In the general horror game, the player is always as a passive party, always alert to various demons and ghosts, and if you are not careful, you will game Over. However, there is also a special category of horror works, which are also known as reverse horror games because players are swapped with NPC characters.
Carrion, a reverse horror game developed by indie developer Phobia Game Studio, is one such work, in which players are not frightened, but play as a red tentacle monster with no fixed form, trying to escape from the experimental dungeon built by humans. Players will continue to grow and evolve, and through a variety of different abilities, give these arrogant and ignorant humans the most terrifying death sanctions!
Unlike superheroes and righteous parties, the biggest charm of "Carrion" is to let players taste evil, through the monsters that are powerful in existence, tearing and eating the unarmed humans in the game, although the bloody hunting screen may cause many people to resent, but it has to be said that the dark side of somewhere in the heart is indeed satisfied. The most familiar matchmaking game is GTA, where players are free to have fun committing crimes.
The theme of "Carrion" is quite similar to many science fiction movies, such as the classic horror movie "The Thing" or any unknown space creature invading the spaceship, and the crew can be echoed by the tragic death of their hands. The difference is that the player is no longer a panicked and ignorant human being, but from the perspective of a monster, he will destroy the human beings one by one, and enjoy the alternative pleasure brought by the contrast.
The art style of this game is presented in pixels, and the game scenes such as underground laboratories, waste dumps, defense bases, deep-water facilities, etc. have their own styles, and their eerie and dark atmosphere is also quite in line with the theme of the game. The animated presentation of the monster itself is also quite impressive, with a bloody red appearance, a twisted and squirming body shape, and living tentacles. In particular, this tentacle will expand and contract freely with the direction the player moves, perfectly showing the general fear of the tentacle monster.
As you play as a tentacle monster, you'll gain new abilities such as stealth, dashing, hardening, controlling humans, and more. Each ability has a clear purpose, such as stealth to evade laser detection, sprint to break through the plank, control humans to turn on switches, and so on. Of course, after learning to use them flexibly, each of these abilities can become a new trick to kill humans, allowing players to feel that they are "full of dominance" as monsters!
However, if there is only one-sided rolling, the gameplay will decline rapidly in a short period of time, so there are also threatening enemies such as armed soldiers and robots in the game. Trying to confront these enemies won't work. Monster abilities must be used wisely, such as stealth around the back, sprinting and impacting, controlling humans to hit other humans, and so on. However, almost all of the enemies in this game can be insidious from behind, and most of the enemies can be easily solved by making good use of small passages of terrain.
Also because the monster itself is very powerful, the game's combat does lack some sense of combat, and the ability to use it well can be unilaterally rolled, which is an element that can become both advantages and disadvantages of this game. It is suggested that players can deliberately create some horror movie scenes in the "small theater" in their hearts, such as grabbing the dismembered human corpse on their backs and dangling in front of other humans; hiding in the toilet cubicle, accompanying the ignorant human next door to the toilet. The style and atmosphere of the game allow players to easily blend into the character of the terrifying monster.
Puzzle solving elements are another major feature of Carrion. The design of this puzzle has a basic principle - open the door→ find the door switch → open the door → go to the next area. Most of the ways to open the door revolve around the ability of the monster, and different ways to open the door are derived through different abilities. The difficulty of solving the puzzle is not high, and the map looks huge, but the process is single, basically the player's action route is very smooth, and it is not easy to level.
The overall experience of this game is relaxed, and in terms of game time, I spent about 5 to 6 hours to complete the level, which is a refreshing skit game. Although the combat and puzzle solving may be too simple, the charm of playing the villain monster is still very powerful. The fatigue of office workers and the pressure of students' schoolwork are sometimes cured by this simple and rough catharsis.