Carrion Switch Review

End humanity slowly by evolving to become the perfect killing machine. Read our Carrion review for Switch.

Carrion is about ending the hubris of humanity slowly by talking over a science facility as a giant biomass. Lean, grow, evolve, stalk, and prey on humans to escape the facility. It’s a weird combination of relaxing gameplay and frantic puzzle solving at hand.

Players must work to escape the containment measures the humans are making. It’s a brilliant way to turn a genre on its head with a fresh approach to gameplay. The only downside to the game is just how short it is.

Genre: Action, Puzzler
Price: $19.99
Developer: Phobia Game Studio
Publisher: Devolver Digital

Concept – Carrion Switch Review

Carrion Switch Review
Terrify your victims by eviscerating their friends in front of them.

Players start the game as a spindly biomass escaping containment. The biomass grows as you prey on humans. Early encounters with terrified scientists help the biomass grow to terrifying proportions. But soon the humans begin sending well equipped military units to contain the biomass.

You’ll need to use your wits to keep these humans at bay as you work to breach other wings in the facility. Clever use of gravity and momentum can turn decorative objects and grates into weapons to use against the humans. Darkness is your best friend when it comes to sneaking around the facility.

Rating

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Gameplay

Carrion feels like playing a mini-Metroidvania focused on puzzle-solving. The puzzles you’re solving include infecting new points at each level you discover.

Human adversaries start out as squishy and scared scientists that are easy to devour. Soon, soldiers with shields and flamethrowers present more challenges to outsmart.

Carrion Switch Review

Outsmarting the humans in any given level is the real beauty of the game. It feels like playing Alien: Isolation in reverse as you terrify and mutilate the humans attempting to contain you.

Occasional flashbacks give players control of a human scientist to explain how the parasite was discovered. These segments are for and far between, thankfully. They break the pacing of what should be a cathartic way to end humanity.

The game doesn’t feature a map, but you don’t really need one to navigate the world. You can unlock new abilities to help traverse the world and add new layers to the challenge of the game.

Rating

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Graphics and Audio

The game is a gorgeous but gory trek through a world that feels very open. The animations and evolutions of the parasite are easy to discern, even if a lot is happening on screen. I only died when I made stupid mistakes while playing Carrion for our Switch review.

Carrion Switch Review

Enemies are easily distinguishable, even though the variety is limited. Load times between screen transitions are minimal and never frustratingly long.

The accompanying soundtrack strikes a good balance between somber horror while exploring and upbeat metal while under attack. You can listen to it below. The composer is Chris Velasco.

Rating

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Carrion Review – Switch Port

The Switch version of Carrion runs fantastically on the hardware. I experienced no slowdowns or crashes while playing the game. My only real complaint is just how short the game is. It took me about ten hours from start to finish to complete Carrion.

Overall, the game is a real pleasure to play with how easy it is to control the monster.

Conclusion

I had tons of fun exploring the facility and finding new ways to terrorize humans. Some of the abilities you can unlock offer creative ways to end their lives. Carrion is a cathartic game to play right now, given the state of 2020.

Overall Rating

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Carrion is the most fun you can have stalking humans as a parasite that can evolve and grow new abilities.

TL/DR

Carrion is a short horror Metroidvania where you play the monster terrorizing a science facility. Escape and wreak havoc on your human victims. Terrorize them before ripping them to brutal shreds.

The puzzles are fun to solve, but navigating the overworld can be confusing with no mini-map. Despite that, I never found myself lost and eventually completed the game after around 10 hours.


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