Carrion – Review (PC)

Carrion is often obscure, uncomfortable, unsettling, and distressing. And this is why we loved it. It rips players from their comfort zones in so many meaningful ways – most notably by having you tear apart innocent and mostly defenseless humans – to create a memorable experience with unique twists on some familiar gameplay mechanics. From the sinister minds at Phobia Games and Devolver Digital, this side-scrolling Metroidvania makes a strong impression as being one of the most unique and engrossing indie titles we’ve played in recent memory.

The game begins with you taking control of a relatively small amorphous parasite. By breaking free of your incubation chamber, the parasite begins to chow down on humans that inhabit the mysterious surroundings. The act of ripping apart seemingly innocent scientists is brutal and violent. Grasping fleeing humans with your tentacles is met with screams of horror followed closely by limbs and blood painting the environment. The unsettling feeling of power and inflicting fear is one that Carrion nails from start to finish. But not all humans are defenseless. Before long you’ll encounter humans with guns, drones with exploding harpoons and even walking tanks. Luckily, levels are expertly designed with air ducts and passageways to lure enemies one way, and sneak around from behind.

With each human that is consumed, the pulsating parasite grows in size. With size comes a larger pool of health and access to stronger abilities. New abilities are unlocked that allow you to deal with tougher enemies or interact with new puzzle elements. These range from a web shot to hit otherwise out of reach switches to a charge ability to smash through barriers and larger enemies. Our favorite, however, was the possession ability. This allows the monster to take control of unsuspecting humans to open doors, kill other humans, or even commandeer mechs to do your bidding. The path forward in Carrion is generally fairly linear, but the number of tools you’ll have to put to use keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting. Adding to the complexity is the fact that you’ll actually have to sacrifice the monster’s size and health pool to access certain abilities. This is done by depositing mass in predetermined areas and cutting your health by a third.

Carrion effectively balances your priorities equally between killing humans and solving environmental puzzles. Each area has a set of way points that the monster needs to reach known as ‘Crevices.’ By spreading the parasitic mass and infecting all crevices in a certain area, the path to a new area will open up. It’s a simple ‘hit all the checkpoints before you can move forward’ formula that keeps players focused on a single goal throughout. In a few instances however, you’ll play through flashback sequences from the perspective of a human scientist. This helps to drip feed story elements and unravel the mystery of the monster’s origins.

There is a learning curve with Carrion, however. Given that you’re controlling a mass of tentacles rather than a normal two legged human, moving through air ducts, tunnels and waterways can be a bit jarring at first. Luckily, movement is smooth and fluid thanks to a simple set of controls . Before long players will be creepily crawling through the derelict installation with full control over the monster’s momentum. Where the game doesn’t make things as easy on the player is in navigation. There is no map which makes finding your way around difficult. The only way to effectively navigate is use of a clumsy and inaccurate sonar ability that pings your objectives. Fortunately, levels are designed simply enough that we were never aimlessly wandering for too long.

There is clear inspiration here from sci-fi horror movies from the 80’s and 90’s. Nowhere is this more evident than in the game’s music and sound design. Both do a fantastic job of creating a tone that is both constantly creepy and mysterious. Couple this with Carrion’s derelict and industrial world and you have a game that feels like it’s leeched right from Ridley Scott’s dreams. Story and setting are purposely ambiguous to keep players guessing to the end as to what the monster’s true origin and motive are.

Carrion is a game that we won’t soon forget. It’s use of an unconventional main character with terrifyingly brutal abilities and creative mechanics help to create a fresh and unique experience. Despite some cumbersome map design and a bit of a learning curve, this is one that is more than worth the time and comes easy to recommend.

Carrion launches on Steam, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on July 23rd, 2020.

Carrion was given to the reviewer by the publishing company but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion*

Check out our Review Guide to see what we criteria we use to score games.