To start my Halloween playlist for the month of October, I chose to play Carrion first. It was certainly a fantastic way to start off the month. This reverse horror title had me on the edge of my seat and it did not disappoint. The folks at Phobia Game Studio truly crafted a wonderful game. Let’s dive right into this.
Different Perspective To Classic Horror
Carrion does something that not many horror games do, and that is make you the monster. Rather than surviving hordes of zombies or hiding from something terrible, you get to be the very thing we as gamers are used to fighting. It is a fresh take on the horror genre and one that gives this game the perfect opportunity to tell its story.
At the beginning of the game, you don’t know much about what is going on. You assume control of this monster and begin to attack the humans in the area. As you explore the area, you begin to notice that with each human you consume, you get a bit bigger in size. This plays a huge role in the entire game, as it will serve as the foundation for what’s to come.
As the game progressed I saw myself sympathize more and more with this creature. It wasn’t because I thought that each human it killed deserved to die, but rather I couldn’t help feeling like it also wasn’t sure what was going on. My brain immediately assumed experiment gone wrong and usually if that’s the case, the creature is generally just confused.
The more I played though, my thoughts on the matter shifted back and forth. Still after beating the game, I can’t quite tell you where I landed and I think that’s what makes this game’s story so spectacular. The game leaves much to interpretation and I really enjoyed that.
This game also raises the age old debate of nature vs. nurture. If this creature was in fact created, then would it be the creators fault every time it kills? I’ll let you decide for yourself when you play it.
Keep Calm And Carry On
Despite not knowing the whole story, you will be compelled to press forward. For me this was less about survival and more about my curiosity. I needed answers and I needed to know where this creature came from.
The game rewards you when you progress, as most games do, but Carrion made progression feel exciting. It wasn’t just a mindless skill tree formula. Instead, you are offered simple but useful abilities as you find more DNA containers. These abilities tie in to the size of the creature, and are only available to you provided you are the appropriate size.
I found this formula to be quite rewarding because while the third stage of the creature is definitely the most powerful, you don’t have access to every ability in that form. This meant that I was often left more vulnerable in exchange for other abilities. It made the pacing of the game smooth and I never felt too powerful.
Even in the very last moments of the game, I felt like anything could potentially stop me from achieving my goal, which I could only assume was escape. I was very pleased to feel this way the entire game, because it could have been so easy to make the player feel powerful. Instead, survival was not without its struggle.
Beautiful But Dangerous
While this game’s world isn’t as expansive as a true metroidvania, it borrows many of the same elements from the metroidvania genre. The main reason is that every ability you acquire can be used to access new areas. This is purely optional but will lead to some very useful upgrades. Naturally I hunted everything down, but if that isn’t your fancy you can just continue on with the story.
I enjoyed discovering every ability and figuring out where to use them in previously visited areas. One of my favorite abilities was Parasitism which allowed me to extend out a tentacle and control humans with it. This opened the world up so much more because you could use those humans to flip switches, set off traps or even kill the other humans in the area. I enjoyed strategizing about how to tackle each new area.
Carrion’s world was an absolute blast to explore. Controlling the monster was so smooth and each size of the monster weighed differently. This added depth to exploration that I didn’t expect, but certainly enjoyed. It was also more difficult to move the larger version of the monster around in tight spaces. It took me a minute to get used to extending out the monster’s tentacles to interact with objects but once it clicked I thoroughly enjoyed that. I truly felt like I was the monster and every reach was a gamble if someone would see me.
Carrion’s world and character design is brilliant and beautiful. The animation for this game is fantastic as well. I’m such a sucker for pixel art and the SNES era-inspired art style is just breathtaking. Even though I was playing as the villain, I had a smile on my face because I looked so good while doing so.
One For The Record Books
Carrion was an absolute dream to experience. I had my eye on this title for a while now but I’m glad I saved it for my first Halloween game of 2021. I enjoyed every second of this game and trust me when I tell you that you will want to play until the very end. It was satisfying, memorable and simply put, perfect. As much as I didn’t want the game to be over, it gave me enough closure to move forward. However it is very much still on my mind and that’s what makes it such a fantastic title.
