Carrion (2020)

This popped up as "new to Game Pass", which I mistook for "new". Turns out it's a few years old. Doesn't really matter; I just hadn't heard of it.

Premise of "reverse-horror" I guess is interesting, being the monster and your enemies are the humans. Ends up just feeling like "a game" either way? I also don't attach to stories well though, so maybe that's on me.

Otherwise being a Metroidvania was exciting, the gameplay premise from "being the monster" was fun, but something about it all was hard to click for me. Maybe I didn't click with the map layout, but I felt so lost without a map to reference. I fiiinally understood that there was a main area and then I was going in to sub-maps/levels to clear. But even still, it felt so hard to navigate, I felt I was just guessing where I was trying to get to.

The controls of being a blob also felt like they took too long to get my head around. Eventually, being a giant blob was sometimes actually in the way of controlling movement, sometimes taking several seconds to get down the pathway I was shooting for.

There was a point maybe 75% through where I really struggled with "do I want to finish this?". It just wasn't clicking, I felt lost and annoyed at the controls and felt like the only thing keeping me going was stumbling into a checkpoint to feel like I got somewhere. I stuck with it and a few things finally started to click.

Maybe being powered up by the end-game and other bits and pieces of the map and the controls finally settled something into place, and it started to actually be enjoyable. Then, while I was trying to get back around the map to finish up the stuff I had left undone along the way, I guess I accidentally stumbled into the end credits and it was over.

On Game Pass, it comes with the Christmas(?) GotY DLC. I started it to see what it was like. Starting powered-up was nice, so it just felt like more of the same, new map. But now it's been almost a couple weeks since I really felt like pulling it back up to feel more of the same. I'd like to think I'll pick it back up and see how it goes, but I really don't know now.

Overall, I think I ended up having fun with it, but it took a while to get there. Part of why I wanted to play it was because it said average completion was only 5-6 hours. I just checked my time, and I'm at 20 hours with it, which will be only maybe like an hour of the DLC. So.. what's wrong with me that it took me 19 hours to stumble my way through?

I also just now see I'm only one 200pt achievement from finishing up the 1000pts... so.. maybe I will finish that up..... I don't knowwww. This whole experience has been so confusing. Maybe I'm the monster indeed.

It starts off with a gut piercing roar but quicly devolves into pathetic meow by hour 2. I appreciate the game from an artistic point of view but my reviews are primarily based on fun and this game is sadly lacking in it. It does offer a SMALL amount of dopamine when you're killing stuff, but then you're right back to the slog that is exploration.

Check out my video review below ↓ :)

Carrion is a rather peculiar kind of Metroidvania. It puts us in the skin of a creature we know almost nothing about except that it is held prisoner in a laboratory from which it is trying to escape. The story of the game, in the background, is never explained to us through language but very soberly through the integration of flashbacks, suggestions, as well as through the action itself.

The pixel art graphics are meticulous, especially the environments and lighting, without forgetting the creature we embody. The music and sound design are immersive and reflect the mood of the situation. As far as the gameplay is concerned, it's roughly divided in two parts: simple but efficient puzzles balance the action phases that usually leave us the choice between different strategies, these strategies get bigger as we recover power-ups and unlocked zones. The movements of our monster are very fluid, although slightly laborious once we reach the final form.

Carrion doesn't have a great replayability and would have benefited from integrating a tracking system more advanced than echolocation - without going through a map, which would not make sense from the point of view of game design coherence - because you can easily get lost in this maze of environments that are not very distinct. In the end, it is a solid game with an atmosphere worthy of a John Carpenter movie, which it reminds very often, both in the music, the story and its main character.

Carrion is a monster power fantasy game. You play as a hideous tube-like monster escaping from an underground research facility. The game makes you feel like a terrifying, powerful predator by slinging tentacles at humans and devouring their limbs using one of its' many mouths. The more the monster eats, the more it grows. When the monster absorbs specific radioactive substances, it gains new skills such as possessing humans and developing a meat encrusted armor. The humans aren't all pushovers though, as there are soldiers that wield flamethrowers and pilot machine-gun walking mechs.

In an interesting twist, Carrion is more of a puzzle game than meets the eye. There are occasions where you need to intentionally downsize to use specific abilities and enter rooms not accessible in larger forms. There are several combat encounters where you need to fight in your shrunken form which requires more finesse and stealth as you take out a squad of soldiers one at a time.

Carrion is a short game that takes about 5 hours to complete. Despite the short length, the game sorely needs a map and an objective marker. The environments are too similar looking and it is easy to get lost in the late game especially if you are looking for collectibles.

Another minor gripe about Carrion is the controls. The controls are fine when the monster is at its' most basic form. The problem is when you start growing into a beast that can fill a fifth of the entire screen. It's difficult to tell which part of the monster you are controlling and which tentacle you are using to aim with. It's not a game breaker but it often felt like the other appendages were doing most of the work and all I was doing was slithering from corner to corner.

Outside of the initial premise there isn't much story to go on. There are these chambers that you can enter which changes your perspective to a human at the same research facility. The controls as the human are basic. You can run left or right, climb ladders and interact with doors and switches. Fortunately these sequences are not long and it helps bring a change of pace from the relentless human slaughter.

Carrion fulfills that ultimate monster power fantasy that is severely underrepresented in games. It gets a lot of the power fantasy elements right, you feel like a deadly intelligent unstoppable predator. The game's puzzles are clever and require you to change up your attack strategy especially when in your smallest form. Navigation is the biggest drawback to this game, the samey environments don't help and the lack of a map may deter people from completing the game despite its' short length. Carrion is probably not going to win any game awards but it was nevertheless an enjoyable monster romp while it lasted.

Carrion is a 2D Metroidvania where the player is a red tentacle monster who just broke out of its chamber in an underground facility. The monster makes its way through different areas in the facility to do something. The game doesn't explain. I don't know if the monster is trying to escape, destroy the facility, or look for a specific target, and I got tired of this before I could finish it.

There just isn't enough variety here to keep me interested. Every section of this game is about finding holes in the wall to fill with your biomass to open doors piece by piece. The combat is just rushing enemies when they aren't looking in order to get in range to grab them with your tentacles, knock a door or vent grating into them, or run into them with your spikes. It's a shame. Playing as this red tentacle monster is a unique video game experience. I wish they had more ideas of what to do with it.

I love how smooth the movement is as the monster uses its tentacles to latch onto walls and pull itself forward. This movement gets awkward when the monster gets larger though. The monster doesn't turn around, so moving the thumb stick forward moves the front of the monster while moving the thumb stick backwards moves the back part of the monster. This can be lead to frustrating moments when I'm trying to turn the front of the monster left or right and the game instead moves the back of the monster.

There is one interesting thing about Carrion's approach to Metroidvania. When unlocking new abilities, some of the abilities are restricted to the size of the monster. The size of the monster increases by eating humans or by spreading its biomass in holes in the wall. The monster had three sizes at the point where I left off in the game. The smallest size had access to an ability that made the monster invisible, the medium size had an ability that allowed it to break through certain types of walls, and the largest size had the ability to shoot out spiky tentacles to grab on obstructions and pull them out the way. There are more size-specific abilities than those too. The larger the size of the monster, the more health it has. If the monster takes enough damage, it will decrease in size losing access to abilities restricted to that size. When moving through the game, there will be an area that will require a specific ability. If the monster is the wrong size, the player will either need to go eat humans or find a whole in the wall to increase the monster's size or find a special pool of liquid that will allow the monster to drop off some biomass. The different sizes can make combat more interesting. In a fight, the monster could take enough damage to lose access to useful abilities for fighting forcing the player to change their strategy on the fly. The game also might put the player in a position where they must shrink down to their smallest size to progress through an area at their most vulnerable state.

Carrion is interesting enough to be notable, but I don't think there is enough to this game to be worthwhile.