I remember the first time an alien scared me was in John Carpenter's The Thing (1982); it was a terrifying film. The incredible design and paranoia-inducing behaviour of the alien were frightening to me. I've always been surprised that many games were made off the back of Ridley Scott's Alien but not The Thing. Consequently, when I saw CARRION's gameplay and its stylised cartoon trailer; I couldn't wait to play it.
It promised to be a perfect homage to the film, just as brutal, gory and manically enjoyable to run through. The previews showed a game that wanted to delight the player; simply by highlighting how fun being a horrifying alien might be. Apparently, it'd be very fun.
Short and (Very Not) Sweet
The game is a sidescrolling 2D action puzzler at heart, however, the main draw of it is the alien itself, and how dangerous you are. It's sadistic fun at its finest. The design of the creature is phenomenal with how it looks/moves being both brutal and empowering. Capable of moving eerily quickly; it'll outrun absolutely anything else. To top it off its apparently so grotesque that nearly every NPC, within an entire screens radius, lets out a petrified (well-acted) scream as you eat them.
As you progress you'll gain new abilities that expand your options for traversal and toying with the humans around the facility. Throughout your playthrough, you'll be laughing as frightened lab technicians run for their lives. As you get stronger by hurling doors through the air, stabbing people, cutting them in half, pulling them through grates, drowning them in water or possessing them before bursting out of their chest. You'll hope it never ends.
It's a very short game though with some players beating it in 5-6 hours. Important to note is that its price is £16.99 which makes it still worth a buy despite the short run time.
Movie Mimicry
The game emulates the atmosphere of survival horror films and games by incorporating a gritty, depressing aesthetic and mostly ambient music; music that channels Dead Space heavily. The way that blood splatters everywhere, as you fight and move around, is a great touch too making it easy to see your path of destruction.
As you become more of a bloodthirsty killing machine you'll be able to infect humans and take control of them just like in The Thing (1982). It's endlessly satisfying and creepy to take a room of unsuspecting guards out while doing this.
The story in the game is basic but serviceable. Mostly it's told through levels where you play as a human, and these offer a nice change of pace to break up the manic main quest. They tell the tale of how the monster came about and the origins of the facility you find yourself in. the story does what it needs too... justifies the carnage.
The game is ultimately about feeling like your a stalking, merciless killing machine from the movies and it nails this. It could use a map though.
Conclusion
In this short, brutal and very fun alien simulator, it pays to take your time. Take out people one by one and analyse the environments at your disposal. You'll learn to be an adaptive and sneaky monster meaning the short runtime will dissipate so quickly you'll be forced to play through it another three times in one day.
CARRION is available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC.
GO BUY IT !!!
