What Happens if You Leave Max in the Basement in The Quarry

Leaving Max trapped in the basement during the intense prologue sequence of The Quarry sets up an interesting choice for players that subtly foreshadows future decisions about his fate. While the immediate outcome is the same regardless of whether Max is rescued or abandoned, analyzing the broader implications provides insight into the game‘s underlying themes and mechanics.

The Initial Choice Carries Little Weight

When playing as Laura at the end of the prologue, Max gets dragged back into the bunker by the Hacketts after discovering evidence of their crimes, forcing Laura to decide whether to run away or try saving her boyfriend. Ironically, as highlighted by [source], whatever choice the player makes here does not actually impact Max’s ultimate fate. The prologue ends with Max overpowered and Laura sedated, leading to the same outcome.

So why offer a choice at all? The most likely reason is that Supermassive Games wanted to establish moral dilemmas and risk/reward decisions as a core gameplay mechanic that would have more significant consequences later on. Giving Laura this initial, albeit inconsequential, choice about abandoning or helping Max foreshadows the future choices you’ll be faced with about his life.

Swimming to Shore Dooms Max

While leaving Max in the prologue changes nothing in the overall story, Chapter 10 provides a much more consequential fork in the road regarding his potential survival. After certain prerequisites are met and Max‘s werewolf curse is lifted, he becomes trapped in the water next to shore. The player, controlling Laura, then gets the choice between telling Max to "Stay" or "Swim to Shore".

• If you choose "Swim to Shore", Max will be attacked and gruesomely killed by Nick before reaching land.
• Alternatively, the "Stay" choice allows him to survive until dawn.

So why kill off a main character so close to the end? One possibility is that Supermassive wanted to give players an option to trigger the "Hackett‘s Quarry Massacre" trophy, which requires killing off Max and meeting other conditions. While most gamers would likely want to keep everyone alive, especially on an initial playthrough, the option to put Max in harm‘s way caters to completionists aiming for 100% of achievements.

This draws an interesting parallel between the prologue choice that seeming didn‘t matter and a later one with severe consequences. Both relate to Max‘s probability of survival when trapped in an area controlled by dangerous antagonists. But only the latter actually impacts his fate. This could suggest that early decisions that appear innocuous could plant seeds that later develop into much more significant outcomes based on the context.

Percentage of Players Who Saved Max

According to Supermassive‘s online statistics, 62% of players chose to save Max during the critical decision in Chapter 10, while 38% opted for the more deadly "Swim to Shore" option. This aligns with the theory that most initial playthroughs would aim for the best possible ending and keeping all counselors alive.

However, the relatively high 38% rate of killing Max shows that nearly 4 out of 10 players either intentionally let him die to unlock the massacre trophy or accidentally picked the wrong choice on their first run. With 186 potential endings, The Quarry offers plenty or reasons to replay and tinker with fate-altering decisions.

So whether you intended to rescue Max or doom him early, the stats show that both options represented popular paths. This speaks to The Quarry‘s impressive branching narrative design that avoids any singular or "right" way forward.

Final Analysis: An Early Test Foreshadowing Future Dilemmas

At first, leaving Max for dead in the prologue may appear inconsequential since it doesn‘t actually impact the overall story. But upon closer inspection, it establishes decision making under pressure as a key theme while planting seeds that could later influence whether Max survives or meets an untimely demise.

Gamers initially drawn towards selfishly escaping alone or recklessly fighting the Hacketts despite low odds could follow similar intuition when given another risky chance to determine Max‘s fate later on. The poetic links between these choices highlight Supermassive‘s brilliant, layered approach to giving players agency without any singular right or wrong paths.

So if you chose to leave Max in the basement, don‘t fret too much—it was merely the first of many difficult judgement calls in an intentionally malleable experience designed for replaying from different perspectives. But the stats show you may fall into the minority camp of monster hunters willing to sacrifice lives while pursuing other goals. Whether that aligns with an individual player‘s motives depends on if they role play as pragmatists or idealists when up against the wire.

Both options deliver entertainment value for different reasons. But most importantly, putting Max in greater danger can teach players about themselves and whether they lean towards mercifully optimistic or ruthlessly goal-driven inclinations when forced to cut losses and confront harsh realities. Going back to replay while experimenting with difficult choices often sheds insights we‘d otherwise overlook when focused solely on positive outcomes.

So ultimately, while leaving Max trapped in the prologue changes nothing, it establishes supervision about future dilemmas that could radically alter the fates of both Max and the player making those tough calls.