To be like “Something” – review of the game “Carrion”

“Reverse horror”, as our compatriots from Phobia Game Studio used to call their game, as one of the few productions allows us to find ourselves in the skin (or rather: biomass) of a jelly-like monster, which, having escaped in a secret research complex, boldly starts myself, wreaking havoc and destruction. Woe to the people who stand in his way. But their fate is no longer our concern …

Something to tell

… Though maybe not entirely. Even though after the first gameplay shows it was hard to expect that Carrion would focus on the story in any way, this one is present in it and – surprisingly – even does the job. It is true that it would be out of place to expect a scenario worthy of Oscar-winning dramas, but for a product that is primarily intended to provide several hours of unpretentious slaughter, the very fact of getting to know the “memories” of our masquerade and playing its tormentors in short fragments of the game is noteworthy .

There is no denying that a rather pretext scenario is only a justification for the next, extremely effective murders of homo sapiens …

Technically five plus

… and these give hellish satisfaction not only because of their ruthless presentation, but also efficient implementation into the mechanics of the game. In essence, Carrion can be described as a variation on platformers, mixed with the gameplay style known from such productions as Limbo or Inside . So here we have a traditional 2D view, some relatively simple environmental puzzles to solve, and some more fragments where you need to be decent dexterity. The control is intuitive – we direct the creature with the mouse, setting the direction of its movement or possible attack, which we already control with the keyboard. It is worth noting that Carrion is very good at introducing new elementsgameplay – while at first everything seems easy, fun and definitely stress-free, the further you go to the mysterious facility, the more you have to work to find your way to the goal.

Z biegiem czasu zaczniemy zatem coraz częściej natykać się choćby na alternatywne sposoby pokonania przeciwników. Nic nie stoi na przeszkodzie, by „upłynnić” część stwora, zyskując tym samym dostęp do możliwości przeznaczonych jedynie dla jego mniejszej wersji, albo zwyczajnie spróbować zakraść się do uzbrojonych po zęby strażników od tyłu. Urozmaiceniem są także różnego rodzaju przeszkody, które ominiemy dopiero po zdobyciu odpowiedniego (czasem zupełnie opcjonalnego) usprawnienia. Choć porównań do tytułów RPG szukać tu nie sposób, Carrion udanie uwypukla rozwój naszego potwornego bohatera i premiuje wracanie do wcześniej odwiedzonych lokacji, nawet jeśli backtrackingu jest tu jednak nieco zbyt wiele.

All this is, of course, sprinkled with hectoliters of blood, the panic screams of the unfortunates consumed and the crunch of crushed bones. Audiences with weaker stomachs can only be glad that instead of trying to go towards realistic graphics, the developers decided to use a retro-style setting.