Recent reviews by etch

I'll probably edit this review once I dive deeper into the game on subsequent playthroughs as that seems to be a major component of the experience, but I just had to make a review after my first playthrough. I finished this game about 3 days ago and can't get it out of my mind. I found this game by chance in 2022 during a Steam promotion for indie games while looking for a visual novel with romance/dating sim elements and ended up playing the demo. I'm forever grateful I stumbled on this game on that day.

The characters and worldbuilding are just very well handled. Very few games actually take a serious approach to tackling a subject like someone growing up and experiencing adolescence over the course of years while also exploring their relationships with others and their environment. Actually writing compelling stories with the various potential friends/love interests is just astonishing to me. The handling of this kind of cast while also clearly establishing the passage of time and how their environment impacts them is just top-notch.

You can tell the writers had tons of fun writing about all the various lore, fauna, etc. because they truly gave this entire world so much life. Even some background characters with minimal screen time became memorable parts of the experience and still stick with me. I have to applaud the devs for also being willing to tackle various tough topics both on large and smaller scales from stuff like different aspects of politics to things like domestic abuse. I can understand some being mixed on certain handlings of these things, but I appreciate there was a serious attempt to tackle these topics or issues with complete sincerity.

I also have to appreciate the deck-building aspect which is one of the primary gameplay focuses outside the general visual novel/adventure game-esque segments. The deck-building I just adore because it's truly a case of being somewhat easy to learn, but hard to master and depending on how you play and choices you make, this can be either pretty good or bad. I also loved that the cards in the deck are based on memories from the main character's experiences. It was a great way of tying into core themes of the game itself while also talking about a broader subject regarding how experiences can help us overcome certain obstacles, but also letting go of certain memories can open opportunities for greater ones.

Very few games make me emotional, but when I completed my first playthrough, I got very emotional. This game just presents itself so well that I couldn't help but seriously care about the characters and seeing how my choices impacted their lives really felt meaningful. Even 72+ hours after beating the game, I can't wait to dive back in and explore more aspects of these characters and this world I missed the first time while also learning from my first playthrough, just like the main character. This game truly feels one-of-a-kind as very few if any games have the same core components and execute it this well. This is one of the few cases where I would be completely open to the devs taking the core systems of this game and using them to make another game while maybe putting a twist on or re-contextualizing certain gameplay elements in a different kind of setting. This developer has earned my respect and adoration for the rest of my life.

Small note: The soundtrack selection is stellar. "The Child You Were" by Frances Aravel is by far my favorite and a clear standout track. Such a great song choice for this game. Tying in the themes of that song into this game gives it a somber brilliance which really helped give the finality of a playthrough some emotional weight.

If you liked Supermassive's previous games or games from developers like Telltale, Quantic Dream, Don't Nod/Deck Nine(Life is Strange), you will probably like this game depending on what you want out of the experience, primarily the narrative and storytelling. The Quarry takes a lot of things from one of Supermassive's previous games, Until Dawn. The use of certain tropes and themes, the general tone and setup, several story beats and character relationships, etc. This is clearly a spiritual successor in some sense. Personally, I thought Supermassive did a much better job giving most if not all of the characters opportunities to become appealing to the player in comparison to Until Dawn thus making their well-being more of a priority for players. One or two characters main characters don't seem to get much attention in the scheme of the overall story, but more of an attempt was made to give them some compelling character traits in comparison to several characters from Until Dawn from my experience. Given it is a spiritual successor to Until Dawn and that approach to storytelling, don't expect a very deep story or anything where characters will truly develop beyond their general archetype or personality. That isn't to say there aren't good character moments though. I felt myself become pretty invested early on in several characters and character relationships.

One thing Until Dawn did better was the handling of endings. Given the nature of games like this, there are lots of different outcomes for each character and how their relationships unfold with others. It can be difficult to craft entire cutscenes to account for all the different permutations. In Until Dawn, the credit sequence had any of the surviving characters in the playthrough talking about the events of the game and it was framed as a police interrogation after the events of the game. The characters would mention certain choices based on player's decisions, various clues the player found to unmask the mystery, their relationships with other characters whether positive or negative based on the player's choices, etc. The Quarry makes no attempt to do any of this. The ending sequence just has the camera pan to the characters and denote if they survived and a short description of their status, but nothing beyond that. The game doesn't make an attempt to address character relationships or anything like Until Dawn. You can have a character kiss another character, the game will pop up text saying, "X is starting to like you" and nothing becomes of it. The credit sequence doesn't feature any of the characters. Instead, an in-universe podcast referenced throughout the game recalls the events of the game as they are anonymously sent clues depending on which clues the player finds throughout the playthrough. I really wish the credit sequence actually featured the characters and gave better insight into what happens to the characters following the events of the game, at least copying exactly what Until Dawn did would've been a major improvement.

On a slightly related note, the last few chapters feel a bit rushed towards the conclusion, the game could've used maybe 2 more chapters to really flesh out a few things and give a few characters more things to do during the climax and conclusion. Also, one chapter is almost entirely a flashback which slows the pacing to a halt. It is framed as a character telling other characters a story and is handled in an interesting way since they do sometimes return to the characters in present day hearing the story. But, I wish they added other events outside the flashback during that chapter to help balance the pacing. The game isn't perfect by any means, but I enjoyed it and it felt like it was a few steps short of being incredible.

Pretty basic port. Game seemed locked 60 when I used Steam's built-in FPS counter. Every time you boot up the game, a basic launcher window appears asking if you want the game in 1280x720, 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution and if you want it windowed or not and which monitor you want to use. Supports controller, but seems to only have button prompts for Xbox. There is keyboard controls, but no use of the mouse. Lots of options for rebindable keys and buttons, but haven't experimented with it. You need to use the keyboard to exit the game(esc key) and need to use the keyboard to open the controls menu(F2) even if you are using a controller plus there are a few keyboard inputs required such as for the player character's name at the start of the game. Only real issue I have faced thus far is controller input seems to be very sensitive especially when dealing with menu navigation with the joystick or DPAD no matter the controller as I tested three different ones. I have already played the game on Switch and PS4 in the past, but the dungeon-crawling is very interesting and enjoyable as it focuses on exploration and treasure hunting. The concepts presented are intriguing and gives a decent amount of depth to the world-building.

This being the third game in the series you may know what to expect. For newcomers, you do not need to play the previous games, but they may give you a better idea and appreciation for what this game has set out to do, plus the first one is free and very, very short. Each game in the Emily is Away series tries to simulate a period in time of using an online platform and connecting with your friends and seeing how relationships develop over time. With each entry, we move closer to present time, and thus the games offer more mechanics as these online services people used came with more features. This also means we see the evolution of the dev, Kyle Seeley, and how immersive he is able to make the games. The first game used AIM which is pretty basic and to the point. The next game used a combination of AIM and MySpace. This game now uses Facebook, and with that offers many different features that are notable of Facebook in 2008-2009 such as friend requests, writing a status, poking, etc. There are several times where these features are used in the storytelling in very clever ways and I must applaud the dev for doing so and seeing the progression since the first game. The story and characters aren't too dramatic or complex as they are meant to simulate a certain familiar feeling many of us may understand or relate to. If you played previous games you will know what to expect, but it is still pretty well done. I highly suggest playing this one if you haven't played the previous ones and to still play this if you have played previous ones as this is the most feature rich one due to the setting of Facebook. The one negative may be how similar several plot points are to the previous game 'Emily is Away Too', but I think it works really well in its own right. I think if another game in this series is made, I think the focus then should be on making more complex or diverging storylines as the series has reached a somewhat modern and fairly up to date standing in terms of features and ways to immerse the player.