Carrion (2020)

Carrion may only provide a short bite of a full scope's worth of game but looks absolutely gushy gorgeous and plays like nothing I've really played before.

Players control a writhing mass of tentacles escaping from a research facility, eating humans and gaining power as they destroy areas and learn more about their mysterious past. This provides a few fun reveals but the meat of the game is in how the creature grows and gains new abilities to traverse areas.

The game is setup with light Metroidvania elements, with some pretty linear pathing with optional upgrades hidden as the player finds extra DNA to enable more health and different abilities at different tiers of health. Whether it's shooting webs and invisibility as a lighter foe or withstanding bomb blasts and dashing through barricades at higher mass, the player must carefully figure out the right form for the task.

I say carefully, but the game is somewhat gracious about management of resources. Save areas are plentiful and restore a lot of health, and energy hotspots provide an unlimited supply of energy for the task. It's less a survival horror and more a light puzzle/action, which I would be harder on if the game was so unique and fun to control. Being a writhing mass of segments presents its own challenges and opportunities, as tentacles shoot out and latch everywhere onto walls for movement (a Metroidvania not initially limited by verticality??) and the unwieldly size of a bigger body presents a tradeoff for movement challenges to make sure the creature slips in tubes properly. It's never super frustrating, and some later save spots do offer some chances for tough areas where the player has to watch their health and eat whatever they can to regain that power.

The art design is the big winner in this game - the ambient music fills in the empty gaps of the game as the player moves from area to area but seeing the many-sprited beast in motion is a thing of beauty. Pulsing flesh and masses of tentacles flex pixel art to innovative limits, and being able to control this work of art is a feast for the eyes.

Carrion is a great looking game, but also has some really intriguing mechanics and aspects to it that demand a bigger game with a bigger scope. A Christmas update level helps preview some of that potential but a sequel can keep this shine going.

Carrion is such a great and unique game. You play as a resident evil-esque monstrosity in a facility, consuming humans and gaining abilities. The movement and abilities are really unique and the game is very polished.

It has an open world design with no map. There is definitely an invisible hand guiding you, which feels very organic. The abilities are very creative and just feel great to use.

My only complaint is the backtracking… there are optional abilities you can pick up, but it’s kind of a nightmare with no map. If you stray too far from the intended path, you can get really lost. I don’t know why they didn’t include a map (maybe for bestial immersion?), but I wish there was that feature at some point.

All in all, a very fun and original experience i would recommend to any side scroller fans.

As a metroidvania, Carrion doesn't shine that much, to be honest. It's a short game without many surprises or interesting powers. But it's a game where you play as a monster tearing everything apart while everybody screams in horror, making you feel delightfully evil all the way through.

Pixel art is nice, but nothing to write home about. The soundtrack is moody and very fitting, as are the constant screams of your victims. The controls are probably the weakest point of the game since you are an amorphous blob that is constantly stretching, making it hard to move with accuracy once you reach the biggest form. I also don't understand why they didn't add some sort of map, since backtracking for collectibles can be painful at times.

Another downside is that the PS5 version doesn't add anything interesting to the table, or at least I haven't noticed it. A 120 fps mode would have been welcome here and at least add something new to this version.

In the end, Carrion isn't a particularly good metroidvania, but it's still an enjoyable and interesting one. If you like the idea of crawling through a research center tearing people in half while they cry and scream in horror, this is the game for you, and it's worth a buy, specially if you find it on sale.

I’m not big into horror games, but I like a good Metroid-style adventure, and this is a really great one. I was surprised by how well the monster controlled in spite of its amorphous form, and I really appreciated the flexibility in how I could approach combat scenarios. It felt like I was sharing the monster’s experience of reacclimatizing to its abilities, but without resorting to QWOP/Octodad-style gimmicks.

Early on, I worried that I’d get lost in the game’s environments, which aren’t as obviously varied as I’d expect them to be, but then I never had to consult a walkthrough, so there must have been plenty of subtle wayfinding clues to compensate. I think this is especially impressive given the lack of an in-game map.

The game’s story is simple but compelling, it took a little over 5 hours to finish, it barely drains my Steam Deck’s battery, and I had a great time.

This game surprised me in a very good way.

The Thing is one of my fave films ever and this game definitely has the vibes of that classic. The gore was over the top in a Mortal Kombat way which i liked. Definitely not for the little ones though.

I was expecting the gameplay to be quite mindless. You are playing an alien after all. But i was wrong. The gameplay was quite cerebral in that you really have to think about how you can solve the problem of that level using what tools you have at your disposal right then and there. I really liked that the save points were very generous which allowed me to experiment with different ways to solve the problem. You dont get punished for trying something which most games discourage these days. In this way, it reminds me of the good old Splinter Cell games or more recently the Hitman series where there is more than one way to reach your goals. I loved that about this game.

The length of the game was just right too. Too many games overstay their welcome but this one was perfect. This game was perfectly crafted in that i never got lost, because the game knew just how to push me in the right direction, even without a map. I read that some reviews complained about the lack of a map but i honestly never needed one. But, in saying that, i did play the game through in two days. If youre the type to play a level and take a while to come back to it, i can see why youd need a map since you probably dont remember your placing after that time.

My only complaint, nit picking really, is that when you eat a lot of people and become huge, the controls get a bit unwieldy because you've become so large. Its not clear where the center of your mass is and in some cases its hard turn the right way. Tricky when youre trying to dodge gunfire.

This is a very good game and kudos to the developers and will look forward to more of their games.

This is a great game that is simply fun and kind of different. It's fun to be the monster that hunts humans throughout an underground facility. It's fun attacking the humans and hearing them scream as you eat them. However, this game is not a horror game. It may look like one in terms of graphic design, but it doesn't have much of a horror feel. There isn't an actual emphasis on attacking humans. They're there to simply be killed or try to kill you with a pistol--to impede your progress in gaining new abilities, getting further throughout the underground area you're in, and eventually escape.

As such, this game is fun because it's a metroidvania with a slight twist of you being the bad guy. As a monster you slither around and go through vents and whatnot to get from area to area or simply to attack people. What ultimately makes this game so much fun is the fact that it's a metroidvania. You go through a few areas you can, figure out some puzzles to get through to a new area, learn a new ability, then use said new ability to go to new areas previously unreachable. It's satisfying, it's fun, it's rewarding, it's a typical metroidvania. That is where this game's strength is as it really doesn't hold up at all as a horror title like it's being promoted as.

One huge mistake was made in this that simply must be said: there is no map for you to use to see what is where. It can seriously slow you down not knowing where to go because you can't find an area, and there are no hints. You must rely on memory. If it wasn't for that this game might have gotten 5 stars, but this is an abysmal error on the devs' part. Carrion absolutely needs a map.

Bottom line: Play it for the fact that this is a metroidvania, not for the "being a monster" or "horror" aspect that is advertised. There is no map which is a massive pain in the ass and cost this game a star from me.

Overall it this game interesting, but more for a mechanics perspective than anything else.

The plot was super predictable and not very extravagant, but also not why you play this game.

Graphics were neat with how much they expressed from a pixelart style, but not why you play this game.

The mechanics are were it's at. The movement of the character felt more like moving a fluid and having only certain powers at certain levels of health were both very clever mechanically.

I'm glad it was relatively short, and more puzzley than combat. I think they got the balance on those two items correct.

It's not a bad experience, and if being a gruesome monster appeals to you, have at it.

~David.

Carrion is the first game I decided to play as part of my all-horror gaming month. And to be honest, I was quite reluctant to try it. Apart from Limbo, it had been quite a while since I’d played a 2D side-scroller/metroidvania. Even though I have very fond memories of games like the original Prince of Persia , Castlevania, Contra, Golden Axe, Super Mario or Streets of Rage, I’m always hesitant to try new titles in this genre because the amount of backtracking always feels somewhat daunting and disorientating to me, especially in the more recent games. Carrion was no exception in this regard, yet I am still really glad I gave it a shot.

I now understand the comparisons with John Carpenter’s The Thing. This is a perfect throwback to all those amazing creature sci-fi horror movies of the 80s that I grew up with and absolutely love. There is a permanent nod to that tense, old-school vibe that was so characteristic of those films and that made me addicted to them when I was a kid. Everything about Carrion, from the colourful pixel art style graphics to the visceral visuals and the synth-horror soundtrack (and screams, lots of them), pulls you into this retro environment that strongly tickles that nostalgia bone if you’re a fan of the genre either in gaming or film. On top of that, the devs’ ‘reverse horror’ marketing really drives home its defining aspect, which is you playing as this amorphous, loosely shaped monster. It is a fresh perspective that is further enhanced by the fact that gameplay in Carrion is absolutely amazing. The controls are super tight and incredibly responsive regardless of the size of your creature (it can get pretty massive), and this adds immensely to the overall experience. Unsurprisingly, on occasion I still felt a bit lost while playing it as to where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do, to the point where I had to look up a guide a few times (my orientation simply isn’t good enough for these types of games, or maybe I’m just very out of practice). But the game’s level design felt decent enough that, even without a map, this never became too much of a frustration - plus it being a short game also helped here. Couple that with the fact that I was hooked throughout my entire playthrough (I even began replaying the minute I finished it which barely ever happens), and I can easily recommend Carrion to anyone who has a passing interest in at least one of the aspects I mentioned above. I give it a solid 7.5/10. It’s been flying somewhat under the radar, but if you have Game Pass or are able to get it on sale, this is definitely an experience worth trying for yourself.

If it wasn't for the game's steam page description, the title for this review would be "Short, quirky and forgettable". TL;DR at the bottom.

Steam page's description: "CARRION is a reverse horror game in which you assume the role of an amorphous creature of unknown origins, stalking and consuming those that imprisoned you".

My opinion: CARRION is an action metroidvania in wich you happen to be a horrible creature and the enemies happen to be human. In my opinion, CARRION did enough things right for it to not be a "boring" or "bad" game, but it feels like it did the wrong things right. The pixel graphics are pretty and well made, but they detract from the horror factor. The character's movement feels good to control, looks innovative and is generally very cool, and the level design allows you to take alternate routes so that your enemies don't see you coming, but the movement speed being so fast, together with the lack of game mechanics that encourage, enrich or reward stalking and creeping around ends up leading you to a more face-to-face approach to combat turning this into an action game, except for when enemies are strong, in wich case you do have to hide and take the alternate path but again not in a horror manner but in an action one. The metroidvania elements of the game are well applied and even though there is no map that you can consult, the progress is pretty much linear most of the time so you don't get lost a whole lot, but if they where trying to make a "reverse horror game", first of all metroidvania doesn't sound like the best genre to choose for a horror game but for a so-called "reverse" horror game, placing you in the role that the hero would usually have (that is moving around figuring out how to open doors and gaining abilities in order to advance in the map) is just straight up the wrong answer.

If you wanted to experience what is described in the steam page, then i cannot recommend that you actually play the game, but if you are looking for a short, quirky metroidvania then by all means go ahead.

TL;DR: this game has an identity crisis. It's not a reverse horror game, it's an above-average action metroidvania with pretty pixel graphics. 3/5 would not recommend un less you just happen to want to play a short, quirky metroidvania.

Cuando me dijeron que "Carrion me haría sentir como uno de esos monstruos de película", entré con cierta reticencia. Lo que tiene el xenomorfo, el predator y similares es que siempre parecen invulnerables , de modo que la sensación de juego tenía que ser lo suficientemente consciente de este hecho para no excederse en sus formas, y resulta que así ha sido.

Controlar al biomonstruo de Carrion es satisfactorio: su movimiento es errático pero siempre certero, su velocidad hace sentir a los humanos como hormigas y el amplio abanico de habilidades da un gustito especial. Si bien es fácil perderse al inicio (reconozcamos que su estilo metroidvania es algo flojo en una primera instancia y nunca llega a superar la barrera de "aceptable") y el monstruo apenas tiene una o dos habildades, hacia el midgame y late game es fácil sentirse poderoso y las distintas formas de enfrentarse a una misma situación (los combates, especialmente) son intuitivas. La estrategia juega un papel importante cuando aumentan los tipos de enemigo y el sigilo se premia antes que el ataque directo.

Es cierto que Carrion puede hacerse repetitivo. Siempre se mantiene lo suficientemente interesante como para no cansar gracias a las habilidades, escenarios y cambios de punto de vista, pero su fórmula es innegablemente la misma de principio a fin. También creo que se podría haber jugado más con la premisa, pero la ejecución es, sin duda, más que adecuada.

Al final, Carrion es un juego con una premisa bastante original, satisfactoria y terrorífica a partes iguales (para el bando contrario y, en ocasiones, para el propio jugador). No termina de ser todo lo que podría haber sido, pero me deja con una buena sensación (o mala, realmente) en el cuerpo.

Wow, this game has so many great ideas. I love the look of the monster, the way its amorphous form flows and leaps with its tendrils. I love the the way it can grab the humans and suspend them in the air screaming in classic movie monster fashion. I love that some humans can get knocked down, then prop themselves up and shoot at me from the ground in a final hero moment before the monster comes back to finish them off in a horrific fashion. There are so many great little bits.

This is one of the few games where the lack of map and limited explanation works well. You get a real sense of being this alien monster growing and learning your abilities, limits, and how to manipulate the human world to spread your malevolent biomass.

The combat is frantic and fun but lacks much depth. It is satisfying to rip off grates and slam them into the weaker humans. My favorite trick is to growl to distract the humans, and then sneak up from behind; a tried and true movie monster tactic.

It does horror extremely well with its gory monster kills, but I really wish the game had more terror. It lacks the sense that you can hunt the humans and make them truly afraid to confront you. The unarmed humans cower when you approach, or try to run away, while the armed humans fight back in simplistic video game fashion. Classic monster movies are all about slowly breaking down even the most hardened human warriors that try to fight you. It could have been a great combination with the limited stealth in the game.

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Would love to see what they can do with a sequel.