Beauty does not determine: what did we think of the horror game The Quarry? | Israel today

Seven teenagers, instructors at a small and isolated summer camp somewhere in one of the US forests, are forced to spend one last night there after all the campers have already been released to their homes. With no cell phone reception, no adults around and with many suppressed emotions, internal intrigues and as expected - raging hormones - the seven decide Spend the night at a raucous end of summer party and party like there's no tomorrow. What they don't know yet is that the words "last night" and "no tomorrow" refer not only to their stay at the camp, but also to their lives in general. This camp, it turns out, hides secrets Extremely dark and deadly, and when the campers return home, the hunting season begins.

Who are the hunters?

Who or what are they hunting?

Which of our seven hunted heroes will survive the night?

What other twists await us before dawn?

These are the main questions that the adventure-horror game The Quarry wants us to ask ourselves, but the problem is that it's such a boring, tired and formulaic game.

By the time the action shifts gears towards the middle of the plot - you will already be out of breath.

By the time the action shifts gears - you'll be out of breath, photo: The Quarry

Actually get a correction: The Quarry is not really a game, but a kind of interactive horror movie, which is heavily influenced by works like "Third Day the 13th" and quite a bit, we must admit, by "Stranger Things".

And yes, it can also be compared to the excellent and exciting game Until Dawn from 2015.

On the other hand, the quality gaps between these two products are so great, especially when it comes to the plot - the most important thing in projects of this kind.

No bears, but a lot of forest

The reasons for the failures that we mentioned are different, but they are manifested already in the first chapters of the game.

Each episode of the ten (not including the introduction and afterword) lasts between half an hour and an hour, depending on how much time you spend wandering among the old wooden cabins of the camp and the winding forest paths, with the aim of finding "evidence" that is scattered in all kinds of dark corners (although it is not necessary to find them, they somewhat enrich the plot).

We spent our first three hours, therefore, mainly wandering around, watching long conversations about feelings between the multitude of stereotypical characters (the enthusiastic athlete, the spoiled network star, the shy nerd, the cynical intellectual, the tough leader, etc.), and performing menial tasks such as looking for snacks and finding towels .

From time to time we got a hint of the threat that was forming in the shadows, but by the time the hints turned into real trouble we were already deeply exhausted and apathetic towards what was happening on the screen.

Until you get used to the character and like it, you immediately move on to the next character, photo: The Quarry

Another problem is the division between the characters: each episode is split into several scenes, and each scene is presented from the point of view of a different guide.

Sometimes the scenes are very short, and by the time you finally start to get used to one character and even like her a little, you immediately move on to the next character.

The element of identification fades away very quickly, especially when you also fall for less sympathetic characters.

The interactive interface is also very limited: when you won't be forced to watch boring dialogue videos, you will usually be asked to choose one reaction or answer out of two - which will lead you to another tiring dialogue video.

Occasionally, in the short action segments, you'll have to press a specific button and tilt the controller in a certain direction before the time runs out, but there's nothing particularly difficult or challenging here, because there's more than enough time to do everything.

Your choices will indeed affect the continuation of the plot and ultimately determine who of the seven will survive the night (the game has several different endings, so you can always start over and try other options), but for the most part we felt distant and disconnected from what was happening on the screen, until at some point we stood up in defiance and began to sort things out towels ourselves.

In our real home.

and sort them by color.

Don't believe?

Prove we didn't do it.

Despite the visual beauty, you will feel distant from what is happening on the screen,

Beauty doesn't matter

And it's a shame, a very shame, because technically The Quarry is a pretty impressive game.

The graphics and animation are excellent, no argument, so is the directing and editing.

The soundtrack, which contains real songs, does its best to put us in the creepy nocturnal atmosphere.

The characters look amazing, are well acted and played by some familiar Hollywood actors, led by David Arquette ("Scream") in a small but important role.

Former Disney Channel star Brenda Song ("The Beautiful Life of Zack and Cody") and Justice Smith ("Detective Picacho") play two of the most prominent guides, while Ethan Soufley ("The Wolf of Wall Street", "America X") He's a large, seemingly menacing guy who walks around the woods wearing one-shoulder overalls (long story).

If only the faltering plot and limited interactivity were comparable to how The Quarry looks and sounds, we'd have a masterpiece here.

In the meantime, with all the sadness in the matter, we would recommend fans of the genre to try Until Dawn if they haven't had the chance to do it yet, or simply arrange towels themselves.

5/10

Tested version: PlayStation 5. Also available for PlayStation 4, all Xboxes and PC.

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