This game was a recommendation and as a non-metroidvania player, it was pretty solid. There’s not much backtracking and generally I ended up going the right way most of the time.The aesthetic is a little off-putting as the visceral screams of humans as they are being devoured made my skin crawl. I have mixed feelings about this game…

As a biomass of wormlike material, you are escaping a facility. That’s really the extent of the story here. There is one revelation that I found interesting, but without dialogue, notes or any exposition, the plot here is lacking. This isn’t much of a complaint, but I feel that some context would make my impression of the game more profound.

The gameplay here is nothing groundbreaking, but the mechanics are fluid and the progression keeps you moving along. Some ability unlocks are underwhelming as one of the mid-game upgrades is “turning into long skinny worms in water.” It seems like they were clamoring for abilities and couldn’t think of anything. One aspect of the abilities I found interesting, if not a bit irritating, was that some abilities were only available in certain sizes. As you eat people, you gain mass. You can be small, medium and large. Because some obstacles require certain abilities, you may have to backtrack to remove some of your biomass so you can progress. This does lend some tension, as the smaller you are, the less health you have. Most levels however don’t require much thinking to conquer and you probably won’t have much trouble with them.

Some combat scenarios get a little hectic as not all humans are there for sustenance. There are a few with flamethrowers, electric shields and even mechs with miniguns. Using your slew of abilities to dispatch them was one of the more entertaining aspects of the game. The combat scenarios actually made me think, while most of the puzzles did not. The options with which to tackle these encounters gave my brain some much needed stimulation, so much so that their interjections are what kept me playing until the credits.

Carrions is an inoffensive game with some unique ideas, but didn’t really do much for me. I enjoyed how short it was (I finished it in about 4hrs) and some of the combat scenarios were challenging enough to keep me interested. The lack of real story-telling (minus some parts where you play as a human), and the ease of progression, left me without a lot to say. It was a game that I played, not much else to it.