This is a brief review of the game Carrion, developed by Phobia Game Studio and published by Devolver Digital.
Carrion is a game where you play as a dangerous tentacled monster with unknown abilities in which more and more are granted over time. You start the game in containment but you can quite quickly break out and then cause havoc, ripping your way through rooms and (literally) people. You can evolve the creature as you play by consuming matter which involves you growing larger, developing more teeth and tentacles - you also gain new abilities, giving you more tools to destroy and maim with!
It marks a change to the norm of horror titles where you would usually play as the human soldier or scientist trying to escape said monster. Being on the opposite side of the mirror is refreshing.
It's presented as a 2D side scroller where you're essentially constantly looking for an exit. On the way you'll find doors and other obstacles, oftentimes you can tear through these with your tentacles. Other times you may need to do some exploring to find your way around.
From a gameplay perspective, it's a lot of fun. Everything happens very quickly and every action has a nice violent feel to it.
In terms of sound, the music is as moody as you'd expect, delivered by veteran gaming musician Cris Velasco who in the past has also contributed to the first three major God of War titles as well as Bloodborne.
Graphically, the game is presented in a pixelated style similar to Super Metroid or Terraria but with smooth animations paired with excellent usage of lighting and shadows. It's as gross as you might expect - you will leave a gory mess in your wake as you gradually take over the facility you're trying to escape from.
Criticism - there's only so much zipping around samey looking areas you can do when the repetitive nature of the gameplay becomes tiring. It's quite easy to get lost - "I could've sworn I've already been through here" … Nope. I hadn't. It just looked like that other narrow corridor.
Bottom line... Carrion is fun. You should play it if you're into horror games - being on the other side of the action is deeply satisfying. It's not a terribly long game but you'll probably not want to do it in one sitting.
Overall
Good