The Quarry Review Summary

High-quality production values: The game is noted for its great production values, including impressive graphics, excellent cinematography, and strong voice acting. The visuals and audio are consistently highlighted as top-notch.

Engaging and well-developed story: The story is frequently praised for being engaging, suspenseful, and well-written. Players enjoyed the drama, tension, and the overall narrative, which kept them thinking and entertained throughout the game.

Recommended for narrative and horror fans: The game is particularly recommended for fans of narrative-driven storytelling and horror genres. It is compared favorably to other narrative horror games like Until Dawn.

Impactful player choices: Players appreciate that their choices significantly impact the story and outcomes. This mechanic adds weight to decisions, making the gameplay more interactive and engaging.

Expressive character performances: The game features strong voice acting and expressive facial animations. Characters are well-developed and memorable, adding depth to the story.

Excessive and unskippable cutscenes: The game frequently features long, unskippable cutscenes that disrupt gameplay and immersion. Players often feel forced to watch these scenes without the option to skip, leading to frustration.

Illogical character behavior: Characters frequently act illogically and unrealistically, making it difficult for players to immerse themselves in the story. This behavior is often seen as irrational and irresponsible.

Predictable and weak storyline: The story is often criticized for being stale, predictable, and lacking the excitement and twists that players expect. It is also described as cliché and boring, especially at the beginning.

Awkward facial animations: The facial animations in the game are often described as awkward and unrealistic, detracting from the overall experience.

Boring and frustrating gameplay: Players find the gameplay incredibly boring and frustrating. The game is often described as a waste of time with uninteresting creatures and disappointing mechanics.

Choice-based narrative gameplay: The game features a narrative-driven experience where player choices significantly impact the story and outcomes. This includes decision-making mechanics that affect character survival and story paths.

Interactive horror elements: The game incorporates interactive horror elements, reminiscent of old Western horror movies, with a focus on survival and multiple choices that influence the gameplay.

Multiplayer and cooperative modes: The game includes various multiplayer functionalities such as couch co-op, cooperative gameplay, and online multiplayer with voting and character control mechanics.

Multiple endings and replayability: The game offers multiple endings based on player choices, enhancing replayability as players seek to explore different outcomes and story paths.

Interactive cinematic experience: The game blends interactive movie elements with gameplay, featuring decision-making during cutscenes and cinematic sequences.

Performance and optimization issues: Many players report performance issues such as FPS drops, stuttering, and unstable frame rates. These problems are often linked to optimization issues, causing the game to lag severely or run poorly despite various hardware configurations.

Audio and visual bugs: Audio desync and repeating lines are common issues. Additionally, there are visual bugs such as robotic animations, motion blur issues, and slow-loading textures.

Display and resolution issues: There are persistent display issues, including incorrect in-game resolution and visibility problems in dark locations. Players with ultrawide monitors report black borders on all sides and lack of native support for 21:9 aspect ratio.

Game crashes and stability: Several players experience frequent game crashes and instability. Some report the game crashing multiple times within a short period, while others mention the game not starting at all after purchase.

High hardware usage: The game exhibits high GPU and VRAM usage, even at lower resolutions like 1080p. This can lead to performance issues and overheating on some systems.

Wait for a sale: Many players suggest that the game is only worth purchasing at a discounted price, indicating that the full price may not be justified.

Recommended for horror fans: The game is recommended for fans of horror and interactive stories, suggesting it has a strong appeal to this specific audience.

Enjoyable story experience: Players recommend the game for its enjoyable experience and story, indicating that the narrative is a strong point.

Good for solo players: The game is recommended for solo players, indicating it provides a good single-player experience.

Consider other games: Some players suggest there are better story-based games available, implying this game may not be the best choice for those seeking a strong narrative.

Steam Deck: The Steam Deck experience for this game is marred by several technical issues, most notably problems with the 2K Launcher, resolution settings, frame rate limitations, and the lack of cloud saves. These issues significantly impact the user experience, requiring workarounds and manual adjustments to enjoy the game fully.

External guides: The primary user complaints revolve around the game's complex mechanics and the necessity to use external guides to fully understand and enjoy the story. This dependency on external resources significantly impacts the user experience negatively. However, there is also positive feedback regarding the game's story and replay value.

Cultural observations in the game: Players have noted cultural observations, particularly regarding Western media portrayals of teenagers.