Become the monster in this reverse horror game where you must grow, survive, and get out of a military installation. Find more abilities, power ups and why you are here in the first place and stop the military from allowing you to escape.
AS THE GAME IS RATED M – FOR MATURE, WE ONLY PLAY TESTED THE GAME WITH GAMERS 16 AND OLDER.
General Gameplay
Carrion is a horror game but, in this game, you are the monster. You start off as a small organism and grow over time by finding power ups and other abilities throughout the game play in this Metroidvania style of action adventure. Carrion is all about becoming the monster, understand why and getting out. The Game Visuals in Carrion are designed in a 16-Bit design. The graphics are shown in a 16-bit pixelated style to showcase the game being more of a darker tone and more to set the horror mode for the game. All the game visual assets are drawn well to show detail from the monster to the environment, humans, and other objects that you encounter in the game. Carrion colors are both bright and vivid and dark at the same time, this duality of color schemes allows the game to show more darker parts of the lab and showcase more bright outdoor areas as well. As the game does not have a colorblind mode, it is not needed as the game’s colors are very bright and easy to see on the screen. As the game is rated M – For Mature, there is a lot of violence and gore in the game. The monster when regenerating its health, kills and eats humans in the game in a very graphic way. Also, when killing the humans the game shows lots of blood and gore in this process, so in our play testing we highly recommend parents/guardians to review the game before allowing anyone under the age of 16 to play the game. Audio in Carrion is well done. You have your standard sound effects such as the monster growling, getting injured, humans screaming in fear, weapons fire and other sound effects that are to be expected in a horror game like this. There is background music and it fits well as it adds to the intense stage it sets of the level that you are currently on. The audio in the game is in 5.1 surround sound and in 2.0 stereo. We suggest playing the game with a gaming headset to best experience the games audio as there are a lot of audio ques onto telling you what is going on in the level and how best to be prepared for it. Carrion does not have any spoken dialog, so the story is told by text for the levels and outside of humans screaming as well as the monster, most of the audio is filler for other objects in the game like robots, drones, stationary guns, etc.. As the game is rated M – For Mature, in our play testing, we did not hear anything that would be offensive. As the game is a horror, lots of humans screaming and death screams are heard but nothing that would be offensive to gamers in this sense. Controls in Carrion are extremely easy to use. The game is designed to be an action/platformer in the nature that it is designed, and so the controller settings match this style of gameplay. The left thumb stick controls the monster, where there are different buttons that command various abilities that you obtain in the game. From smashing objects to a growl command to find save points and lure enemies away from areas, as you get further into the game, new abilities become available and they will be assigned to the controller to use. The controller settings are quite easy to pick up and play the game without any trouble or need of assistance. The in-game controls are very responsive and fast to the user input, this is especially critical in a game like this. In our play testing, we did not find any problems with the controller settings and found it to be quite easy for anyone to play Carrion.
“Become the monster in this fantastic action game. Carrion makes you feel powerful and that you can take on the world, but smart AI will keep you grounded. Also, the power ups and level design are top notch, this is a great game for anyone that is a fan of Metroidvania style of gameplay or just wants to play from the monster’s perspective.”
Family Friendly
One of the many things that made Carrion fun is that you are the bad guy and play as the bad guy! Yes you are a hideous monster that kills and eats innocent people, yes you cause havoc in an underground military science installation, and yes over the years we as gamers have got use to playing as the hero but where Carrion shines, is making you feel powerful and vulnerable at the same time. Carrion is a smart game, and what we mean is that the game AI is intelligent enough to make you feel powerful but also is smart enough to chase you down when you are spotted. Understand that there is a lot of a cat and mouse style of gameplay here. One moment you are the hunter hunting prey, the next you are the hunted by sentry drones, mech walkers and armored personal that are more than equipped to dealing with you as the monster on the loose. This type of gameplay adds more tension to each area that you are going to as you do not know what you will come up against, maybe a new enemy that is more equipped to deal with the outbreak or a room with security doors that need to be accessed. This is one of the many things that make the game fun to play. Another great thing about Carrion is that the abilities that you obtain throughout the game. As you progress in the game both your health and abilities grow and change. So you start off as a small organism and as you find vials of your samples, you get new abilities, and grow in the process, however as you grow in mass there are certain areas that you must be smaller to access as each of the power ups pertain to how big you are. So for an example in the game you can shoot a web but only if you are in the mid-size of the organism, so if you are larger, you must deposit some of your mass into a pool to become smaller to use that specific ability that goes with the mass size that you are. This adds more dynamic play to the game as you must choose how to get past an enemy, alarm, or even an obstacle that is blocking your progression. Carrion has a lot of different levels to go through, and this keeps the gameplay fresh as your not stuck to one type of level or even environment. The game story is also told via flashbacks and shows what happens leading up to your initial escape. Overall Carrion is a great action/adventure game and gamers in your gaming family loves games like this that are Metroidvania style of gaming. The game can be completed roughly around 10-12 hours of gaming and after completing the game there is no after game content to go back to play though. The only complaint that we had about the game that it has no in game map and no indication on where to go next. Now for some gamers this is a minor issue but for other gamers this may make the game a little harder to play as you have no idea where to go to next. Outside of this issue, the game is rock solid, with a great story, gameplay, and overall fun. As the game is rated M – For Mature, we highly recommend gamers of the ages 16 and older to play the game. The game does have a lot of graphic violence, but not in the realistic way, but more of the pixelated presentation to show the game in a more animated way. In our special needs game testing, we did not encounter any issues with the game graphics, audio, or controller settings. We feel that the game is very special needs gaming friendly.
Closing
Carrion is a perfect blend of an action/adventure Metroidvania game where it feels good to be the bad guy! With interesting levels, story, abilities, and light puzzles this is a great game for any gamers that love action platformers. We highly recommend picking this up for your digital library.
NOTE: At the time of this review, the game is free for any gamers on the Xbox One with the game pass, so if your on the fence on this game (and you should not be as this game is awesome!) you can download this great game and give it a try!
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