Scaring today is a concept that it goes beyond the classicism of horror and into the videogame environment it is even more difficult than one might think, even more difficult than cinema. Today almost nothing is frightening in itself, you have to use other types of hooks and transform horror into an experience different from entering the room to get scared.
Supermassive Games is one of those who not only accepted the challenge, but based their “existence” on the market starting from the famous Until Dawn and continuing with the less fortunate Anthology Dark Pictures, far from over despite a fluctuating trend . The basic idea is to combine cinematic horror with video game horror, complete with ways to play on the couch or online in times of pandemic, not to mention famous faces on TV or the big screen. Dark Pictures, however, was looking for that horror too busy, too true or otherwise unable to balance between one thing and another.
The return of the summer camp
But The Quarry is a whole other music: it is the return to the teen horror movie which apparently is of a low category but which is actually smart in chasing those atmospheres made of tributes, references and situations that go from embarrassing to disturbing in a according to. A breath of fresh air with a nostalgic flavor and that hits horror fans in what they want today: the experience of mystery, the desire to be inside a fourth-rate film to immerse yourself in cheesy scenes and break them down to regain the expressiveness of horror styles . Here is The Quarry traveling on these tracks and luckily it does.
Trying something in preview, a taste before the June 10th release, the feelings given by The Quarry are exactly what we had in the first, unforgettable encounters with Until Dawn. Sure now it is no longer a novelty to deal with such cinematographic productions in technique and essence, just as there is no new story of young adults who, due to a series of coincidences, end up camping right where they shouldn’t have, as well as exceeding all limits in terms of alcohol and public decency. The twist given by being an entertainer for a summer camp is nice, actually a novelty in the panorama and that for better or worse seems a more plausible excuse than “guys I found this fantastic abandoned place cheap on AirBnB”. We also recommend that you keep an eye on the arrival of the related podcast, which you can find on the dedicated page and which illustrates some facts around North Kill County.
But it’s hard not to be struck by the presence of iconic TV actresses like Brenda Song (Zack and Cody’s London Tipton at the Grand Hotel for the more nostalgic) e Ariel Winter (Alex from Modern Family) or David Arquette for closer to horror than teen. What falls within the norm of Supermassive is there and remains present for what appears to be the skeleton of The Quarry: so let’s talk about moral choices, quick time events and the possibility of experiencing multiple paths depending on the decisions that will be taken both in relation to the threats and in weaving the relationships between adolescents with bad decisions regarding places to spend the holiday. The weight of the choices is not yet something that we can analyze, being a factor to be measured over the long term, however already now it is evident that there are specific signals that set in motion possibly beneficial or catastrophic events, this time much more recognizable and in any case left behind. in a situation ambiguous enough to make all the alternatives presented valid.
The right light
On the other hand, what will catch the attention of many of you, and with good reason, is the attention to the atmosphere and the cinematography of the same, especially in the use of lighting and specific color combinations. There is the ability to play with filters from old horror movies of different eras, but this would deprive you of an evidently maniacal care towards an often underestimated element in the video game, while in the cinema it has a specific weight when it comes to fears and causing anxiety. Whether in the forest or near the campfire, The Quarry uses what it can to measure heat and coldness well of the image, creating the hues that serve to create the expectation of fear or the apparent tranquility of an unfortunate natural refuge.
The chemistry between the characters seems to hold up very well by exploiting the stereotypes of films with doomed teenagers from the beginning: there is the swaggering and muscular classic, the sexy beautiful, the goth girl, the shy, the cunning and the hipster nerd. Ingredients that Quella Casa nel Bosco showed us how they work when you treat them as the stain they are and The Quarry does so in the awareness of give you the reins of their history, even going so far as to make choices that could change their nature, within certain limits. Here too, we do not know how far the balance will go, but it is evident that Supermassive is not using stencils to facilitate the narration in terms of writing, indeed perhaps it is strengthening it by involving us in a game of illusions that only at the auspicious moment will eventually make sense.
At the end of the fair, or rather at its debut, The Quarry is the answer to player requests and a promising candidate to take the throne of Supermassive’s first job. What he needs is to show that his winning hand is not just a bluff to participate in the game, but that actors, art direction and the desire to tell a horror story between homage and novelty is the main objective of this operation. If all goes well, start making popcorn so you can enjoy it with friends on a stormy Saturday night.
