PC Review Code Provided by Phobia Game Studio
Giving players the chance to play a horror game from the perspective of the death-dealing creature that lurks the lab, Carrion is the reverse-horror game we all didn’t know we wanted. Developers Phobia Game Studio and publisher Devolver Digital are excited to release this player-made bloodbath today on PC via Steam, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch, and provided this gruesome animated launch trailer above. But is it worth the effort to turn it on and try to break out from the facility that is containing you? It definitely was for me!
Story
You are the monster! After becoming sentient and strong enough to break your containment, it is time for you to escape from the facility that is trying to contain you and leave a trail of blood behind you. Many may stand in your way, but none stand a chance to stop you from your ultimate goal; escape!
Gameplay
Movement through this game is as easy as picking a direction and going that way. For the computer, you just have to hold the left mouse click button while pointing the cursor where you want to go. I would imagine with a controller it would just be the tilt of your analog stick. The creature moves by using its numerous tentacles to grab on to any nearby surface and move itself forward, regardless if it is a wall, ceiling, or floor. Gravity barely has any effect on this beast.
There are three different stages for the creature as well, each with their own unlockable abilities. Starting off with the first stage, you are small and nimble meaning you can move quickly through different areas, but this also means you are more vulnerable to being killed easily. After looking around the levels, you will eventually find two DNA upgrades for your creature that are a sticky grab that can be used to grab people or switches through small spaces that make them otherwise unreachable and the ability to turn yourself invisible which is useful to slip by enemies and bypass laser traps. Once you find the first DNA upgrade for stage two, you will now have a bigger health bar and two new abilities to find and utilize. These upgrades include making yourself into a rolling set of spikes that cover your body and a dash attack which can be used to break boxes, move metal blockades, and crush enemies. The third DNA upgrade stage is my favorite but comes at the cost of slower and more difficult movement due to your size. At this point, you will be able to unlock the ability to hurl a ton of spikes forward that will pull anything it grabs towards you and cover yourself with a kerotine-like substance that acts as a shield which is great for explosive damage blocking.
There are other DNA upgrades you can find that aren’t restricted to the stage your creature is in and that is the added tentacle for grabbing and the screech to find the direction of where you need to go. Each level will have multiple spots that look like cracks in the foundation’s wall and when you find these you are to interact with them which will have you take over that chunk of the facility. When you do this, you will see part of your being take over a panel of the exit stage door. Once you cover all panels, the level is complete and able to be left.
Enemies will range from a variety of types and end up getting harder as you go along. Instead of bosses, you will just encounter new enemies that you won’t be told how to fight against or what they can do. I urge you to approach each new enemy with caution until you understand them because certain ones are a real game-changer to how you play. It is worth understanding how to take them down though because I can guarantee you will see each of them again and next time they won’t be alone.
The facility itself is almost a confusing map to guide through though. There is, what I call, the main facility and then there are the facility sectors. The main facility will have the overall progression of the game shown to you by how far forward you can go and how close to the sunlight you can get. To progress through the main facility, you will need to find either main or side entries into the facility sectors and complete those levels to move forward.
Visuals
Given the type of game this is, I think the 2D-pixelated texture was a great choice to go with. it lets you see everything very well and nothing seemed out-of-place. Plus, the creature itself is obviously terrifying and since that is who I am, I don’t think I would want to spend my hours of game time looking at a highly detailed version of it.
Sounds
I quickly learned this is not a game you want to play with the sound up as you would most games. There is a lot of screaming from the NPC’s and fallen enemies, not to mention the growls and screeches that come from your amorphous creature. It was all accurate to what was going on and it even had sound effects for moving through the water, radioactive generator activation, and pretty much anything else you would see movement for that was all fitting and brought together the atmosphere.
When it comes to music, I like that they kept it dark throughout. Some sections had a more fast-paced theme based on how much action was going down in the area, but even the calm segments had a nice grumble tone that really fed into the “I am a Monster!” mentality that this game provides.
Replayability
You can always go back and get that 100% completion rating if you want, just as you can with most games. Completing a facility sector doesn’t require a full breakdown of the sector, so there are chances to miss a spot. Once you reach the end of the game, you can find a control room that will show you the status of each and every facility sector, or level if you prefer, so that you know which one you need to go back and do more on. Other than grabbing that sweet completionist achievement, there isn’t much reason to go back through the game.
What Could Be Better
I hated that there was absolutely no map option. There were quite a few times that I got lost trying to figure out where I needed to go or where I had already gone. I understand that it wouldn’t make sense for the creature to have a map, but what about being able to find a room that has a map on it that just happens to update based on what the player has done? This could easily have been done cleverly as a “Facility Status Report” section or something, but instead, they leave the player blind to an overall map view of the main facility and it’s sectors.
Those sections where you play the flashbacks seemed almost fruitless. Maybe there was something in them that I didn’t see or grasp, but I thoroughly don’t understand why those segments were in the game at all nor what purpose it served to the games overall point. Is that the scientist that caused our breakout? Is he the one that confined us in the first place? Why did we need any flashback segments of this guy in the game?
Conclusion
Carrion is gruesomely entertaining! I really enjoyed my playthrough of the game and being able to play as the deadly creature for once. It is definitely a game I would recommend to horror fans and pretty much anyone who enjoys the puzzle-action type of games. Even if it is only good for one playthrough, it is hands-down a worthwhile playthrough to experience!
