Carrion

 Switch
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Nintendo Insider
    Jul 28, 2020
    70
    Carrion does many things right when it comes to creating a feel for becoming the monster. The cinematic soundtrack is fantastic too, setting the tone and putting the player in the mindset of the beast perfectly. The way the monster moves under control is excellent, and massacring a room full of scientists and soldiers rarely ever gets old. It’s just unfortunate that the overall structure that surrounds the novelty of the core gameplay mechanic is never quite as unique in comparison.
  2. IGN
    Jul 27, 2020
    70
    Carrion nails the power fantasy of being a horror movie monster, but makes exploration a chore that pads the adventure.
  3. GameSpot
    Jul 24, 2020
    70
    When it's letting you live out its proposed reverse-horror fantasy, Carrion is at its best. It excels at making you feel empowered as an evolving lab experiment gone wrong, giving you ample opportunities to flex your death-dealing tentacles and tear enemies limb from limb. While giving you numerous tools to wreak havoc, it also uses them in smart ways to find a good balance between its gory combat and problem-solving. Carrion falters when it requires too much fine precision from you with a control scheme that doesn't allow for it, and is at its lowest when you're not playing as its headlining monster at all. These are disappointing distractions, but Carrion's main event is still a bloody great time.
  5. 4P.de
    Aug 20, 2020
    69
    The concept is imaginative and puts you in control of a rather cool monster. But leveldesign and monotonous gameplay are disappointing in the long run.
  6. Cubed3
    Aug 14, 2020
    60
    Carrion embraces its identity as a "reverse-horror" experience, offering some viscerally violent action that is not for the faint of heart. Presentation here is top-notch: this is a polished title that Phobia Game Studio has taken a lot of care in crafting. Sadly, it stumbles in its core gameplay. The combat is poorly balanced and navigation can be a frustrating chore, but when Carrion does transcend these trappings, it does so with a sadistic glee that makes it unmistakable amongst its peers.
  7. Metro GameCentral
    Jul 23, 2020
    60
    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.
  8. Video Chums
    Aug 26, 2020
    55
    Carrion is a game that I would love to play through in one night with a group of friends as long as I'm not the one playing it. While it's not the best Metroidvania to navigate, it's a joy to watch. If you love horror, especially old monster movies, this is worth checking out for the atmosphere alone as it makes for a rather spook-tacular night.

Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

User Reviews

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User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 44 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 44
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 44
  3. Negative: 2 out of 44
  1. vROBOCOPv
    Jul 29, 2020
    10
    Extremely fun game, with intuitive controls and rewarding moment to moment gameplay. Overall Carrion is very polished and gorgeous to look atExtremely fun game, with intuitive controls and rewarding moment to moment gameplay. Overall Carrion is very polished and gorgeous to look at too. The ending was incredible also.… Full Review »
  2. pokegod11
    Jul 28, 2020
    10
    Good port of carrion that you can play on the go, or the toilet if that's what you prefer
  3. Cameel
    Jul 27, 2020
    9
    You wake up, perhaps as a test subject, trapped in an alien prison.

    A few fierce blows and your container breaks, setting you free in this    You wake up, perhaps as a test subject, trapped in an alien prison.

    A few fierce blows and your container breaks, setting you free in this fearsome environment. Or were you trapped for a good reason? You fling some foes around, and using your ferocious fangs you feast on their remains, and grow, getting more powerful, but also having its downsides. Taking damage makes you shrink. Before long, you find other containers like yours, and merge with the DNA found inside, evolving, and learning new skills, tied to a certain size range. You'll soon learn how and when to make the most of the advantages and disadvantages of being small, medium, or large, and how and where to leave behind unwanted body mass, or pick it back up.

    But as you adapt to and infest the different locations and the area linking them all together, your captors use spiked energy shields, flamethrowers, drones, and mech suits to stop you. Perhaps you can turn your enemies against themselves and stealthily stick to the safety of ventilation shafts yourself? Grow larger and rip their mech suits apart, absorbing some damage in the process, but eating the cadavers and workers to regain what you lost?

    You may not be able to read a map (there is no map, only echo-location), or to understand these weird creatures their motivation (no written story or voice-acting beyond screams), but one thing is clear: the glass container may have been broken, but still this facility and its inhabitants, their machines and their flames and stinging projectiles, are standing between you and your freedom.

    As you make your way across the facility and its various surroundings, finding ways to overcome some clever defensive security measures, and fighting hostile security systems using different tactics, there's only one thing on your mind: you must escape.
    Or wait... What is this weird energy you feel? Is that... Fun? Are you enjoying this massacre? Do you enjoy consuming the helpless and hapless flesh of your foes?

    I know I have been enjoying this bloody rampage of meat consumption for "bio mass" gains a lot (and I'm a vegan... There, I told you, now make all the jokes you want). It came out of nowhere, painted the walls red, and when all scream and machine gun echoes went silent, it firmly but amorphously stood (and covered the walls and ceiling) as a new entry in my hall of fame of favourite games ever. And if you, like me, enjoy a good creature feature, a good horror film like John Carpenter's The Thing (one of my favourite films ever, with one of my favourite movie-game adaptations ever);
    a fast and fluid retro style horror-themed game with most of the modern needs and a vast variety of defensive and offensive moves and options;
    slow and methodically approachable situations mixed with hectic all out combat that has you observe, storm, adapt, retreat...
    You're in for tricky treat!    … Full Review »
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