The Quarry and the Awkward Gay Summer Camp Romance
The Quarry, Supermassive Games’ latest choose-your-own-grisly-end game, continues the developer’s trend of sticking a group of young people in a familiar horror film setting and lets players decide who lives and dies. Similarly to Until Dawn, the progenitor of the genre Supermassive basically created, The Quarry is a slasher with a supernatural twist.
But this time, there’s gay stuff! Spoiler alert — we’re about to talk about Dylan and Ryan.
Dylan is one of the counselors at Hackett’s Quarry summer camp. He does the daily announcements over the PA system (and blasts cool tunes for all the campers), has a dry, somewhat dark sense of humor, shows his tattoo hiding under his short sleeve shirt and pretends to be unfazed by the terrors unfolding around him. Dylan is also clearly gay, and has a crush on Ryan.
A far cry from the devil-may-care Dylan, Ryan is a sensitive and serious soul. He listens to podcasts rather than bond with the other counselors at Hackett’s Quarry and looks to camp director Chris as a mentor, asking him for advice about whether or not to go away to college and leave his sister home with a relative. When horrifying, monstrous events start to occur around the counselors after the kids leave, Ryan is the most obvious choice for team leader and hero.
Is it any surprise Dylan has a crush on Ryan?
Playing as Dylan, I fumbled through my first encounters with Ryan. I tried to flirt numerous ways, from asking about his favorite podcasts to inquiring about his personal life. Ryan didn’t seem impressed. But playing as Ryan, I had the opportunity to kiss Dylan during a game of Truth or Dare, a small but triumphant victory before the real challenges began.
Dylan is an extremely relatable queer character. He hides his insecurities behind a funny exterior, and when things don’t go well for him, he wears his vulnerability on his sleeve more visibly than any tattoo. As a teen, queer kids naturally gravitate toward the other queer kids in the room. Bisexual Ryan, with his stoic presence and quietly strong personality, is a goofy and awkward gay kid’s dream guy — at least, he would be to this writer.
The Quarry is a spooky and fun-filled romp through teen slasher and summer camp horror tropes. Dylan and Ryan’s will-they-or-won’t-they relationship is a highlight for any queer gamer — you’ll find yourself making decisions specifically to ensure these two, very different boys not only survive the night but end up happy, too.
