(While I’m recommending Carrion, I should also highly recommend The Things by Peter Watts. If you like one of these pieces of media, you’ll like the other, too).
I adore Carrion, it is simply magnificent in every respect. I think probably the only thing I could fault it on is that it is too short, i.e it has an ending and less than infinity levels. Though to be fair it does have first-class mod support, a level editor, and several great expansions so in a way if kind of does have infinity levels.
The premise: you are a simple, innocent, multi-mouthed and betentacled polymorphic biomass, similar to but legally distinct from the creature in The Thing, intent only on sharing your special brand of love with the rest of the universe’s creatures by becoming one with them. You travel about a kajillion light-years to a small blue-green planet somewhere in the uncharted backwaters of a nondescript galaxy, only to be immediately captured and cruelly experimented on by their scienticians! Luckily, these “hunams” who have captured you are silly creatures and have critically underestimated just how flexible you are, so you manage to escape your confinement. Now all you need to do is make it out of the sprawling gubmint facility where you were being held. Along the way you will encounter hordes of enemies ranging from defenseless to terrifying, and puzzles ranging from simple to devious. You will also find several other captives similar to yourself, and take the opportunity to merge with their biomass, gaining new abilities from them and growing in size as you make your way to the surface.
Carrion is spectacular. It is resplendent. Where to begin?
The Graphics. Carrion uses a pixel-art style which might look simple at first glance, but is subtle in its complexity, and oozes atmosphere. In addition to the pixel-art style, you’ll also see some really great use of smoke/particle and lighting effects which fit right in and really look awesome, taking the graphics to the next level.
The Soundtrack is really fantastic. Think of every horror movie soundtrack you’ve ever heard, put them all in a blender, then add action cues and reactivity when battles break out. It’s really really great. If you listen, you’ll hear cues quite reminiscent of several classic horror movies, and the music always adds to the atmosphere of the environment you’re in. And then you’ll stumble into a room and find yourself forced to battle it out with a mech similar to, but legally distinct from, the one in aliens and you’ll hear the classic “bwah” hit, similar to, but legally distinct from, the one in every Christopher Nolan movie.
The level design is something special. Each level has its own feel and despite using a somewhat simple tiled pixel-art aesthetic, the design is distinct enough that you’re not going to get lost or confused, instead you’ll find yourself saying “oh I’m back here” as you explore the facility looking for your way out. This is helpful as the levels are inventive and tend to branch out from central hubs and get more complex as you open up more areas. You’ll also find yourself up against a series of environmental puzzles which will get more difficult as the game progresses, but which are never so challenging as to be frustrating – you will spend your time exploring more often than you’ll be scratching your head wondering what to do next. The level design also combines realy well with the special abilities you’ll gain throughout your playthrough, with previously inaccessible areas becoming accessible as you gain new abilities, and you’ll be rewarded for going back and exploring previous areas once you’ve gained a new ability.
The gameplay is really fantastic, with an innovative control scheme unlike anything I’ve played before. It has similarities to a twin-stick shooter, but it’s really not that. And the gameplay and level design has really excellent progression, introducing new abilities, teaching you their mechanics, and then introducing puzzles to solve with them, gradually getting more challenging and introducing new elements as the game progresses.
The violence, and the gore. Oh, the glorious, gratuitous, hilarious, pixel-art gore, and the hilariously over-the-top ultra-violence. It’s a sight to behold. Viscera will fly and paint the walls red as you rip the puny hunams in half, throwing them across the room into each other, or picking up desks, doors, grates, or whatever else is lying around and throwing them at the hunams fast enough to break them in two, and then you’ll devour them whole to recover your biomass. Laugh and enjoy as the defenseless scientician cowers in the corner whimpering while you force him to watch as you consume all his friends alive before finally consuming him, too. The best way to deal with a room full of hunams with weapons is often to launch into a paroxysm of ultra-violence. These never cease to be a delight as you create interesting works of art in shades of red on the ceiling, walls, and floor, turning an orderly laboratory into a scene of utter chaos in the span of ten seconds or so.
The story. Carrion has a minmalistic story, but it does have a story told through several “cutscenes” where you control one of the hunams. There is a story there, but I found it a little big ambiguous and thought it could perhaps use some more text dialogue or even some voice acting in these parts. Fortunately though this story isn’t hugely important, I don’t think, in much the same way that you don’t need to know The Thing’s backstory for it to be a great sci-fi horror movie.
The tropes. So. Many. Tropes. This is a love-letter to horror and sci-fi movies, particularly The Thing. But it also blends in elements from several other horror and/or sci-fi films, but does so in a way that they’re just generic enough to not be a wink or a nod to any specific movie most of the time. The game is not saying “hey look at me! Remember Aliens?”, it tends instead to use the devices and tropes from that genre of film to enhance the story and atmosphere of the game with very minimal visual cues. It’s glorious.
There are not many games which I have the patience to 100%, but with Carrion it was easy for me to do so – I wanted more game. This kind of comes back to my one criticisim – which is sort of a real criticism – the story mode was too short for my liking. i probably completed it in about 10 hours and 100%’d the game in 15 hours or so. But this is a slight criticism because as mentioned it has a level editor and great mod support. Not only did I 100% it, I then went and played the christmas DLC and a bunch of user level packs.
Carrion is one of the best games I’ve played this decade. I can’t recommend it highly enough. The premise and gameplay work together to create a really unique and supremely enjoyable experience. The graphics, music, and sound are pitch-perfect for what the game is trying to do. I didn’t encounter a single bug or crash or weird behaviour in the course of 100%ing it, or in any of the addons I played. I would buy a sequel in a heartbeat and will likely be watching for other titles from this developer. Highly, highly recommended.