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    Carrion

    Game » consists of 3 releases. Released Jul 23, 2020

    A reverse horror game where the player is the amorphous monster.

    Carrion is my GOTY so far

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    matthewgm

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    I love a good Metroidvania, but the upgrades can be somewhat predictable, and it's less often a matter of puzzling out an answer as waiting until you have the right equipment.

    As the creature, you have full reign of mobility from the start. There's numerous ways to gate your progress, but the normal ones are not present. As a result, I was constantly delighted when granted a strange new ability.

    The upgrades that you do get almost all have a dual combat and exploration purpose. I feel like this is key in a good Metroidvania - there's just something appealing about using the speed boost in Super Metroid to both clear a disappearing floor and also run through a bunch of dudes. This game is full of feel-good moments like that.

    I realize that the lack of map will put some people off, but the game is short enough that soon enough you can feel your way around. I seldom felt lost.

    Anyway. I hope more people give it a chance.

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    Colonel_Pockets

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    I'll have to check this out. Seems cool. Thanks for the heads up.

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    deactivated-61665c8292280

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    Yeah, same. Game really spoke to me.

    It has some clear flaws. Not having a map is an issue. While I didn't have a ton of issues progressing through the main story without guidance, it makes clearing out the hidden collectibles a tremendous chore. I also really, really struggled with the mobility in the endgame, at which point you've grown so large that navigating small, subtle, twitch movements becomes really cumbersome and the level design is at its most complex.

    BUT, all that said, I still think its premise and execution felt so simple and novel that I had no problem disregarding my quibbles to slop my way through every dank laboratory corner. A really great game.

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    SethMode

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    I beat this in one sitting and loved every second of it. I agree that the only real downside is the lack of a map, and the only other minor issue I have is when you're huge and sometimes super unwieldy. But those really didn't bother me in the face of not just how well it was all done, but also how fun the minimalist story was. I would have happily paid for this if it weren't on Gamepass. I might even double dip with it a ways down the line on Switch.

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    glots

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    #6  Edited By glots

    Besides sharing the general complaint about the lack of a map, I also really enjoyed my time with this! It could've maybe used some more variety among the enemies, but the game also was fairly short, so it didn't become tedious to deal with what there was.

    Now I'm not saying this to diss how the game looked, because I did enjoy the visuals, especially on the monster itself, but seeing something like this with a big budget would be pretty terrific. Probably would've been more likely to happen in the PS2/Xbox days.

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    Oshjoshlax

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    I am thinking about picking this up on the Switch, from what I've seen it seems like the perfect Switch game. Do you know if there are any performance issues with it?

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    Humanity

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    I thought it was a lot of fun and definitely in the Devolver wheelhouse. Really enjoyed the fun ending.

    Cons? The game could definitely use a lot more biomes. A lot of the areas are very samey looking. Lack of a map is a real bummer. If the goal was that a monster wouldn’t have a map they could have at least had a map to look at in the beginning area of each “level”.

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    deactivated-61665c8292280

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    @glots said:

    ...seeing something like this with a big budget would be pretty terrific. Probably would've been more likely to happen in the PS2/Xbox days.

    I had a similar takeaway. I'd love to see different kinds of monsters with different kinds of abilities get this sort of treatment. Parts of the action in this game took me back to the old Aliens vs. Predator titles, where you could take the reins of a famous monster that hilariously outclassed its opposition. Would love to see more like this.

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    BisonHero

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    #10  Edited By BisonHero
    @humanity said:

    I thought it was a lot of fun and definitely in the Devolver wheelhouse. Really enjoyed the fun ending.

    Cons? The game could definitely use a lot more biomes. A lot of the areas are very samey looking. Lack of a map is a real bummer. If the goal was that a monster wouldn’t have a map they could have at least had a map to look at in the beginning area of each “level”.

    I ended up not liking Carrion that much, but most of my complaints are probably "boy this game would be better with a bigger budget and with more than 2 people developing it." Maybe I would have a different opinion if I got it through Game Pass, but I paid money for Carrion. It's definitely very Devolver.

    Pros:

    • the monster animation and sound are rad as hell
    • the monster abilities are pretty fun in combat
    • the flashbacks and ending sequence are pretty good story bits, though I would've liked maybe a bit more

    Cons:

    • the monster abilities are pretty boring in puzzles/traversal, since they all have one exact purpose that never has any variety to it
    • the environments are visually repetitive and dull, except for botanical gardens (the jungle) and leviathan reef base (the sea)
    • the environments are mechanically repetitive, with no zone really having any unique mechanic or unique enemy types
    • enemy variety is super bad, with 3 types of armed guards and 3 types of robot/mech, and that's it for the whole game. I feel it really needed either enemies unique to each area, or other captive monsters/military research projects to fight as minibosses
    • lacking menus: it feels super super low budget that they couldn't be bothered to put in a couple pause screens A) that summarize your abilities and which collectible upgrades you've found, in case you put the game down for a few days, and B) a map. Short, linear games can get away with no map if you never backtrack and can't go back for collectibles, but in this game, you can do those things! And the overworld is labyrinthine
    • the optional collectible upgrades are bad and of such minor benefit that they should've been cut from the game to alleviate my complaint about the game having no map. 2-3 of these upgrades do have a cool puzzle to get them that is actually more fun than any of the puzzles on the critical path to finish the game though
    • I really hate that the game has so many one way tubes that just make the level layout even harder to mentally track. You might remember two rooms are beside each other but the way is blocked due to some one-way tube shenanigans so you have to all the way around once again

    I go into overly long detail on these in this thread, which probably should've just been my user review of Carrion.

    Carrion costs $5 or $10 more than it should for how thin it feels around the edges. Lunging out and killing some soldier feels good, but everything else is a giant shoulder shrug. All the traversal/exploration Metroidvania stuff ends up feeling really rote and obvious and completely lacking any sense of discovery or accomplishment. Again, it's a small team, but I think they tried to do too much with their limited resources, and the game falls short most of the time. If someone wanted a game where you just brutally end the life of armed guards, I would still recommend something like Hotline Miami or Ape Out over Carrion due to better overall feel and energy. If someone wants a Metroidvania there are a lot of Metroidvanias out there of better quality and equal or lower price (Hollow Knight is less money than Carrion and is frankly much better). I may not end up buying 10 games from 2020, but I can't imagine Carrion escaping the 8-10 range if I do make it to 10 games.

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    csl316

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    I keep thinking it's a gritty Mutant Blobs Attack. Any similarity between the two?

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    rorie

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    I like it a lot but I am not a huge fan of feeling lost and not knowing where to go. I think a general arrow pointing towards where you're "supposed" to be going would be real handy. Felt that way about Axiom Verge, too!

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    BisonHero

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    @rorie: One of the left triggers/bumpers is an echolocation roar that vaguely points you to the next checkpoint, though even with that you can get lost sometimes. It's not my favourite solution to having no map.

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    rorie

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    @rorie: One of the left triggers/bumpers is an echolocation roar that vaguely points you to the next checkpoint, though even with that you can get lost sometimes. It's not my favourite solution to having no map.

    Unfortunately that highlights any save points, unless I'm mistaken! It can totally lead you backwards if you're not careful.

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    Efesell

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    @rorie: It highlights points you haven't found yet, they're save points but they also unlock new areas. Once you have done your business at one they won't reflect back when you scream anymore.

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    rorie

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    @efesell said:

    @rorie: It highlights points you haven't found yet, they're save points but they also unlock new areas. Once you have done your business at one they won't reflect back when you scream anymore.

    Huh, that's weird because I hit it once and I got like 4 pings back in all directions, including the ones I just came from! I'll try to get back to it though!

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    BisonHero

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    @rorie said:
    @efesell said:

    @rorie: It highlights points you haven't found yet, they're save points but they also unlock new areas. Once you have done your business at one they won't reflect back when you scream anymore.

    Huh, that's weird because I hit it once and I got like 4 pings back in all directions, including the ones I just came from! I'll try to get back to it though!

    I think the pings are different colours depending on if it's a checkpoint you've found yet or not. So yeah, once again, it's really not a great solution to no map, and no inventory screen to tell you which colour means what.

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    Efesell

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    Oops, I'm just wrong turns out. It does show points you activated. I must have been in an area without any and just remembered that incorrectly.

    The pings are different colors though if it's new though, so there is that.

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