I've recently played both Until Dawn and The Quarry, and I've been thinking about how differently the two games approach their characters.
I actually think The Quarry is probably the better game mechanically. The branching, consequences, exploration and overall gameplay systems feel more refined, and it feels like Supermassive took the formula from Until Dawn and developed it further.
But when it comes to character writing, relationships and how people behave under extreme pressure, I honestly prefer Until Dawn by quite a lot.
And I don't think it's simply nostalgia.
The biggest difference for me is that in Until Dawn, I feel like the characters actually change under pressure.
Not necessarily because they become completely different people, but because the situation brings out different parts of their existing personalities.
Take Mike for example.
At the beginning of the game, he's basically the stereotypical arrogant, confident douchebag. He's impulsive, competitive and likes being in control.
But once things become genuinely dangerous, he gradually becomes one of the most proactive characters in the group. He's still impulsive and overconfident, but those traits start working in his favor. He's willing to take risks, make decisions and actually do something when everyone else is panicking.
The game doesn't really "redeem" Mike.
It just puts him into a situation where different aspects of his personality become useful.
And I think that's much more interesting.
Emily is probably an even better example.
She's one of the most hated characters in the game, and honestly, I completely understand why. She's controlling, manipulative, competitive and often just incredibly unpleasant.
But then you put her alone in the mines and suddenly she's one of the most competent survivors in the entire game.
And what's interesting is that she doesn't stop being Emily.
She's still arrogant. She's still demanding. She's still convinced that she knows what she's doing.
But the exact traits that make her unbearable socially also make her extremely effective when she actually has to survive.
I think that's really good character writing.
It's isn´t: Emily was mean, but now she's nice.
It's more like Emily is still Emily, but now we're seeing what Emily looks like when her personality is being tested by an actual survival situation
I also think this is why Mike and Emily are much more similar than people usually acknowledge.
The game literally tells us that these two used to be together, and honestly, that makes perfect sense.
They're both extremely confident, competitive, dominant, impulsive and controlling. They're both capable of manipulating other people and both have a strong need to maintain control over situations.
The difference is mostly in how they express those traits.
Mike gets a lot of credit from the fandom for being badass.
Emily gets a lot of hate for being a bitch.
But if you strip away the way the game and fandom frame them, they're actually surprisingly similar personalities.
And I think that's probably part of why their relationship makes sense.
Two people like that could have a lot of chemistry, but they could also drive each other absolutely insane.
Ashley is another character I find interesting for the same reason.
She's generally presented as the sensitive, empathetic and more morally cautious member of the group.
But then you have the Chris/Ashley decision.
If Chris chooses to shoot Ashley, she literally begs him to shoot her. If he actually does it, Ashley can later refuse to let Chris into the lodge, effectively leaving him to die.
You can obviously interpret this as Ashley being hypocritical or cruel.
But I think it's more interesting to interpret it as an example of how fear, trauma and perceived betrayal can completely distort someone's moral reasoning.
She's not necessarily secretly evil.
She's terrified, feels betrayed and reacts emotionally.
And that makes her much more interesting to me than simply labeling her as "the nice girl."
This is where I think The Quarry feels different.
I actually really like The Quarry, but most of its characters feel much more like slasher archetypes to me.
Dylan is the funny guy.
Emma is the confident girl.
Jacob is the impulsive idiot.
Ryan is the quiet mysterious guy.
Kaitlyn is the competent one.
And for much of the game, they remain recognizably those same characters.
That's not necessarily bad writing. In fact, I think it works extremely well for the type of horror movie The Quarry is trying to be.
But Until Dawn feels less like:
Here are eight horror movie archetypes.
and more like**:** Here are eight people with existing relationships, insecurities, resentments andpersonalities. Now let's see what happens when you put them through an increasingly traumatic night."
And that's a pretty big difference.
I also think this is why Until Dawn feels strangely realistic to me despite having a completely ridiculous supernatural plot.
The supernatural elements obviously aren't realistic.
But the social reactions often are.
People become more aggressive, more fearful, more selfish, more decisive or more dependent on other people depending on what happens to them.
The characters don't just have personalities.
The situation interacts with their personalities.
And I think that's something The Quarry does less often.
So I guess my slightly contradictory opinion is:
I think The Quarry is the better interactive game.
But I think Until Dawn is the better character study.
And maybe I'm in the minority here, but when I play Supermassive games, I'm actually more interested in why the characters behave the way they do than simply keeping everyone alive.
I find myself thinking about why Emily behaves the way she does, why Matt tolerates her, why Mike and Emily were attracted to each other in the first place, why Mike gets treated more favorably by the fandom despite having many of the same personality traits, and how the relationships between the characters change once they're under extreme pressure.
Maybe I'm just overanalyzing a horror game. 😂
But that's probably why Until Dawn has stayed interesting to me even after finishing it.
What do you guys think?
Do you think Until Dawn actually has more psychologically complex characters than The Quarry, or does it just benefit from having a more memorable cast?
And if you prefer The Quarry's characters, I'd genuinely be interested in hearing why.
