When it comes to horror-tinged interactive story games, the British developer Supermassive Games have consistently brought the choice-driven thrills. Among the studio’s best titles is the critically acclaimed “The Quarry,” a 2022 game revolving around supernatural terror at a summer camp. Like many Supermassive Games’ projects, “The Quarry” features a star-studded cast as it brings its visceral experience to life. For players who have experienced every ending in the 2022 game and are hungry for more, “The Quarry” is in good company when it comes to similar titles.
We’ve put together a list of horror and thriller titles that are similar to “The Quarry” either tonally or in terms of gameplay. These range from other horror titles developed by Supermassive Games to thrillers within the interactive story space. What these games have in common are experiences with a strong focus on the narrative and how individual player decisions have an impact on how everything unfolds. Here are the five best video games like “The Quarry” to keep those interactive story scares coming.
Heavy Rain
Before Supermassive Games began making interactive story titles, Quantic Dream was among the main developers dominating the genre. This began with “Heavy Rain” for the PlayStation 3 in 2010, a neo-noir thriller with multiple playable characters. The game’s main plot follows troubled father Ethan Mars whose son is kidnapped by a notorious serial killer. As Ethan searches for his son, getting caught up in the murderer’s twisted game, other characters linked to the mystery provide their own perspectives on the case.
“Heavy Rain” feels like the video game equivalent to the beloved ’90s thriller “Seven,” complete with a theme-driven serial killer and bleak urban setting. Along the way, the game pressures you to do terrible things to progress, reveling in Ethan’s dive into his own heart of darkness. The quick-time elements of the gameplay may feel like a product of their time, but they do ensure players are paying attention throughout the cutscenes. A moody and gripping adventure on the PlayStation 3, “Heavy Rain” set a standard that “The Quarry” would later aspire to.
The Walking Dead
Among the best interactive story video games of all time, regardless of genre or tone, is 2012’s “The Walking Dead” from Telltale Games. Adapting the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, this is a thrilling episodic adventure through a world overwhelmed by hordes of the ravenous undead. The story centers on Clementine, a young girl who learns to survive in the midst of this merciless zombie apocalypse. Player choices affect how Clementine and her guardian, convicted criminal named Lee Everett, progress through the ruins of civilization and interact with other survivors that they encounter.
Even after everything that went wrong at Telltale Games, “The Walking Dead” endures as arguably the company’s greatest release. The major decisions the player is forced to make carry a palpable emotional weight to them and clear sense of consequence. This makes it an incredibly deep experience and one that invites strong replayability to see alternate ways for the story to unfold. A visually stunning realization of one of the most popular horror properties of the 21st century, “The Walking Dead” captures the appeal of the source material and really makes you live the impossible moral complexities that its characters endure.
Until Dawn
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Arguably still the title that Supermassive Games is best known for, 2015’s “Until Dawn” is a surprising gaming hit that everyone thought would be a flop. A celebration of slasher cinema, it follows a group of friends spending a weekend getaway at a remote mountain lodge. The ensemble is wary of the trip, given that it was the site of a horrific and still unresolved tragedy the previous year. As the characters settle in for the weekend, they discover the terrifying truth behind the surrounding area and the bloodthirsty threat that’s now stalking them.
There are a lot of connections between “The Quarry” and “Until Dawn,” with both games directed by Will Byles. It’s more of a spiritual successor than a sequel, but there’s no doubt that fans of “The Quarry” will love what Byles did with “Until Dawn.” Both games revolve around dark secrets coming to light and visceral horror aesthetics to keep players on their toes. The main difference is that “Until Dawn” doesn’t take itself quite as seriously. “It’s very much a teen horror story in the context of it being slightly self-referential,” Byles said. “It knows what it is.”
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
After working with Sony on “Until Dawn,” Supermassive Games began developing a line of similar interactive horror titles under the banner “The Dark Pictures Anthology.” The best of this line so far is the 2021 release “House of Ashes,” the first in the series to include difficulty settings and a 360-degree camera system. The game is set in 2003 during the Iraq War, with protagonist Rachel King (played by Ashley Tisdale) finding an ancient temple buried under the desert. As Rachel and the game’s other playable characters explore this foreboding discovery, they learn that it’s infested with vampiric monsters.
The premise and general sense of mystery elevate the experience considerably, and the game handles the potentially tricky aspects of the setting well, which earned praise from The Washington Post: “A few secrets you can find early on paint a clear picture that America’s search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is an effort to save face, and, throughout the game, the U.S. troops continuously express doubts about the war along with the casualties and destruction it’s caused.” The newspaper’s review of the game went on to confirm what everyone else was saying — that “House of Ashes” is the best entry in the “Dark Pictures Anthology” series to date.
The Casting of Frank Stone
Given how much of a horror gaming powerhouse “Dead by Daylight” has been for over a decade, it’s always refreshing to see the franchise branch out. This includes the 2024 spin-off “The Casting of Frank Stone,” which saw “Dead by Daylight” developer and publisher Behaviour Interactive team up with Supermassive Games. Set in 1980, the game follows an amateur film crew trying to shoot a cheap horror movie in and around a steel mill with a bloody history. 44 years later, the surviving members of the crew try to recall their memories of what happened from their traumatic shared experience filming their movie.
“The Casting of Frank Stone” is right in Supermassive Games’ usual wheelhouse. The choice-based gameplay makes a return, as does both Behaviour Interactive and Supermassive Games’ penchant for celebrating their horror movie influences. The game also features one of the stronger ensemble casts compared to other Supermassive projects, with the voice performances really pulling you into the story. One major difference between “The Casting of Frank Stone” and “The Quarry” is that the former is a single-player experience, but if you’re looking for a similar game to play on your own then this ticks all the boxes.
