Warning: This article contains descriptions, images, and videos of graphic violence.
As Supermassive Games' hit interactive horror drama The Quarry continues to gain popularity since its release in June, ardent gamers have begun to explore all the various deaths of each character. This includes Hackett's Quarry summer camp counselor Emma Mountebank (Halston Sage), who can potentially die in 11 different ways depending on a player's deliberate in-game decision-making.
Whether shot with a silver bullet, savagely accosted by werewolves and wounded over multiple body parts, or accidentally plummeting to her demise, Emma's deaths scenes in The Quarry run the gamut from the tragically sad to the brutally disturbing and everything in between.
Falling Onto Rocks
Of Emma's dozen death modes in the game, all but two occur in Chapter 4. The tamest of the bunch comes when Emma accidentally falls off of the bridge when attempting to evade Max in werewolf form. If Emma reels in the zipline too quickly, she will fail the QTE, miss the zipline handle, and inevitably plummet to her demise as a result.
While there is a modicum of blood that explodes from her sternum as Emma's body slams onto the rocks below with thunderous force, it's hard to blame anyone but herself for the outcome. Compared to the intensely violent carnage she faces later, falling to death seems like an easy way out.
Shot By Kaitlyn
If the intelligent Quarry camp counselor Emma happens to survive in chapter 4 and become infected by a werewolf, she will inevitably be gunned down by Kaitlyn with a silver shotgun shell in Chapter 8. The sequence is vividly cinematic, but Emma begins as the violent aggressor rather than the terrified victim, which makes her demise fare less harrowing and sympathetic.
Moreover, being shot from a long range in the midriff is nowhere near as gnarly as some of the visceral animalistic attacks Emma will face later. The only really disturbing part of her shotgun demise is the aftermath, which sadistically shows Emma's human corpse smeared in blood and adds a jolt of terror.
Stomach Chewed
In Chapter 4, most of Emma's goriest deaths come at the rabid maw of Max in a variation of the same barbarous attack. However, the least graphic demise in the chapter comes when Emma darts back to the treehouse after failing the second QTE. As Emma breaks a wooden step and falls to the ground, Max aggressively lunges on top of her.
Although Max does bury his sharp fangs in Emma's stomach and chew on her innards until she is dead, none of it is shown graphically, and the death remains entirely bloodless as the camera focuses on Emma's quivering face while she yelps for help. While genuinely terrifying, the death itself is fairly innocuous.
Throat Ripped On The Dock
If Emma doesn't fall to her demise from the dock in chapter 4, she will be rudely met by werewolf Max by the zipline, forcefully grabbing her by the neck and sinking his fangs into her jugular vein. While there is a glaring absence of gore, the bone-crushing sound FX mixed with Max's guttural growls and Emma's futile screams is quite disturbing.
Aside from the tight, shaky-cam framing that heightens the urgency, the brutality hikes a notch when the camera angle shifts to a wide shot to show Max's maw dripping fresh blood before he jumps on Emma's back and begins feeding on her throat even more. Raw, riveting, and real as it gets!
Stomach Mauled & Neck Eaten
If Emma opts against using the taser or bear spray on Max in the treehouse in Chapter 4, the voracious werewolf will quickly end her life by first digging his sharp claws into her midriff and then preying on her neck. The only merciful part of the murder is how short it lasts. Beyond that, it's quite brutal in the way Emma's face is left painted in viscid hemoglobin.
Another aspect that makes the death so cruel and coldhearted is the intimate camerawork that stays close to Emma's face throughout. While the grotesque fatality is swift and ends quickly enough to spare viewers a bit, it happens so fast that it comes as a legitimate shock to the system when witnessing it.
Leg & Neck Bitten
If Emma chooses to block the door and avoid using bear spray on Max, the wicked werewolf will catch her as she tries to climb back up the treehouse ladder. First, Max will gouge Emma's leg before rolling around, beating her with his hands, and eventually delving his teeth into her intestines.
More aurally disturbing than graphically violent since much of the action is shrouded in shadow, the protracted nature of the attack is accentuated by the eerie sounds of mandicated flesh, shredded bones, painful moans, and feral groans as Max cherishes his latest meal, making the game feel like a genuine horror movie.
Throat Slashed In Treehouse
Setting the merciless stakes to come, Emma's first death in the beloved summer camp horror game is vivid, vicious, and visceral as can be. As Emma blogs on her phone, she ambles into a treehouse and finds the option to open a trapdoor above or by it. If opened, Max will leap down in lethal lycanthropic form and gruesomely rip Emma's throat.
What makes the fiendish fatality so brutal is the relentless nature of the onslaught itself, leaving Emma trapped with an inescapable sense of claustrophobic panic. The sound of bones crunching, the sight of blood splattering from her neck, and Emma's helpless cries for help are tough to take, even for one of the more unlikable Quarry characters.
Torso Mauled
Emma's third potential death in Chapter 4 comes when failing to grab the ladder after she releases the zipline. As she falls to the ground, Max abruptly pops out from a rock and accosts Emma, first stabbing her navel with his sharp claw before burying his snout in her torso. When the camera spins around, Emma's chest cavity is gorily hollowed for everyone to see.
While the jump scare of Max's initial attack is quite alarming, it's the ruthless barbarity of ravenously clawing and mawing at the poor woman's midsection and the corresponding bloodshed that really takes the death scene over the top.
Throat Clawed & Eaten
When Emma runs back to the treehouse and slips on the dock in Chapter 4, Max savagely leaps on top of her and slashes her throat with his claws, leaving a massive pool of blood on the dock. Insatiably, Max rip-claws Emma's throat twice more, causing a volcano of gore to explode in the air until he finishes her off by rapaciously feasting on her vocal cords, carotid artery, and jugular vein.
Aside from the abject carnage and graphic violence depicted onscreen, it's Max's proud menacing growl afterward as he flexes and leans over Emma's body that really makes the death scene so unsettling. Even worse, an extreme close-up of the actual wound is shown, making it one of the goriest fatalities on record.
Entrails Devoured By Max
If Emma fails to push the cabinet to block the door, fails to use the taser, or fails to climb the ladder in Chapter 4, she will experience one of the most shockingly ruthless deaths in the entire game. Max will throw Emma across the room, jump on top of her and rabidly plunge his fangs into her stomach, yank out one of her intestines with his mouth, and proceed to devour her innards.
As bones clatter and flesh chomps, the camera focuses on Emma's gruesomely hollowed-out stomach while Max's glowing yellow eyes light up and he fiendishly continues to feast on Emma's insides. It's truly the stuff of legitimate horror movie nightmares.