The Quarry is the latest blood-soaked web of life-or-death decisions from Supermassive Games. Like its predecessors, it weaves a complex tale of survival where any and all playable characters can meet a grisly fate. It has a gripping plot held together with tight storytelling, but there are a few moments that don't quite hold up to scrutiny.
From plot holes to contradictions, here are ten parts of The Quarry's narrative that make no sense. How many did you notice?
This list contains major spoilers for The Quarry. It is highly recommended that you complete the game's story at least once before reading any further.
10 Are Peanut Butter Butterpops Discontinued Or Not?
Jacob and Nick make a big deal out of finding a sealed bag of Peanut Butter Butterpops in Chapter Two. It's well past its expiration date, and Nick comments that the snack is not available in stores anymore.
During the Bizarre Yet Bonafide podcast during the game's end credits, however, an ad for Peanut Butter Butterpops plays. It's a great throwback gag that reminds the player how much changed over the course of the night, but if the product is no longer being sold why is it being advertised?
Our best guess is that Peanut Butter Butterpops made a nostalgia-fueled return to store shelves while the counselors were at camp, and since they didn't have their phones they were unaware that they'd be able to binge their favorite sugary snack to their hearts' content when they got home.
9 Why Does The Moon Keep Changing Sizes?
It's not surprising that a game about werewolves has lots of dramatic shots of the full moon shining bright over the camp. The weird part is that the moon always seems to be a different size in each shot.
Hackett's Quarry only covers about a mile radius, so there's no way the characters move far enough to dramatically change their perspective on the moon.
Weirder still, in many shots the moon is far closer than it has any reason to be. With the moon looming that large in the sky, any characters who survive the night will have to contend with massive tidal shifts at best and an apocalyptic lunar impact at worst.
8 Why Do Werewolves Splatter Blood Everywhere When They Transform?
Whenever a werewolf transforms, everyone and everything in the vicinity gets drenched in blood. The effect is included in the game to cover the model swap between the human character and the werewolf, but it raises a lot of questions.
Where does all that blood come from? The werewolves don't seem to shed their human forms as an outer layer, otherwise Max would certainly have noticed his own skin littering the floor of his jail cell.
Weirder still, the blood burst also happens when a werewolf turns back into a human, as we see if Laura is alive when Chris dies. That makes even less sense, since Laura's human form is smaller than her werewolf form and wouldn't tear itself out from inside.
For that matter, if everyone nearby gets splattered with werewolf blood when someone transforms, wouldn't that render them safe from the werewolves since the blood masks their scent?
7 Why Isn't Max Covered In Blood The First Time He Changes Back?
Speaking of Laura's transformation, when she turns back into a human she's drenched head to toe in blood, even if she didn't kill anyone during her brief rampage. Max is also bloody when he returns to normal on the island, regardless of whether he killed Emma.
This can be written off as a side effect of the aforementioned transformation splatter, but when Max returns to human form in his jail cell in Chapter Seven he's completely clean. Shouldn't he be dripping with red until Travis lets him out to take a shower?
6 Why Do Werewolves Have Underwear When They Turn Back Into Humans?
This is the last question about werewolf transformations, then we'll move on. When werewolves assume their beast form, their clothes are torn to shreds as their bodies grow. That's the reason Travis was insistent that Max take his clothes off before the full moon in July.
When the werewolves return to human form though, they magically get their underwear back. There's no reason for this other than to protect the player's innocent eyes from nudity... in a game featuring graphic decapitations and other disturbing images of violence.
5 How Does Bobby Shrug Off A Shotgun Blast?
After Nick is bitten, Ryan finds Bobby trying to drag him away to the cages before he transforms. Not knowing Bobby's intentions, Ryan can shoot the hulking Hackett to drive him off. Doing so causes Bobby to drop a vial of werewolf blood, which can potentially save either Ryan or Laura's life at the end of the game.
Despite getting hit with a shotgun, Bobby only seems to be annoyed if Ryan shoots him. Weirder still, he doesn't seem to be bleeding anywhere at all.
Bobby is tough despite not being a werewolf; that's to be expected, considering he's built like a truck. Even so, Ryan's shot should have done some serious damage. Shotguns can be lethal from long range despite their spread, and Bobby isn't more than a handful of meters from Ryan at the time.
4 Why Weren't Chris, Kaylee, and Caleb In The Electrified Cages?
While Laura is exploring Hackett House, she finds the bill for the electrified cages' installation. Travis spent five thousand dollars to ensure that Chris, Kaylee, and Caleb could be safely detained during their monthly transformations.
With that in mind, why didn't the family use the cages for their intended purpose? Chris and his kids should be locked up well before the moon rises on August 22, yet not one of the werewolves is correctly contained.
3 Why Do The Hacketts Only Search For Silas During A Full Moon?
Travis makes it clear on several occasions that the Hacketts have spent every full moon for the last six years hunting Silas and attempting to end the werewolf curse. The White Wolf must be killed with silver during a full moon to cure his victims of lycanthropy.
Wouldn't it make more sense to track Silas 24/7? He's much less dangerous when he's not transformed, and the family is shown they have no compunctions about abducting someone and keeping them locked up until they transform. They could simply hold Silas in the abandoned police station or on their property until the next full moon, then shoot him in his cell. It's not like they'd accidentally kidnap the wrong kid - a feral child with albinism is a pretty unique target.
2 Why Weren't The Hacketts Surveilling The Fire Site?
When Travis finds out that Silas has finally returned to North Kill, he immediately knows to search for him at the site of the Harum Scarum fire where Caleb was first bitten. This sets the stage for the final encounter in the game, where the fate of the White Wolf is decided.
If Travis knew Silas would return to the fire site when he came back to the area, why doesn't the family have cameras and traps there at all times? Instead, it seems to be the only place that the Hacketts aren't watching regularly!
1 Why Is Chris Still Running The Camp?
Chris in his human form plays the role of a responsible, caring camp leader. For the last six years, though, he's been inviting parents to entrust their kids to his care for the summer despite the fact that he's a werewolf.
Chris knows he's a werewolf, and even with the camp's amended schedule there is still one full moon a year when the camp is occupied. Continuing to operate a summer camp while Chris, Caleb, and Kaylee turn into rampaging killing machines every month shows an appalling lack of responsibility.
Closing down the camp is not only the right thing to do, it's the pragmatic one. The Hacketts are desperate to keep their affliction a secret from the outside world, and nothing would prompt an investigation faster than a kid disappearing at summer camp. Even Travis's powers as sheriff wouldn't be able to sweep an incident like that under the rug, and Hackett's Quarry would be swarmed with reporters, state police, and lawyers the moment somebody's child didn't come home.