Great step in the right direction for the studio. "The Quarry" is miles ahead of both "Man of Medan" and (ugh) the dreadful "Little Hope". It's on par with "House of Ashes", and it might even be a little bit better than "Until Dawn" in most regards. All in all, maybe their best yet. - Simply oozes production value as opposed to earlier games from Supermassive that felt really wonky and unstable. - Few jumpscares compared to what they usually succumb to. - Excellent setups and payoffs in the small items. - It has nice prologue and even toys with flashbacks. - It's a pretty game. Best looking outing from Supermassive Games, which is a huge praise. Lighting effects and environments are spectacular. They even have that red glare behind human ears because of the thin skin. Incredible. - The ambience and sound effects are good. Often great. - The 80's aesthetics are embraced in such a cool way; a non-annoying way. The opposite way of how Stranger Things approaches them now. - Generally good performances (with one exception, more on that later). Some of the characters (Jacob) eventually turn into a real three-dimensional annoying dick instead of just a TWO-dimensional annoying dick. Even Miles Robbins who gave a Razzie-worthy performance in "Daniel Isn't Real" is quite good here. - The Kaitlyn and Laura characters are standouts. - It has a decent script. Some exchanges feel natural. - Handles way better than before, and it has a more streamlined gameplay. The game makes QTE's more approachable than ever. - The design of the menus and collectables and clues are immersive. Fun to handle and check up on. - The story really picks up in the second half. Great, intense final chapters. If a bit unforgiving. - Finally got rid of that silly "tap the buttons to the rhythm of your heart beat"-moments and replaced them with just holding your breath by holding down a button. - Really graphic violence. Some genuinely shocking moments. - Good scares. Intense chases and action sequences. - Funny end credits. Cons: - Justice Smith's acting. He is not as bad as the worst actor in the world, Angus Cloud from Euphoria, but not that far from it in this role. He is not the least bit charming, brooding or mysterious, and it doesn't make sense why everybody wants to jump his true crime-podcast listening bones. - The Danish subtitles are just appallingly bad. "Deliverance" becomes "Befrielsen". It's called "Udflugt med døden". "Creature feature" becomes "dokumentarfilm". I don't even know where to start with that one. "Silvershells" becomes "sølvskaller", but it's clearly in reference to shotgun bullets. And many times "cry" is translated in Danish to "græde" as in weeping, when they obviously mean yelling. Numerous errors like this. Lazy and disruptive. - The mouth and neck animations are still the main offenders when it comes to the uncanny valley. - Some of the pacing in the conversations seem unnatural and slow. Not quite my tempo. It's like they pause in between sentences at times to really let us linger on the facial animations (which, admittedly, do look great). And no, I'm specifically NOT talking about when there's a conversation choice. Just that conversations in general have this weird, slow flow to them. - I don't really understand most of the intricate relationships between the characters. At times this game takes it for granted that we should know stuff about characters when we haven't been told or hinted at them. - Some of the characters' reactions seem really weird. It takes a really long while for them to understand the seriousness of the situation. And to do something about it. - Most of the characters are unfazed about REALLY serious injuries. - Some of the twists are a little too obvious for my taste. - I think it would have suited the overall mood and creepy atmosphere better if it had employed a more serious tone. Some of the comedic moments feel misplaced. - Real nit-picky here: Watersplash animations look bad, and there's the age old minor problem with hair physics. - Some cringey music cues.