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 delivers on its unique 'reverse-horror game' concept, letting players wreak havoc as a massive, disgusting blob of tentacles and teeth.
Carrion is a fun reverse-horror adventure, though it doesn't push the concept to the heights of its potential.
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.
Buy (or claim on Xbox Game Pass for either console or PC).
There's plenty that Carrion gets right beyond the fluidity and attention to detail its horrific, blood-red monstrosity is given.
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.
Carrion is a special thing in many ways, but its actual meat and potatoes structure is as formulaic as the genre gets. Thankfully, its core gameplay of tearing room after room of people into wet chunks of corpse never, ever gets old, and sustains the experience throughout. It looks superb, sounds great and is plenty of fun to play, despite some minor issues which just hold Carrion back from the upper echelons of the Switch library.
Carrion reverses the roles of the horror genre beautifully, and playing as a monster has never been so disgustingly enjoyable.
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.
Carrion is a bloody, intricate experience with a consistency problem that breaks the momentum that's central to a game like Carrion.
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 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.
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.