Carrion (2020)

In horror games, we most often find ourselves a weak victim. We run away from maniacs, psychos, dangerous ghosts and aggressive monsters. All these creatures are passionately craving for the sweet smell of the fear of the protagonist, because he can hardly contrast something with their strength, ferocity and insatiable thirst for blood. We run away from all our feet, hide and clamp the mouth and nose, pray, if only the creature would not hear the excited, convertible breath. We are afraid to get out of our shelter, because we know – this is very close, it knows the territory, we – no. It is confident in victory, but we often think that in such a deplorable situation the next breath will be the last, and the only thing that will loot before his eyes is the icon in the full screen “The game is over”, giving it better to feel your loss against the backdrop of a rapidly beating from an unexpected crewer.

But what if you imagine yourself in a completely different position? Having full control? Towering over emotions, spreading this very rampant animal fear? The idea is not new, however, it has no distribution in our virtual reality. Famous projects, in which the player would give the opportunity to see the horror of game creatures, watch how in a panic they turn into brainless sniffed animals, hoping to merge with the wall and avoid terrible fate, and you will not call. Yes, this is not at all what was about above. Control in your hands, you have already put a sentence to every unfortunate NPC. After all, you are the main character – the organizer of the wild massacre. The plot merciless towards them rotates around you, the game itself allowed you this violence and cruelty.

But new feelings come: excitement of chase, the joy of destruction, the desire to crush the whole world. After all, what else can an amorphous creature, consisting of flesh, teeth and atrocities? To absorb the whole world, the whole universe, so that everything around consists of a pulsating mass of meat and blood with streams of swollen veins.

Last year’s project will help lovers of virtual violence and destruction to feel like something so vile and aggressive that only the other dark genius of the thought of our species can be born in my head. All instincts for causing pain, the desire to see the fruits of its intoxicating power, all the darkest and evil will result in here-in this Indie-Horror of the same terrible 2020.

"Carrion" -Indi-game in the genre Horror and platformer, work on which began in 2017 Under the leadership Sebastian Kroskevich From the Polish studio Phobia Game, And the horror went out to the light July 23, 2020 Thanks to the American company Devolver Digital. The developer team presented the product as a "horror on the contrary", in which the player is just proposed to take on the role of a predator, and not a victim, which will definitely attract attention. Among the players, the game is described as a platformer with elements metroid.

Metro -vanning – Concept of the genre of computer games, the back of the adventure action movie. Named after the series "Metroid" And "Castlevania", which combine sets of game mechanics and processes.

In such games there is a big coherent world that can be explored, however, access to some of its parts is blocked by all kinds of obstacles and insufficient character development of the character. These difficulties must be overcome by choosing suitable tools and abilities. Such a collection will help the main character to defeat more complex enemies, find secret places and passages. The main feature of the metroid is skillfully interwoven plot and gameplay.

In this project, the player will have the opportunity to wander along the underground confusing corridors in the image of a dangerous shapeless monster of the color of fresh blood, many flexible tentacles and deadly teeth. All these charms are scattered in different places of the body and form a destructive force weapon that can bring chaos not only in the scientific complex, but throughout the world than we will engage in good three to four hours of gameplay.

As in the unshakable classic of terrible cinema type "Something" or "Drop" Amorphous living creatures never turn out to be friendly and peaceful. As soon as the highest minds of the biological society climb to study the hitherto unheated strange creatures, to put experiments on them and so on, everything ends with tragedy and innumerable cruel deaths. In "Carrion" the same very standard plot.

A creature without a certain life form, but with high aggression and appetite breaks to freedom from an experimental flask, and the player from the first seconds surround the screams of the horror of workers and security, he needs to move through pipes, ventilation passages in search of scientists his biological material for a successful evolution in a more deadly and crushing form.

On the way, it is necessary to destroy the different strength of the barrier, skillfully use the tentacles to open levers and doors, at the same time destroying the living population of the base in order to nutrition and build up a new mass. It can be developed as the main abilities, without which the next secure level of the base simply does not work, and additional ones, which will give your insatiable creature a more menacing appearance. With the entry into new blocks, the complexity of the barriers, terrain and protection increases, the player needs to skillfully use the abilities and use them in the right places, while trying not to get lost in endless passes of the same, since the game card is really extensive and confusing, difficulties in orientation may arise.

The plot of the game is quite weak, this is noted among the common minuses. No background or tie is presented, the player immediately offers to break out of his imprisonment and plunge into the world of screams and blood. Only three times in the entire game you can see the early events and play a person, one of the scientists who studied this monster itself. In the future, one interesting episode will be shown, but it will be very predictable for the horror of this concept, and rather does not introduce the player into the meaning of what is happening, but shows the attitude of military structures to the scientific community and their warnings about the dubious use of a new type of living organism. Honestly, even an animated trailer for the announcement of the game looks more exciting than the final product. But the fraction of pleasure from the destruction of the game world can definitely be obtained.

In general, the game received quite positive grades . The advantages of critics note an interesting game graphics and design style, and also not particularly memorable, but very atmospheric soundtrack, this can be heard in relatively modern films with the intensity of the situation or storyline scene. The disadvantages do not pull the game down on the ratings so much, but because of them, in a ten-point score of assessment, she can put the seven, or even completely called "passing". For example, according to critic "Gambling" Denis Pavlushkina, "Carrion" "could not from an interesting idea to grow into a curious game game "Hollow Knight" or "Rain World".

The gamemeracies did not seem to know https://www.game-roulette.info/ what to do with this idea and how to challenge the player in its framework ". Of course, this game certainly, in terms of complexity and involvement, cannot be compared with the vast and deep world of “Hollow Knight”, but nevertheless our defender of the underground base personnel can be called a “successful experiment” in terms of the visual and the very opportunity to conduct history on behalf of the bloodthirsty monster.

The structure of the game

As in a game with the main element of metroids, here the development and strengthening of a character means more than the depth of the plot. Moving the level behind the level and infecting the structure of the base itself, contributing to its rapid corrosion, the creature in parts returns the genetic code, acquiring an increasingly dangerous form for the entire living form. But what exactly is this monster? How and where did he come from? For what purpose, in addition to studying, it was contained on the basis in the "disassembled" form? What will become in the world, break out such a creature to freedom? Unfortunately, the game will not give answers to many questions even after complete passage, which will hit quite strongly on the perception and involvement of the player in this world of deaf, blood sprayed with blood.

Who is our deadly being? The game itself can give at least a possible version of the modern prototype of this virtual monster. During the management of the scientist, the player wanders around the base and collects samples of some worms that may be parts of the monster. They are similar to An ordinary tube (lat. Tubifex tubifex) – the type of small -blooded worms. These are thin, filamentous, pink creature up to 40 mm long.

At each segment of the body they have 4 bristles, feed on decaying particles, swallowing and passing through the intestines. Such associations can push and Hydrophilia – the ability that allows the monster to decay into the swarm of worms in water to swim through a grid or grille. So it can be assumed that the main character is a bunch of incredibly strongly mutating worms. It is such in appearance, only with a huge amount of spikes, jaws, tentacles and eyes (they also change color depending on the stage of evolution). There are 3 of them 3 to 15 cells of biomass.

1) the first stage (1-5 biomass) – Eye color and a strip of health green. At this stage, the monster is small, fast and very vulnerable. The abilities used are more protective in nature for attack from the trap. Patience should be in battle and build an attack plan, since the creature will not be able to apply gross power. For the most part, this stage is used to solve puzzles and lay the path further on the map.

2) the second stage (6-10 biomass) – yellow color, increase in size and strength. The monster is able to produce keratin spikes (it turns out something like armor) and moves the body weight in the front part, becoming a living ram, which allows you to knock out wooden and metal obstacles, as well as deliver significant damage to the enemy.

3) the third stage (11-15 biomass) -bloody red, warning color. The last, most powerful and bulky stage. Most problems can only be solved by force and a ram in the form of yourself. Keratin armor covers the whole body and withstands the power of homing explosive shells. You can apply a break -out attack at this stage – a blow of a squeezer with a squeezer capable of destroying large combat buildings, such as fur or heavily equipped soldiers. However, at this stage there is a problem with movement – the creature is too large and loses maneuverability, it is more difficult to penetrate the narrow passages and dodge the battlefield.

The player should skillfully use all three stages depending on the territory of the monster. It is possible to leave fleshy cocoons with biomass in special tanks, and then safely return after them.

The creature has entire classes of abilities: from active and used on an ongoing basis, to passive and serving as resistance to aggressive external conditions. In most cases, they are protective (invisibility, armor). For a more powerful and effective attack, the last stage of evolution with previously acquired power amplifiers is used. The most useful and main ability is Parasitism Two -level. At the first, the monster releases a very small part of himself, penetrating a living person or already dead and forcing to open the doors, you can even shoot his comrades of your doll. The final and plot of the most important level of parasitism is the complete infection of the being of the victim and the capture of its body and the nervous system.

There are enough different abilities in the game, and it would seem that this together makes the monster completely invulnerable. However, you still understand how disgusting the protagonist is fragile when your forehead is faced with the onslaught of his motley enemies.

There are really many opponents in the game with different levels of complexity and danger. The defenseless workers screaming with horror will meet on the way that they will fit only for feeding, and more armed hard -to -reach soldiers who are not afraid to use flamethrowers, machine guns and power fields against you. Although it is worth noting that the intelligence of both levels of the vegetable, because it is only worth giving sight of how survivors will immediately forget about a huge carnivorous creature, lower the guns and continue a calm walk along the half-destroyed and thrown by pieces of comrades of the room.

But the instrument of mankind in this horror is smarter and more dangerous than the creators themselves, that’s who is really able to bring you problems and make you regenerate several times. Drones and turrets are the most problematic enemies, since the former fly in all in a lump and quickly annihilate you, and the latter must be disconnected on your own if you manage to slip unnoticed by sensitive sensors.

If you played in the founding fathers, you can definitely say that Carrion is weak in this regard. She takes a visual with a clinging eye and rarely where the concept of the protagonist of the monster applied, so to speak. How appropriately noted by critics, the incompleteness of the intriguing idea is felt for the most part due to the unknown and places of uncomfortable gameplay.

Gameplay

Definitely, it is worth playing on the gamepad, the movements of the monster are felt much better, which only enhances the feeling of a non -pronounced cannibal, whom the game so kindly allows the player to be. An unknown creature is easy to control with only the movement of the stick-it already automatically pulls the tentacle and is enough any object. Other buttons and their clamping are responsible for the use of different abilities. At first, this is really exciting: to slip right in front of the nose of the unsuspecting people, to attack them stealthily, absorbing their mutilated bodies, leaving not a single living soul on the floors. Destroy everything in its way, infected with every corner of the base. Turn combat vehicles into a pile of useless scrap metal. A wonderful feeling of omnipotence, true? Unfortunately, it may not last long, although this is quite individually, maybe you will get any deeper. It would seem that as many as 12 different locations of the pleasure of chaos and destruction, and yet the process becomes the same. Everything boils down to the fact that the player wishes along similar levels, looking for new loopholes, where he has not yet destroyed everything. The complete absence of a game card worsens the situation, so the player is forced to strain memory and try to navigate on his own. Of course, basically the game, as it were, leads the monster in level, but it is easy to get lost, especially on the final floors of the base.

Since accurate orientation on the ground seems to be a difficult, indifferent user Demajen A whole set of cards of the main locations was created indicating all biological materials for the complete pumping of your monster. Also, the difficulty in managing is visible at the last stage of evolution, where bulky and awkward, but not less than a dangerous one, the creature should be squeezed into narrow passages or interact with small levers and other puzzles. There can also be an obvious vulnerability. As such a powerful creature, located at the last stage of its development, consisting completely of powerful tentacles and strong teeth, which can be pierced literally anything, they are able to harm anything? Despite this, the monster is too quickly perishable from the fire and the queues of shots, the player is forced to recover often to attack again and again until he can successfully clean the location.

In general, it is attractive, of course, to feel like a monster, but at the first hour, then you just look for levers, tear off the grilles, squeeze into the pipes to get into a similar place and start all over a new one.

Again, this is a generalized opinion, maybe it is for you that the game will seem to be the most missing elements in game experience. Personally, I liked to quickly deal with levels, look for passages and additional abilities, but I was confused by the lack of a map, and the same transitions from the level to the level were pressed to the head. However, this did not stop me from enjoying the unusual role of the monster.

Graphics

The game exactly at first glance will draw your attention to an interesting style of old-like eight-bites and a competent monster animation. Elements of murder, tearing bodies and their further absorption will accurately justify their high age rating.

Interesting point: in the pre-alpha version of the game, the developers showed a slightly different design and interaction.

The style itself looks a little different. As if the figures of people were increased, and the monster itself is on the contrary. Yes, and the attack on the victims was even more bloody (it was possible to grab a man by the head, beat against the wall and tear off the body from the body with part of the ridge with a fairly unpleasant sound, admiring the blood from the hole in the corpse with a fountain), but the details of the already high level of violence were reduced, and now the creature simply eats bodies for its own development. Blood patterns and infection on the walls in the corridors look very bewitching.

Musical accompaniment

Of course, an extremely atmospheric soundtrack for the game was recorded Chris Velasco. And let it not be memorable, but serves a good background under the meat. Thanks to him, you can feel impulses that the player is permeating before the next attack on the victim, already predetermining her fate for a long time. The sound is moderately tense, moderately energetic, does not particularly affect the mood of the player, just plays a background, as if in an elevator, a journey in which will be your last and worst.

Well, if you summarize, you can safely call "Carrion" an entertaining project for several hours. Yes, he will most likely not be remembered, but will simply be listed in the list of games by the problematic gameplay, the scarcity of the world, the general history, the same type of actions and tasks. Even the presence of a search for new abilities for perfect pumping does not particularly save, since at the end all improvements will be sharpened under the pressing of levers and knocking out obstacles.

Nevertheless, you should not lose sight of the fact that the idea itself can already be firmly lured together with an interesting graphic style and a sense of control of an uncontrollable cruel monster. This horror platformer will allow you to visit a good three to four hours in the skin of a creature, completely and completely consisting of pure cruelty, deadly teeth and perfect hunting instincts, fulfilling your only desire-to feel fresh air with tentacles and destroy everything that can prevent this.

Working in an underground secret laboratory, being an important scientist, soldier or ordinary guard, carefully look at your colleagues. Does any of them with blood flow? Does it move somehow unevenly and torn? Does it have a tired, packed look? And do not belong so dismissive to the noise in ventilation or in pipes. Rarely when they turn out to be simple technical problems.