What an absolute nightmare of a game. The only saving grace was that I got to stream it alongside an audience who was as baffled by it as I was. Maybe it's better after the patches but I don't think it's too unreasonable to judge a game by its quality at launch (and still after paying $60.) I actually really liked Until Dawn, but The Quarry straight up wasn't finished-- it should be releasing like right now (Oct. 2022) for an added spooky bonus. God knows it needed a few more months in the oven. I'm not even sure how much it could even be saved by patches. So many instances of just the most jarring camera cuts I've ever seen in one of these cinematic-type games-- characters saying something, finishing a thought, and then the camera cutting to them beginning a new thought from a different angle, as if they were having a conversation with themselves. Asinine mechanical flaws like needing to interact with notes twice to actually get everything out of them. Graphical glitches galore. Dialogue that made Until Dawn Emily's social-media-speak seem Shakespearian. Characters acting completely obtuse with other characters for in-game weeks just so it serves the plot. Maybe the problem is that I played it on PS4, because the game just completely shits itself every time there's a moment of impact-- I mean literally, whenever someone gets hit, or shot, or stabbed or whatever, the game decides that it must make a save that very second, which in turn tanks the performance during pivotal moments. I'm really not somebody who dislikes games, I tend to get more good than bad out of it. Again, had I played this alone after spending 60 dollars on it, I'd say that I got absolutely nothing out of The Quarry besides moderate heartburn.

Some of the characters were fun at least, and the mystery elements were nice. One star for that, and the other half for my "so bad it's kinda good" experience with it.