Carrion — A Monstrously Fun Metroidvania
The very idea of a group developers creating a Metroidvania styled game where the player is the one that is the ultimate beast is very exciting. Thankfully, the developer named Phobia Game Studio was able to craft such a horrifyingly fun experience for players. Published by Devolver Digital and inspired by the John Carpenter’s 1982 classic horror film, The Thing, Carrion is a 2D Metroidvania that revolves around the player taking the role of a killer monster ravaging scientists throughout the many sections of a large underground laboratory.
The player starts out as a small tentacle ridden blob that quickly breaks out of its containment unit and begins to wreak havoc on dozens upon dozens of scientists. The game then clearly tells the player their goal which is to traverse through the sections of the underground laboratory and infect the core power ports within each section. Once all the section power ports are infected then the player has finally reached their goal of taking over and killing all life within the laboratory and quite possibly spread throughout the world. This game with such a dark premise is sure to have very violent gameplay and believe me it delivers. Carrion’s gameplay is both very responsive and quick. The game encourages the player to move quick and strike brutally with the movement controls feeling smooth when climbing walls and when players use their primary grabbing tentacle to quickly capture and devour numerous poor souls. The challenge of staying powerful does occur quickly though when players consume innocent scientists to become bigger, along the way they will have to face government troopers armed with assault rifles and flamethrowers that seek to put an end to the madness.
The proper balancing of the game’s combat is highlighted greatly since when players get bigger then they unlock new attacks to dispatch their prey, however when they kill armed troopers players cannot consume them since their armor protects their bodies meaning this slows down the monsters growth. Since this game is a Metroidvania at its core, this means that players can revisit past sections which include secret passageways to find new lab sections and containment units that carry powerful upgrades for players to consume. While the game is a fun ride, what stands out as a disappointment is narrative or lack there of within the game.
When exploring for new sections to infect, players will come across computers pods to enter and see flashbacks of the scientists finding and developing their underground labs. These instances do provide players quick looks ahead of new sections that they can find, but unfortunately these do not really explain why these scientists are even developing their labs here or what they’re even researching. It also doesn’t help as to why such high security is being attached to these researchers. This lack of narrative does make playing through the game while still fun makes players feel less immersed or really interested in the world apart from just killing scientists. Overall, Carrion is a satisfying and vicious experience that players will quickly have a great time with.
