CARRION Reviews
A squirming body horror labyrinth whose mix of ability-gating and backtracking slightly cramps its matchless creature design.
Carrion nails the power fantasy of being a horror movie monster, but makes exploration a chore that pads the adventure.
Carrion is a fun reverse-horror adventure, though it doesn't push the concept to the heights of its potential.
Playing as an alien monstrosity is a great idea, and at times works well, but the fiddly controls and awkward mix of gameplay ideas doesn't gel together well.
With the gameplay flow struggling to find a pulse, the novelty of controlling a monster doesn't fully take shape
Carrion is a body horror masterpiece
Carrion makes being a vicious monster satisfyingly simple and captivatingly gruesome, even if it doesn't always capitalize on its strengths.
Most importantly, Carrion’s smart. It’s an extremely finely crafted game, so much so that you’re essentially playing a meat-smeared Metroidvania without a map, and you won’t even miss it. That’s quite something.
Carrion is an energetic and taut game that flips the tables on The Thing, putting you in command of the alien creature and tasking you with simply going to town on the hapless humans surrounding you. The loose physics-based gameplay is satisfying to play, and the enigmatic creature's bloodlust is crucially never too powerful to render the armed humans that challenge you entirely helpless. Although Carrion's story falls largely flat, it's a very satisfying slaughterhouse of gnashing teeth and tentacles.
If you're looking for a cathartic pick-up-and-play game with little to no fat that you can slip in between this summer's massive story-driven titles, that's Carrion all the way. It's a devilish snack.
Carrion is a great concept that becomes repetitive in practice.
Carrion is an interesting metroidvania that starts from a different and interesting idea (you're the monster), that horror films lovers and metroidvania games fans will enjoy. Even with its wonderful pixel art, great ideas and wonderful progression, the final chunk of the game and some minor elements prevent the game from ending with a bang.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Turning the horror game genre on its head, Carrion is a gory delight for you rip and tear your way through.
Buy (or claim on Xbox Game Pass for either console or PC).
An anomalous metroidvania in the intent as traditional in the realization. The creature's alien and brutal beauty is only partially supported by an equally good world to explore. It remains a fascinating title, made with care, that really lacks that extra flicker to excel.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Carrion reverses the roles of the horror genre beautifully, and playing as a monster has never been so disgustingly enjoyable.
Carrion turns the horror genre on its head by letting you be the monster this time in a Metroidvania style game, which serves as the perfect type game to pick up and play between many of the other larger scale releases that have released this year.
Carrion abounds with the thrills of being the monster, then, but, less common and more cosy, with the kick of being in a monster movie—of slithering in celebration over the tropes of the genre. The good news is that, for a while, it works.
The result, for me, was anxiety. A low background hum of “did I miss something”, combined with the high notes of being unable to find the next new area. It was enough to shade my entire experience with Carrion, turning a pleasant enough Metroidvania with a one-of-a-kind protagonist into something I felt like I was struggling to escape from.