Played from a third-person perspective, the player assumes control of nine different teenagers who must survive a night at the Hackett's Quarry.[1] The player must regularly make different decisions, which can change the character development, the plot, and the relationships between different characters. All nine playable characters may die via multiple ways by the end of the game. Although the game lasts about ten hours, early deaths of certain characters may shorten it.
The game is divided into ten chapters along with a prologue and epilogue. In between each chapter, as is traditional with Supermassive Games' horror games, there are occasional intermissions with a narrator, this time being fortune teller, Eliza (Grace Zabriskie), addresses the player directly and guides their future choices by reading tarot cards that the player has collected throughout the game.
Due to the game's branching storyline, it has 186 different endings,[2] affected by player choices, performances in quick-time events, and vigilance in finding evidence and clues determine the game's conclusion, as well as the public's perception of the deaths that occurred at Hackett's Quarry. Once the player completes their first playthrough of the game, they will unlock Death Rewind, which allows them to undo three character deaths in each subsequent playthrough.[3] Players can disable certain gameplay elements such as button mashing, quick-time events, and aiming and shooting, allowing them to progress in the game with minimum input.[2]
The game features local and online multiplayer. In local multiplayer, players take turns to control different characters, while in the online mode, seven other participating players can vote in key decisions. Players can participate in voting by only downloading the demo version of The Quarry.[4] The game also features a movie mode in which the player can set the personality traits of different characters and then let the story play out. Downloadable content was also included for purchase which allowed the player to use the "Death Rewind" option at the first playthrough, as well as an "80s throwback" mode which gives the characters alternate outfits which were popular in the 1980s.
