The upcoming horror effort from Supermassive Games, creators of The Dark Pictures Trilogy, is looking to offer fans another scare when it launches on June 10. Boasting 186 unique endings and the ability to finish the game without even touching a button, The Quarry will definitely take players for a ride.

Ahead of its launch next month, we were fortunate enough to try out about an hour’s worth of gameplay, showing us just how scary this spiritual successor to Until Dawn can really be. There were indeed frightening moments and the overall feel and approach to the game will feel very familiar to fans.

Watch – The Quarry Official Announcement Trailer

Our preview of The Quarry starts after a group of teen counselors look to stay one more night in Hackett’s Quarry, because, you know, that’s how people in horror stories end up dead. The setting and circumstances of the game will feel very familiar to horror movie fans right off the bat – summer camp and murders, name a more iconic pair.

Almost immediately, players will notice a marked improvement in visual fidelity over past Supermassive efforts. The motion capture for the cast is actually pretty impressive and is, I think, even better than their most recent release, House of Ashes. There’s less “uncanny valley,” and the overall movement and actions of the cast feel a bit more natural.

Players shouldn’t expect less from the star-studded cast, consisting of names like David Arquette (Scream franchise), Ariel Winter (Modern Family), Justice Smith (Jurassic World), Brenda Song (Dollface), Lance Henriksen (Aliens), Lin Shaye (A Nightmare on Elm Street), and more. On this front, I would say that some performances are delivered well, with Brenda Song pulling her weight based on the sequences we’ve seen. Justice Smith, on the other hand, felt and sounded very monotone and robotic. The others? Hit or miss, and you may not care about them too much.

One thing The Quarry does well is how it sets up the atmosphere to really immerse the player. A lot of small things add up – the lighting (which does get a bit too dark at times), the ambient forest sounds, and the camera angles – each of these elements work well together to bring players a rather stereotypical horror story with an interesting premise.

In fact, The Quarry feels so much like those 80s and 90s slasher flicks, even down to the interactions between characters. You get the classic horror tropes going on as well, which is integral to the whole experience. I can imagine how some players will be rolling their eyes over certain sequences in the game, but I found it a bit charming, especially since I grew up in that era of horror movies, so the scares may get a bit predictable.

At this point in the game, the scary moments are few and far in between, but we already get to see a good chunk of gameplay elements. Players can move around set locations in The Quarry, all while finding hidden collectibles and advancing the story. Familiarity with Supermassive’s library of games will make players feel right at home, with returning mechanics such as story choices, QTEs, and even a mechanic similar to Until Dawn’s Totems that allow you to see glimpses of future events.

More than anything, The Quarry also succeeds in giving players just the right amount of control to not feel totally helpless but at the same time be at the mercy of the situation and circumstance. The choices are pretty interesting despite being cliche, story-wise, and the antagonists give a nice feeling of creeping dread. There is something scary and vicious on the prowl as well, but we’ll leave that out of the conversation for now and let players experience it first-hand.

Interesting to note here that there are settings that allow you to add filters (Indie horror, 80s horror, and classic horror) to the game, giving a much more authentic old-school feel.

Overall, The Quarry looks to be another interesting effort from Supermassive Games that horror fans will want to look out for. While the premise and setting are that of a stereotypical horror flick from the past decades, the choices leading to branching story paths and endings make for an amusing playthrough.

The Quarry is scheduled for a June 10, 2022 release for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC.