As promised, “The Quarry” social media has been quite alive and kicking since my initial post theorizing about the game based off of everything released so far, and I am once again here to overanalyze and dive right in!

Also throwing in some stuff here that I missed the first time around because I don’t know how Instagram works. It’s fine.

This particular post will cover updates made on Instagram and TikTok–there is no new podcast episode sadly, BUT we do know that the next episode will release on May 19th and I am READY. I’ve missed Grace and Anton, I hope they’re doing well in their little spooky world ❤

INSTAGRAM

Let’s begin by talking about what I missed last time–the little circles at the top of the profile page which I have been informed are “story highlights” I think?

Anyway, currently there are four circles: “DEATH,” “WTF,” “CRYPTIDS,” and “History.”

1. DEATH–in a frame looking like a potential “Death” tarot card, we see Eliza! She welcomes us to “the show” saying that yes, it is exciting, and terrifying. There are some spooky cuts and sound editing. Eliza then says “this is what might come to pass. A possible future. A path yet unchosen.” At the same time, we see some sort of tarot card burning at the edges in front of us and the text “Make an impossible choice.” There are then some spooky questions for the viewer to answer:
   1. Are you afraid of dying? (the image we see is a tarot card–potentially the Death card)
   2. Death by immolation or drowning? (the image we see is a lovely charred corpse on one side and a peaceful-looking surface of water on the other side)
   3. Would you rather be lost in the woods or lost at sea? (on top, we see Laura from the prologue in the woods and on the bottom, we see who I assume to be Emma swimming in the lake)
   4. Do you believe in afterlife? (the image we see is a lovely group of clouds at sunset. Or sunrise.)
   5. Would you rather be buried or cremated? (on top, some guy throwing dirt into a grave in slow-motion and on the bottom, a casket in flames. Nice.)
   6. After that, it cuts back to Eliza, who says “Help me help you. And remember–what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.”
      1. FUN. CHARMING. HAPPY. DELIGHTFUL.
      2. It’s hard to tell how much of this is actually pointing at in-game knowledge, or just serves as a fun marketing scheme for their choice-based game. Both make sense, but if it is pointing at in-game stuff, that leads to more questions.
      3. Is there an in-game reasoning for why they chose the questions they did? If nothing else, it may just be reminding us that each character has like, 10-12 different possible death scenes. Yikes.
      4. Having Eliza say the phrase “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” is on the one hand, a fun nod to what we saw in the Prologue as Laura found that phrase on the bottom of the camp map. But on the other hand, it makes you wonder…how exactly is the summer camp connected to the Harum Scarum show? If that phrase is more of the camp’s tagline, why does Eliza know and use it here? Does that also point more to what the monsters could be in the game? Werewolves? Vampires?…Zombies? Could be anything where the lore involves some element of turning into the creature after a bite or a scratch that doesn’t kill the victim. Or something. And does any of this have to do with “Silas the Dog Boy” and his destroyed cage in the woods? HMMMMM…
2. WTF–this one is all about our friendly neighborhood paranormal podcast, Bizarre Yet Bonafide. It mostly seems to be the preview posts we discussed last time, where the title cards for each episode are displayed on an old-timey computer monitor with the sticky note “Rabbit Hole” in the corner.
   1. Nothing new here, and it only has the posts for the first two episodes. But it still begs the question–why the use of the “Rabbit Hole” sticky note?? WHAT DOES IT MEAN??? Is there some Alice in Wonderland lore we’re gonna need to watch out for now????
3. CRYPTIDS–Eliza’s back! This is another round of questions for the viewer, and this one starts with Eliza leaning back in a chair, a big crow friend perched by her shoulder (yay crow friend!!). She’s looking up, not at us, as she says “I was hoping you’d come back to me.” Once she does look at us, we get some spooky cuts before it fades to black and she gives us the same introduction of “this is what might come to pass…” so on and so forth. The questions this time around are:
   1. Have you ever experienced “a glitch in the matrix?” (the image for this one looks like it could be Laura’s eye looking in the cellar from the prologue, but it could be something we haven’t seen yet. Shots of eyes looking into small openings are classic horror fodder, after all. However, signs do point to it being Laura because we see the…thing she saw in the cellar, and the last clip is Laura walking away. Still though, who knows?)
   2. Do you think reality is simply a simulation? (The image here is a slow pan back and forth across three different computer monitors. Maybe security cameras? The first two seem to mostly be showing woodland with nothing of note there, but the third monitor has the rainbow screen of death…something interfered with the feed. GOOD. AWESOME. We then see our pal Dylan before it cuts to the next question)
   3. Have you seen or heard anything unexplainable in nature? (the image here is shirtless Jacob looking around the woods at night…is this right before he steps in that rope trap that pulls him up upside-down? Babes get OUT OF THERE what are you DOING)
   4. Ever felt unwelcome in nature or being “studied?” (the image here first is what might be a tree at night with a spider crawling along, and then it cuts to a worn sign that reads “WARNING QUARRY AREA KEEP OUT” so…naturally, they won’t be doing that)
   5. Which is more likely to actually exist: Aliens, visiting and walking among us, or cryptids (sasquatch, chupacabra, mothman)? (the image here is a drawing on the left of some guy with squid tentacles for a face (CTHULU????) and a hand below that covered in little suckers like an octopus, and on the right, a drawing of, presumably, our friend Bigfoot)
      1. Hoo boy there is a LOT to unpack here! For starters, it’s worth noting that this is the first time in game-specific advertising that cryptids have been mentioned. They dive into it a lot in the podcast, but the game hasn’t really gone there yet. Until now! This isn’t totally surprising, given the nature of Until Dawn and the confirmation that The Quarry is functioning as a spiritual successor, but it’s still fun knowledge to have.
      2. What is up with all the speak about life being a simulation and “glitches in the matrix?” Unless it’s a fun little conspiracy theory one of our counselor friends happens to have. But maybe it’s referencing what’s going on at the camp in general–is it some sort of experiment? Is that what happened to the Harum Scarum show, or are they in on it? Speaking of…
      3. Odd how the “cryptid” section spends a lot of time talking about reality being a simulation and being “studied” in nature. Tie that into the question about whether aliens living among us or cryptids are more likely, and it opens up this whole other branch about game story possibilities. Is the camp, and therefore the whole quarry area, some sort of alien experiment studying humans? Seeing the aliens could lead to rumors about cryptids, after all. It’s not my favorite theory, right now it kind of gives off “it was all a dream” vibes and I think the overall story would benefit from a neater twist than that. Still, I think there’s probably a way to pull it off.
      4. All of this also makes you wonder…why on EARTH are they still hosting a children’s summer camp every year in this area full of experimenting aliens and missing hikers and cryptids and whoever knows what else?? Clearly, some characters are aware of the dangers outside of the “safe” time when the camp actually happens (Chris is agitated and worried about the counselors staying an extra night in the trailer, and Sheriff Travis really tries his best (kinda) to make sure Max and Laura don’t arrive at the camp until they’re supposed to) so why the insistence on the camp happening in the first place? So far from what I gather there are no rumors about children attending the camp going missing, so they’re probably not being experimented on or whatever, so…why? What is so special about the summer camp, and why is it crucial to only be there during that exact timeframe and not a moment sooner or later?
      5. Does this have to do with what Grace was talking about in the podcast with the nix being more active on Thursdays
4. History–I don’t know why the others are all capitalized and this one isn’t, but ANYWAY. Eliza’s here again! She seems more agitated and impatient in this one, for whatever that’s worth. She begins by saying “Two futures to see, but only one can be seen. Make your choice.” The questions for this section are as follows:
   1. Can you sleep with the closet door open? (the image for this one is the shot from the prologue where Travis stands in front of the open cellar door after chaos has ensued. I never noticed before the specific zoom in on the goosebumps on his neck…WHAT? WHY?? AAA????)
   2. Can a place have memories? (the image for this one is from the prologue as well–it’s when Laura is looking at the camp map)
   3. Does your hometown have a dark past? (the image for this one is a slow pan from the trees during the day over to a sign that reads “Hackett’s Quarry Summer Camp est. 1953”)
   4. Has anyone died where you live now? (the image for this one is Max and Laura looking around the creepy cellar. Before Max is attacked. Poor Max)
   5. Would u burn it all down if it set the “stuff” trapped free? (the image for this one is a little hard to make out–it looks like the silhouette of some fairy lights with sparks flying around, a few of the tarot cards from the game blowing by, also burning at the edges. Hmmmm…)
      1. I’m assuming the “history” title is referencing the history of the Hackett’s Quarry area, which is what I hope we’ll get into in the podcast soon! All of the questions here seem to be pointing to the conclusion that yes, something terrible happened at Hackett’s Quarry. I mean, duh, but it’s fascinating to think about–can a place have memories? How many spooky stories involve a house where someone (or many someones) was killed? So the basic conclusion we can come to is that something absolutely awful happened at the Harum Scarum show and whatever it was, it lives on to haunt the summer camp, or at least the area in general.
      2. Why the specificity of the fire question? It could just be an allusion to the ending of Until Dawn when the characters blow the house up in order to survive, but…what if that’s one of the things that happened to the Harum Scarum show? Maybe the shot of the burning tarot cards blowing in the wind is from a scene where the show burns to the ground one night. This could also be discussed in the podcast episode titled “No Hoax Without Fire.” We’ll have to wait and see!

Now that we’ve covered the story highlights, let’s talk about the new posts!

1. Nick is here!! His first intro video has a couple fast shots that are hard to make out, but from what I can tell, there’s a brief glimpse of him covered in blood, a brief shot of…a wolf face lunging? A wild boar? I can’t tell fam. There’s also a shot of him holding up a gun, but I can’t make out the other cuts.
2. There’s a short little video with one of the official gifs released that shows Ryan yelling “HEY”
3. Nick’s second video introduces him as “the nerd, polite, quiet, handsome” and then there’s a shot of him yelling while being pounced on by…something as it flashes to “smart.” WHY IS SMART HIS NEGATIVE TRAIT?? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, GUYS
4. There’s another clip from the third podcast episode, where Anton talks about how monstrous humans can be. Great.
5. There’s a post about Anne Radcliffe!! As you may recall, Anne is one of the missing hikers that Grace identified in the podcast. Grace presumes Anne is the body that got up and walked away. The post is a missing persons poster for Anne, and we get to see her face! The text describes that she was last seen on March 15th driving to Hackett’s Woods Hiking Trail in North Kill, NY. What this does tell us is we don’t actually know for sure if she ever made it to Hackett’s Woods…could be alien abduction apparently, or she’s a werewolf. I love that they’re doing posts about the podcast!!
6. The newest post is actually Part 1 of showing what everyone answered to the story highlight questions. Although some of the questions are not in those highlights, so they may have been in the actual story? Again, I don’t know how Instagram works. Interestingly, they’re all relatively evenly split, except for the overwhelming majority of people who said they’d rather be lost in the woods than at sea. We’ve all seen Shark Week. We understand.
   1. The post starts with Eliza again, saying “there’s no shame in not wanting to glimpse into the futures that may come to be. All I’m trying to do is help. The last thing I want to do is take your choices from you, like mine were taken from me.” Wh–what? Eliza? You okay?? What choices were taken from you??
      1. maybe she’s just talking about her choices when it came to abortion were taken away haha thanks america
   2. One of the questions new to me is “Something’s coming. Who do you save?” and the choices are “my best friend” or “my partner/crush.” Most people chose the friend, but it’s not an overwhelming majority. The two people pictured are Nick and Emma…is this an Abigail question? Does she have to choose between them?? Ughhhhhhhhhhh
   3. Another new question is “do you feel like you truly know your friends and family?” Most people said yes, but again, not an overwhelming majority. What’s interesting to note is the picture they show here, a black and white framed photograph of two boys on the shores of the lake, smiling. Iiiiiiiinteresting…who are they? Did Chris, the head of the camp, have a brother at one point? We know Supermassive looooooves tragic stories about siblings (RIP Beth, Hanna, and Josh (#JOSHDESERVEDBETTER))…HMMMMMMMM
   4. Another new question is “do you trust your friends and family with your life?” and this was a bigger gap in answers, with 70% of people trusting their peeps. The image here is the counselors at their late-night bonfire party. Then there’s a brief cut to Ryan saying “wow…um…I guess ‘both’ is off the table?” which makes me think some of these questions may make an appearance in the game–maybe this is something the counselors talk about at the bonfire, and the player gets to answer these questions in the game as well. A fun idea, I like it! Also, I’m terrified at how choosing specific answers may affect my playthrough! I’m stressed out now!
   5. One important thing to note is that in this video, I was finally able to make out the burning tarot card that briefly passes by on all of these videos about impossible choices–The Tower. Props to Supermassive, here, because with this knowledge, I once again remain cautiously optimistic about how tarot will be used in the game. While Death is the card that most people glom on to as “THIS IS THE BAD CARD” it’s not necessarily the case–more often than not, the Death card could refer to new beginnings, the death of something that was holding you back, so on and so forth. It symbolizes an ending, but more importantly, it symbolizes a new beginning. The Tower is actually the card you really want to watch out for. While the meaning varies depending on everything from the placement of the card in the spread to the reader giving the reading and how they interpret the cards, it’s roughly true that the Tower is generally…not great. It can represent anything like sudden upheaval because of tragedy, chaos, destruction, sudden change that doesn’t feel good, so on and so forth (again, it depends on the context of the spread). Ultimately, this chaos and destruction could be beneficial, but usually this card points to, shall we say, the storm before the calm, and it probably isn’t going to be a fun ride. What does this mean for the game? NOTHING GOOD, PROBABLY.

That’s everything from Instagram for now!

TIKTOK

We have three new videos to look at!

1. The first is the same as Instagram, the first intro video for Nick with flashes to him holding a gun and a wolf/wild boar?
2. The second is from his point of view with a fun song playing and the text reading “SUMMER VIBES” and it’s all very harmless and happy, with lots of beautiful shots of him and Abigail exploring the camp near sunset. AWWWWW except then it cuts to him (and possibly Abigail?) yelling, a shot of him on the ground covered in blood, him being pounced on by something…YAY SUMMER VIBES AM I RIGHT
3. The third is a clip of some of our counselor buddies talking and joking around: Dylan, Ryan, and Kaitlyn are talking about a podcast (I’m assuming it’s a podcast Ryan is listening to and I’m assuming….it’s Bizarre Yet Bonafide). Dylan asks what it’s about, asking if it’s about him 😉 and Ryan goes into panic mode like “YOU…THINK I’M LISTENING TO A PODCAST…ABOUT YOU” Kaitlyn says “okay if anyone here had a podcast about them, it’d be me.” Dylan then fires back “yeah, if there was a podcast about how to look and smell like a butt.” Offended, Kaitlyn says “oh my god, you are so childish!” to which Dylan replies “at least I don’t look and smell like a butt” and then a cheesy laugh track plays. Iconic dorks, first of all, but this post also tells us when the next Bizarre Yet Bonafide is coming out–May 19th!!

Those are all the updates we have for now! I will of course post another update when the new podcast episode is out, and we may have some other social media updates by then as well. We still need counselor videos about Abigail, but once those are out, I’m not sure what’s next on the plate…will we get similar videos for Chris and the other adult characters, or do they have something else up their sleeve since the other characters are not playable ones for us?

Also, fingers crossed we find out what happened to Anne Radcliffe. I’m sure she’s fine.

Right?