OH HEY EVERYONE GUESS WHAT UPDATED TODAY

(In my defense, I started this post on Thursday but then I got sidetracked by dying my hair and seeing Hadestown. And then I had to emotionally recover from dying my hair and seeing Hadestown.)

So now at the time of writing this, we are just under ONE WEEK AWAY from the game’s release!! We have a new YouTube video, lots of Instagram posts, a couple TikTok videos, and of course, A BRAND NEW PODCAST EPISODE to discuss today!!

Settle in with some snacks, keep an eye out for werewolves, and let’s dive on in!

YOUTUBE

2K uploaded what they are calling the “Official Gameplay Overview Trailer” where our good friend the director Will Byles dives into more specifics about what the gameplay will look like. He goes into the various modes, covering some of what we knew already, but I do want to touch on a few things!

1. To start off with, we see a short new clip of Dylan and Ryan! If you’re like me and you’ve watched IGN or others talking about getting to play a short preview of the game, you’ll recognize this moment–it seems you have the decision as Dylan to climb back up the ladder, but doing so gives you a PATH CHOSEN moment and seems to point out that the ladder is now unsteady. Great. I’m sure that’s fine. It’s not like ladders need to be steady or anything. We don’t see that moment in this clip, but rather the moment before, where Dylan teases Ryan about seeing “absolutely nothing” down there. Dorks.
   1. Once again, though, you’ve got me asking…where are they? Do all the buildings have ominous basements, or are they in the actual namesake quarry? Hmmmmm…
   2. We do see the moment where Dylan can choose to climb up the ladder again later on in the video. It’s one of those “Path Updated” moments and seems to imply that putting just that much more pressure on the ladder is a bad idea–for later on, at least. Great, now I’m gonna be stressed out about ladders in my playthrough. Like, knowing this moment happens, do I choose not to go up the ladder then? Will that kill Dylan early? WHO DO I DOOM BY BREAKING THE LADDER THOUGH???
   3. I’m gonna inadvertently slaughter everyone during my playthrough, I just know it. Sorry in advance.
2. There’s a brief clip where we see Jacob talking to Nick, asking him how his ~moment~ with Abigail in the woods went. We can choose to have Nick be evasive about it, asking Jacob how things are going with Emma instead, or hopeful, saying that it was okay.
   1. Obsessed with how the hopeful option is just like “it was aight” like?? Sure, okay.
3. There’s a short clip of Jacob looking at different books in one of the cabins, and at one point he says “ugh, horror. I hate horror.”

1. Important things to note that Will Byles says:
   1. In regards to the counselors throwing a party: “Unfortunately for them, hunting season has just begun, and they’re the prey.”
      1. a lot of the advertising earlier on seemed to be hinting that they would be hunted by other humans–Anton even points out how awful and monstrous humans can be in the podcast–but I’m just not sure that’s the case…at least, not entirely. THERE ARE TOO MANY CALLBACKS TO CRYPTIDS AND WEREWOLVES, FRIENDS. I don’t doubt they’re the prey, but I have questions about the predator(s) and their strange adherence to letting children hang out there unharmed for a whole week during the summer.
   2. In regards to gameplay: “You’ll play as all nine counselors throughout the course of the game.”
      1. I’ve mentioned this before, but they have to keep bringing this up for a reason. There’s a theory that Max and Laura are our prologue characters and we don’t see them again, but I just…that wouldn’t make sense and wouldn’t explain why they keep emphasizing “YOU WILL PLAY AS ALL NINE OF THEM” because as we saw in the prologue, you only play as Laura there. We still have to play as Max. MAX DIDN’T DIE IN THE PROLOGUE.
      2. Now…are we playing a fully human Max? Thaaaaaaat remains to be seen…
2. He then goes on to discuss the various ways to play the game, from the classic single player experience to various multiplayer modes to the fun movie mode option, which I plan to use to watch what choices I SHOULD have made for the “everyone lives” option. Because again, I’m going to end up inadvertently slaughtering everyone, I just know it.
   1. It should be noted I will likely only be reviewing the single player modes here because…it’s in the title of the blog. Also, the multiplayer options require having friends.
      1. HA JK I HAVE FRIENDS
      2. but you need friends who enjoy horror

That about does it for YouTube for now!

INSTAGRAM

We have a whopping NINE ELEVEN posts to get through and overanalyze, so LET’S DO THIS (they added more while I was emotionally recovering)

1. Up first is a cute post sponsored by our favorite podcast, Bizarre Yet Bonafide, with a list of items they claim make up a cryptid survival kit. Apparently it works on most cryptids! (effectiveness not guaranteed, however)
   1. Items included in the “kit” are a Bizarre Yet Bonafide t shirt (pls I want this pls make this a thing pls), a vial of holy water, a silver crucifix, some wolfsbane, and some garlic bread. God I love garlic bread.
      1. So does this tell us what the monster of the game may be or is it too vague? Well…yes and no. The use of holy water is potentially too vague, as it can be used in exorcisms, warding off evil spirits, disease, or Satan himself, getting rid of demons, and even exposing a suspected vampire. A crucifix, as we all know (or at least those of us currently entrenched in Dracula Daily know), is used to ward off vampires, but the specification of a silver crucifix is interesting. From what I can tell, there’s nothing in mythology or folklore that says the crucifix has to be silver. To me, that seems to tie in a lot more to the whole “kill a werewolf with a silver bullet” thing. Speaking of wolves…WOLFSBANE. There is a lot going on with wolfsbane–from what I can tell, it’s one of many names for a species of flowers that could potentially be poisonous? In mythology, there seem to be conflicting accounts: some say it causes one to become a werewolf, some say it is used to repel monsters such as werewolves…and, perhaps most notably, wolfsbane was used as a sort of attempt to ward off Dracula in one of the movie adaptations. I can’t tell you if this happens in the original novel because we’re not at that point in Dracula Daily yet and I know I could just read the book myself BUT WHERE IS THE FUN IN THAT. The kit also comes with garlic bread, but it’s unclear if that’s to ward off vampires or just to eat because garlic bread is delicious.
      2. All this to say, it’s possible the kit could be just an attempt at a general catch-all for warding off monsters and cryptids, but on the other hand, a loooooot of this seems to now be pointing at vampires. Which like, don’t get me wrong, would be cool–I just feel like we’ve seen a real uptick in vampire games recently. I’d be down for some werewolves, is all I’m saying. Or both. Both is good.
2. The next post is our fun little introductory video to Chris, the apparent owner of the summer camp and maybe the area? Played by David Arquette, it’s Mr. H!
   1. Mr. H’s video describes him as “the father figure, friendly, charming, approachable” with a brief flash to his “negative” trait as being “short-tempered.”
      1. The scene they show when they call him short-tempered is from the trailer where he’s telling the kids NO you canNOT stay another night, JACOB. But I’m kinda running on the theory that dear old Mr. H might be one of the monsters himself–I think calling a quick-to-bite werewolf “short-tempered” is a bit of an understatement, but it’s just the kind of thing I would do if I were advertising for a game like this. HMMMM…
3. The next post is an announcement that the release of one of the multiplayer modes is being delayed, and will not come out with the rest of the game on June 10. Instead, online multiplayer mode will be released via an update on July 8.
   1. The idea behind the online multiplayer is that (from what I gather) one person is playing, but everyone else can vote on decisions as they come up, thereby shaping the story by popular demand. At least then you have other people to blame when something goes horribly wrong!
4. The next post is actually just the gameplay overview trailer we covered already in the YouTube section.
5. The next post is a preview of what the “80’s Throwback Outfits” look like for Abigail, Nick, and Kaitlyn. The throwback outfits are available in the ~deluxe~ addition, but it’s worth noting that they won’t be available in-game until–wait for it–July 8.
   1. Kaitlyn’s is cute and all but doesn’t really give me her…energy? If that makes sense? Nick’s has a cute letterman jacket, which we love, but ABIGAIL. OH MAN ABIGAIL. SHE SLAYING IN THOSE PLAID PANTS I LOVE HER.
      1. gonna be so sad when I accidentally get her slaughtered
6. We then have a clip from the fourth podcast episode, which I covered in my previous updates post if you’d like to check that out!
7. Next up, we have a little arrangement of all of our lovely camp counselors, with the caption being “which counselors will survive your first playthrough?”
   1. My favorite comment is the person like “I will try to save everyone but if it’s anything like Until Dawn, I will accidentally slaughter everyone and be sad af”
   2. me too
8. Next, we get a preview of what the 80’s throwback outfits look like for Emma, Jacob, and Ryan and they are…*chef’s kiss*
   1. Crop top supremacy is all I’m sayin
   2. Emma and Jacob crop top power couple
9. Then, we get our favorite podcast episode update post with our favorite computer monitor and “Rabbit Hole” sticky note
   1. still have no idea what that means
10. We then have a picture of our buddy the sheriff in front of the cellar from the prologue that reads “ONE WEEK LEFT”
    1. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
11. this next post requires a lil ~sleuthing~ if you will, as it appears to be an actual tarot reading for us!! The cards presented to us are The Fool, The High Priestess, The Magician, and…The Tower
    1. Aight lemme preface this by saying that as an unapologetic tarot user and enthusiast myself, I still don’t know absolutely everything there is to know about the cards and my interpretation and theorizing about this could absolutely differ from the dev’s intentions and reasons for this post and the cards chosen. So much of tarot depends on the spread being used, the deck being used, the reader, the person on the other side of the table, so on and so forth. So, with that being said–let’s dive in.
    2. What’s important to note right off the bat is that there is no spread for these cards–they are simply presented to us one by one before moving on to the next one. Now, you don’t need a specific spread for readings, but sometimes the cards’ relationship to each other in the spread formation is crucial to whatever information you can glean from them. What’s a spread, you may be asking if you’ve read this far? Basically, it’s how you arrange the cards for the reading. There are any number of well known spreads (or, in simplest terms, shapes) you can use in readings, but people create their own spreads to use all the time, and the card’s position in the spread (shape) can help decipher what the cards are telling you. We don’t have any of that here, so our interpretation largely depends on the cards themselves.
    3. The amount of cards given to us is crucial as well–4. Simple tarot pulls tend to involve 3 cards (or even 1), so we can rule out more well-known spreads like the past-present-future. That’s not to say there are no pulls or spreads involving 4 cards because of course there are, but we don’t know which one we’re using here, so we can’t rely on it. Anyway, all that aside, let’s look at the cards themselves.
    4. Each card given to us is one of the Major Arcana–tarot decks are split into two different “types” of cards, the Major and the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana are the ones used most often in media, they’re the cards like Death, The Lovers, and yes, The Tower. The Minor Arcana are organized more closely to a standard deck of cards, with four suits and number cards as well as “face” cards. Like the Major Arcana, every single Minor Arcana card has a different meaning, the difference being you can also glean some of that from the number of the card as well as the suit. But we’re not dealing with any of that here, so back to the Major Arcana!
    5. Card #1 from our reading is The Fool. This is a card we’ve seen before in the game, because it shows up as a collectible in the Prologue–Laura finds it while she’s exploring the spooky woods and the remains of the Harum Scarum show. Generally The Fool represents new beginnings, the start of a new journey, and innocence. When I covered this card in the Prologue video, I mentioned that this makes sense in context because it’s the start of the game and certainly the start of a new journey for us as the player. I don’t know how innocent we’re gonna be going into this “absolutely definitely a horror game” but…ya know.
    6. Card #2 is The High Priestess. Generally, the card is one of introspection and wisdom, especially when it comes to spirituality and spiritual knowledge. It’s a card of mystery, and (depending on the cards around it) it could be telling you to take a moment to closely investigate your surroundings or the situation you find yourself in because it’s possible things around you may not be what they appear to be. The card may not always mean that exactly, but I think in the context of…horror game…that interpretation makes sense. Plus, we’ve heard that kind of phrase before, the whole “things may not be as they appear.”
    7. Card #3 is The Magician. Generally the card points to success through determination and use of the knowledge and tools you currently possess–you have the power to shape your destiny and now is the time to do it. In the immortal words of Arthur in Shrek 3: “the only one standing in your way is…you.” Unlike the High Priestess’s warning of introspection, this card is all about how it is the time to act and embrace your full potential. You have the power, so use it.
    8. Card #4 is, unfortunately, The Tower. Like I discussed in a previous updates post, media generally is quick to use the Death card as a bad omen when the true enemy and the one you really want to watch out for is The Tower. BUT ALSO I’M KIDDING–there’s not such thing as a bad or “evil” tarot card, it’s all about their placement in the spread and the situation you’re reading into. That being said, The Tower generally has the greater potential to point to more negative outcomes or situations than, say, The Sun or the Wheel of Fortune (the card, not the game show). Generally, The Tower is associated with sudden, unexpected change or even disaster, an unforseen accident, and destruction. However, depending on the spread, it could also be referencing liberation and a sudden change that brings freedom from a dangerous situation. Do I think the game will be using that interpretation??? Absolutely not, this is a horror game and everyone gonna be dead. But we can dream.
    9. So…when you put them all together, what does it mean? Well, again, we’re at a bit of a loss because we don’t have a spread and therefore card placements and organization to use for reference. However, if I had to guess as a semi-coherent tarot enthusiast and overanalyzer of all small details in everything, I would say this reading isn’t directed at any of the characters in the game or even meant to tell us anything new necessarily–like the impossible choices presented to the Instagram audience, I believe this tarot reading is directed at us as the PLAYER as we start thinking about and getting ready to play this game. Every card can be used in this way to both help and warn us as we enter the final countdown this week. Like The Fool, we are beginning a new journey and are innocent only in that we don’t have all the answers on our first playthrough about what exactly is waiting for us in The Quarry–and we should keep that in mind and not be too cocky as we set out (unless we’re goin in with a full slaughter mindset, I suppose). I believe The High Priestess could be reminding us to not make too many snap decisions, especially because we don’t immediately have all the answers and again, things may not be what they seem to be. There’s a ton of mystery still and we just don’t fully know what’s waiting for us around the corner, so it’s worth approaching with caution. On the flipside, The Magician may be reminding us that using the knowledge we gain as we go through the story can only help us in the end. We literally have the power in our hands, so let’s use it. We have everything we need. Hopefully. And then we have The Tower, which feels…somewhat self-explanatory in retrospect. The characters we play as absolutely go through a sudden change and definite disaster, so we have to keep that in mind going in as we control them and shape their story and relationships. I think this also fits in nicely with the Prologue, and Max and Laura’s sudden change in their evening when they were attacked by…something.
       1. which like…is so absolutely their fault. WHY DID YOU EXPLORE THE WOODS. WHY DIDN’T YOU GO TO THE MOTEL LIKE TED RAIMI TOLD YOU TO. WHY DID YOU BREAK INTO THE CELLAR. Is it because you’re characters in a horror game? Yeah. Yeah that checks out.
    10. This could also mean something completely and entirely different!! Again, though I’m hopeful, we don’t know how much tarot research the devs have done or what their actual intentions are with this post, and we don’t have the luxury of a tarot spread to help us out (and none of the cards are reversed in the reading, which is a whole other thing). Ultimately, we’ll have to wait just a few more days and see for ourselves…
12. (THEY ADDED TWO MORE POSTS SINCE I STARTED WRITING THIS SECTION CALM DOWN GUYS it’s almost like the game comes out in a couple days or something) Up next we have the 80’s throwback outfits for Laura, Max, and Dylan and they are SO. GOOD. Laura’s colorblock shirt?? Max’s sick jacket?? DYLAN’S!!! SWEATSHIRT!!!! AAAAAAAA
13. Then we have a short clip of Laura in the woods from the prologue when Eliza ominously whispers “Silas” in her ear. It comes with some text that reminds us the game comes out THIS FRIDAY!!!

That’s all for Instagram for now!

TIKTOK

There are two new posts on the TikTok page!

1. The first is the same introduction video we got on Instagram, so no need to dive back into that.
2. The second is the POV video the other counselors got, except instead of being from Chris’s point of view, it’s still from the counselors’ point of view, it’s just that it’s about Chris. It’s set up as “the most annoying things about Mr. H,” poking fun of his sense of style (or lack thereof) and his dad jokes. It then points out that he’s the only ride out of camp. I’m sure that’s fine, though.
   1. It’s worth pointing out that one of the thing the counselors complain about is that he “won’t give phones back.” I’m curious how this plays into the story, because we know Emma films lil vlogs with her phone, and part of the trailer is Kaitlyn’s phone when she sees a strange light on the island. So…does he only take some of the phones? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE COUNSELORS STAYING AN EXTRA NIGHT WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON, DAVID ARQUETTE
3. Since I started working on this post, they added another video, but it’s another repeat from Instagram: the video of Laura in the woods with the “THIS FRIDAY” text announcement.

That’s really all we’ve got for the TikTok page, at least for now! There may be more before the game’s release, although they seem to have transferred primarily over to Instagram in the final days.

IT’S HERE IT’S HERE IT’S HEREEEEEEEEEE

I’ve missed Grace so much :’)

…and unfortunately I feel like I’m about to miss her more since my girl decided camping alone in Hackett Woods was a good idea. Le sigh.

This episode is a good 3-4 minutes LONGER than our usual audio adventures, so there’s a lot to unpack here!!

We start with the usual unsettling audio editing to set the scene (monster noises, crunching, squelching, the usual). We then hear our beloved Grace and find out that she is at the check-in desk of the Harbinger Motel because she drove out to Hackett Woods ALONE to investigate all her leads.

(By the way, if you’re wondering where you’ve heard the name of the motel before, it’s in the prologue! That’s the motel that Sheriff Ted Raimi tries to get Max and Laura to go to when he insists they cannot show up to the camp one night early. Grace is, of course, ecstatic about the weird name.)

Grace makes it clear that Anton isn’t accompanying her as he is having meatloaf at his mom’s. Grace also alludes to the fact that she mayyyyyy have some type of feelings for Anton, and she’s a bit hurt that she wasn’t invited to the meatloaf shebang (even though she’s a vegan vague-en). She promises to make up for his absence and pretends to speak as him, though a little more…flirty than usual.

We learn that Grace went to investigate on her own because, even though the whole “missing dead body” thing ended up being a hoax, there has to be more to the story because there’s no smoke without fire (or, as the episode title suggests, no hoax without fire). After all, there are still two missing hikers and a local legend of a ghost woman haunting the woods, soooooo…Grace cuts the recorder off during check-in so we don’t hear from whomever the Harbinger desk clerk is, and Grace makes the point that the room is shockingly normal (with the exception of the old-fashioned toilet with the chain handle).

Grace checks back in with us in the morning, where she says that even her night was completely uneventful. She even did Bloody Mary in the mirror and nothin’! She then asks “what is this motel even a harbinger of, sweet dreams?” *ba dum tssss* (we love Grace so much) Grace then complains about being hungry and rummages in her bag for some food–and I bet you’re wondering, “why are we bringing this up? This seems inconsequential to ghost-hunting” and you’d normally be right EXCEPT do you know what she pulls out of her bag here??

THAT’S RIGHT. A PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER POP.

(sidenote: does this mean the butter pops are more like granola bars or something? I was thinking cereal but Grace unwraps something and refers to that one butter pop as her whole breakfast. I mean, I’m all for starving artists and actually could totally believe that Grace would eat like, one Reese’s Puff and call it good, but I’m juuuuuust wondering…)

So again, just a little nod to “haha here’s this established joke of ours for this in-universe funny-sounding thing, ha ha ha”?

NOPE. IT GETS WEIRD.

While enjoying her breakfast of champions, Grace wonders what it is about them that makes them so addictive. Could it be the nutritious ingredients, mayhaps?

There is no ingredient list.

WHAT. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN. THIS IS SUCH A WEIRD AND SPECIFIC DETAIL TO INCLUDE AND FOR WHY?? I WAS JOKING LAST TIME WHEN I WONDERED IF THE PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER POPS TURN YOU INTO A WEREWOLF BUT?? WHY ARE THERE NO INGREDIENTS LISTED. AAAAAAAAAAA.

As curious as Grace is, she shrugs off the “no ingredients list” weirdness and moves on, announcing what her goal is: investigating the sideshow fire from 6 years ago, which apparently happened on private land owned by the same family that owns the infamous Hackett’s Quarry Summer Camp. Grace notes that the desk clerk wouldn’t talk about the fire, and did point out that the camp is empty currently, but would soon be swarming with children (we saw in the prologue what happens when people visit the empty camp PLEASE DON’T GO THERE GRACE). She wonders why the fancy family who owns the land wants a bunch of screaming kids running around during the summer, ahem, “unless they’re sacrificing them to ghosts of those who died in the fire.” Ha. Ha ha. Ha.

Apparently Grace wanted to call the camp, but she doesn’t have service (of course) and apparently the desk clerk pretended the landline was down. Good. Good good. Determined to get answers, she sets out to the town to ask around about the fire. When we next hear from her, she’s ecstatic to report she was RIGHT and that the Hag of Hackett’s Quarry legend ties into the Harum Scarum Show fire. Apparently she tried talking to the older townspeople and they wouldn’t tell her anything, but the younger ones totally did. She cuts herself off though, saying she wants to save that story for the next episode with Anton because it’s so good. :’) Grace please I hope you make it back to Anton

Grace then makes the super smart decision to camp alone in the woods at night (well, outskirts of the woods). Things start off lighthearted enough–she’s clearly a little on edge, but she jokes about how even though it would suck to be killed by a bear, at least she could come back as a ghost and haunt Anton. After she hears some rustling outside, she decides to check it out, finding nothing but…a squirrel. (Though she does point out that it could be a ghost squirrel)

Actually making the smart decision for once, Grace decides she’s had enough, she’s scared, and she’s packing up to leave. We hear sounds of her presumably packing things up, followed by wolves howling, and then, of all things…the peanut butter butter pops theme song.

We have one more episode to go, and if I had to guess, I’d say we can probably expect it to come out on Thursday as a final hoorah before the game’s release on Friday. Look, I know it’s a podcast for a horror game, but I reeeeaaaaally want Grace to make it out okay :’) we can’t tell from the end of the episode if she actually makes it out of the woods and back to the motel okay, so…who knows. The final episode is titled “The Hag of Hackett’s Quarry” where I hope we’ll finally be able to learn about the full story of the Harum Scarum show and the fire that caused the ghost stories. And I hope we’ll learn that Grace is okay. Please. PLEASE.

ALSO CAN WE PLEASE LEARN THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER POPS. I WAS JOKING ABOUT THEM TURNING PEOPLE INTO WEREWOLVES, BUT NOW I’M NOT SURE. THE EPISODE LITERALLY ENDED WITH WOLVES HOWLING FADING INTO THE BUTTER POPS SONG. SEND HELP. I WAS JOKING.

We are days away my friends!! Before I close us out for now, I’m noting some potentially interesting timeline things we have learned up to this point (that I remember–there may be more??)

We know that Hackett’s Quarry Summer Camp was established in 1953, at least according to the camp sign we see in the preview. Assuming the game takes place in 2022, this means the camp has been running for 69 years now (obligatory “lol 69” comment here). Thanks to Grace’s comments and efforts from the newest podcast episode, we know that the sideshow fire was only 6 years ago, so again assuming the game takes place in 2022, the fire was in 2016 (I feel like America generally was on fire in 2016 so this fits). We also know that peanut butter butter pops were discontinued 15 years ago, so 2007. So if peanut butter butter pops are indeed tied to werewolves or the general story as a whole, there’s a nine year gap between them being discontinued and the sideshow fire (although as we know from Grace, people are still finding them to eat even years later).

What does ANY of this mean?? I dunno, fam. Hoping for more answers on Thursday if we get the new episode then, and then after that…IT’S GAME TIME.

I will admittedly only be playing during the morning or hours of excessive daylight because I absolutely have more of a scaredy-cat fascination with horror. Also–peanut butter butter pops merch when??

That’s all for now friends! Happy Quarry release week, and I may see you all on Thursday with a podcast update!