Carrion's Wasted Reverse Horror Potential. 

stop watching this for the love of god.

You know what's hilarious. Games like Undertale and Stardew valley prove that graphics 100% are not the most important thing. Often times, just having a unique art style can go miles

It would be so cool if in a game like this you had boss fights where you're fighting heroes and other protagonist characters that are trying to hunt you down, they could even get their own abilities/upgrades that become harder to deal with as you get further into the game.

The beauty is the game isn’t bogged down with storytelling. It’s leaving the player to figure out what happened and happening, like the ENTIRE game, you’re left to figure out almost everything for yourself.

I think a halo reach style ending would be pretty cool, fighting endless waves of humans until you eventually are overwhelmed would fit perfectly with this game. After all, as the final boss, you can never win.

I still loved that game, the only complaint that I had its too short, I dont need a story, why, I am a biological killing machine, I dont care for story and probably cant comprehend it, keyboard is comfortable to play it, music isn't really needed.

the story doesn't need to be explicit, i liked the environmental storytelling, figuring out whats going on as i play, coming up with my own theories. Also you said you wanted to be the big boss that just kills stuff, that's what the game is, lol. I agree with your point about the maps though. I never noticed the lack of bosses tbh. The complaints about it being $20 seems weird because that's like no money for a game with such a cool mechanic.

I think they swapped out the boss for the hoard of researchers so you could feel like an unstoppable bulldozer. Still would have been nice for a boss first, though.

TBH I think you may have missed the point of what this game is trying to be - a reverse horror game. There are no bosses because YOU ARE THE BOSS. It doesn’t have a banging soundtrack because it is going for atmosphere. (Watch The Thing and note it’s minimalist but effective soundtrack). It doesn’t play like a typical metroidvania because it isn’t trying to be one. Re controls: Far point. (I only played it on PC with mouse control which was fine however.) Re the story. I suspect it was left vague deliberately, since you experience everything from the monsters’s viewpoint and only know what it knows: You wake up in some weird place. You have no idea where you are, how you got there, or WTF is going on. All you know is that you want out, and you are hungry. Watch The Thing and The Blob and put yourself in the thing’s and the blob’s shoes. Imagine only knowing what they know. I suspect this is what the devs were aiming for.

A major missed opportunity is a city level where you use the sewers and work your way into a subway system and dodge trains or electricals as an obstacle, then the main course being a city, climbing through buildings and stuff.

For me, I love this game. I got exactly what I wanted from it, a reverse horror. Which to me means that instead of you being scared shitless, you are the one that's soiling the pants of the npcs. As for the story, I honestly don't really care. Your the big bad from an R rated horror film that wants to kill and eat people and escape from a reaserch facility, that's enough for me. My only complaints are that the metroid-vania aspect of it was severely lacking and that it was way too short. I really hope they make another game and expand on it because I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

Only complaint about this game was how short it was

Loved the game; agree it was far too short, and the tentacle was hard to control at times, but disagree regarding several points: * music (and general creature design) was inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jCYIJP_Uvnc.html and I think Carrion mimicked that vibe perfectly * boss fight: the game was 2 things: a puzzler, and the ability to be a super-destructive monster-boss. In the very end, it felt more like they were going for a Half-Life2 god-mode ending. Once you hear the announcement that all the surviving scientists are clustered in one place, you unleash your full destruction on them, and then casually slip out of the base unleashed upon the world. The game was never really about epic boss-fights. In some ways those robots & drones reduced the power fantasy of being this unstoppable boss yourself. I felt the ending really captured the sense of futility and hopelessness one felt at the end of The Thing or Ex Machina (at least I imagine that's how the last few scientists I ate felt). * inventory map: agree a map would've been useful at times, but I really liked how immersive most of the UI elements were (since you're a monster). There are probably other ways they could've handled a map, such as your roar doubling as a pheromone trail (they sort of tried this in some ways, but it didn't feel well fleshed out). Or maps immersed sporadically throughout the levels (in-game), or requiring you to access a terminal using a human in parasite-mode to see a map of where you've been. But they did a fairly good job of prompting and guiding the player that a map wasn't all that necessary (though to be fair I did get lost a few times). Would've benefited from an endless wave mode in an infinite procedural dungeon to pad out the story-mode length, but I'd absolutely still recommend for the price of a theater ticket. Would be really cool to see a Carrion sequel co-op puzzler in the same vein as Portal 2.

My reaction to this game was like this: "Oh yeah I think I played that flash game back in the day... What do you mean it's not a flash game from back in the day?"

If every review was this good there would be happier people in fewer wars. Seriously, this offered some great insights that the consumers and developers alike would be wise to learn from.

Dude yes this ruled...Agree 100% with your analysis! I played on game pass so the price point wasn’t an issue for me. Hopefully the developers hear this and maybe use the game mechanics as a starting point for a full sequel?

I feel like I want to blame the lack of bosses on the fact that the developer's previous game, Butcher, had some honestly pretty lackluster bosses (Boss singular? I can't remember now.), so they just decided to abandon the concept completely.

I have a TTTPG where you play as minions trying to become boss monsters. You occupy roads, mines, and other places constantly taking out normal guys, merchants, and convoys while evading the OP heroes until you can handle them. So good~

Reminder this isn’t meant to be a action game this is a reverse horror usually in horror you are getting scared and chased by a monster in this case you are the monster And that’s it that’s all there it is it’s pretty fucking obvious what type of experience it is

Tbh, the game plays better on a mouse. my only complain is that it feels too short... Or something. I dunno. There's something lacking that I can't explain.

A full-sized Thing Thing game would be amazing.

I'd say that the game is worth a purchase, but only when on sale really, the experience is that interesting overall and hopefully a concept that will be revisited by these devs or some other. Otherwise, I fully agree.

By the looks it instantly reminded me of 'Beneath a steel sky'. a classic point & click, recommended if you like that!

I clicked so fast.

This game is awesome but it has very heavy "newgrounds flash game" vibes for me. Doesn't seem like something I'd buy on steam or a console, but rather play as a flash game online. If Spewer was made today exactly as it is I think I'd have to pay to play it lol. Thank god I got to experience the golden age of flash games.

'No music' *Laughs in heli-drone theme*

Been going through your catalog of videos, and I am sure you have your own content schedule. Just want to throw my hat in the ring. "The Messenger." The music slaps, the controls are clean, and the characters are fun to engage with. Even if a video never gets made on it, it deserves a playthrough. Great intro btw!

Really enjoyed the review. I think a big part of why the game felt underwhelming is that the developer's philosphy for the game was to make it like a horror game, not an action game. It was advertised as a "reverse-horror" game which, to me, sounds like it was meant to appeal to fans of monster movies. Personally, I see a lot of influence from John Carpenter's "The Thing". That's also probably why the soundtrack is less bangin as it goes for more of a soundtrack feel. I think this concept and the gameplay feel disconnected because 1) The game isn't scary. At all. The atmosphere is there and the monster is creepy looking, but 2) you're too powerful and the way the game plays is closer to something like rampage, which negates any sense of fear. I 100% agree that this would've worked better as a more action-centric title. It's instead a horror-themed puzzle eat-em-up.

You have such a natural presence in front of a camera. I really enjoy pretty much everything about your presentation style. Never change, dude. This shit rocks.

Thanks thing thing is the best flash game, that and madness combat games too, i grew up with those when i was a kid born in 2004, btw i wish the carrion creature could also be customizable in color like blur or yellow or secrets to make you want to look for something idk, thats all..

i hope they add a big mecha as a new boss dlc where the onster is unleashed into the city, and it can pretty much goes anywhere eating human but are in constant threat of being hunted by the mecha. and the final fight needs the monster to consume enough mass to be evolved into a big monster, making a fair foe for the mecha. could be fun

Have you ever played Furi? That game is SO good, however, they made some poor decisions in that game as well. The boss rush is crazy, the music was MADE for this game and the story ending hit me hard when I got there. People say it's only a 4 hour game, which is true, but that's only if you're a badass and aren't playing the bosses for hours on end like I did, failing miserably. The game is a challenge and whats more is that it has a harder difficulty that changes the dynamics of what you learned in the normal difficulty. One of my favorite games of all time for sure. Also, make sure to buy the DLC "One last fight" Totally worth it.

years late but fun fact about the bosses mention: in a old gif for the game's development there was planned to be a boss/enemy like the monster to fight tho was never added but they added a small Easter Egg to it in the ending with the other broken jar

Honestly as much as the game could and probably should be improved, it's still league's ahead of what "Triple A" studios do. It's always just Shooty McShootface in the same story with the same mechanics over and over and over again with slightly better graphics than last time. Carrion at least has a unique concept that can be fleshed out, rather than just another stagnation.

Loved this game from start to finish just wish it was longer.

I think the short length may have helped the game, actually. There are a few quirks in the gameplay that could have been extremely annoying if the game had lasted longer. We get just enough hints about the story to make reasonable guesses-although it probably would have helped to get unlockables like the comic, audio logs (I know, they were trite when Bioshock did them, but it would answer questions), or even an unlocked memories system like Prototype had where eating certain individuals would explain some of the backstory. Also, controlling the stage 3 monster around tight corridors and curves is *trying*, to put it mildly. I enjoyed the game, but it was definitely flawed. I’d recommend it as a unique experience but not for someone looking for their next hardcore Metroidvania fix.

They should make a sequel where the ending is the beast consumes the entire planet

Bro, you really make the best videos. Please keep going. Never heard of this game, but I'll check it out now.

I think a lot of game designers don't realize how big of a difference having any sort of story can make to your game. When I say that, I'm not necessarily talking about long, intrusive cutscenes--I just mean having a reason and a purpose to do whatever it is you are doing. I think even games like Mario would benefit a lot from this--you never really have a reason for doing anything other than "do the next level b/c it's the next level", and all the levels feel so disconnected from each other.

Super worth $20

Hi sir. You have so much talent. I'm devouring your videos like candy cake on a Tuesday! Much love.

I always loved to hide in the vents and slowly pick people off while luring them out.

Epic bro. Logged in just to hit you with that Sub

I was super psyched to play carrion after seeing it in devolverland but they I saw the average completion time...

4:24 This is a SICK idea, like imagine just like jailbreaking different eldritch horror creatures with vastly different mechanics, like how in this game you move by gripping walls with your tentacle thingies and throw yourself at wherever you wanted to go

it'd be interesting to hear how you feel about an indie game like Noita

The more I watch your videos, the more I realize that they have an EgoRaptor vibe, if you just took the cocaine-animations out of it lol. Great review!

Well this is an underrated channel.

I think the game is meant to be played with a mouse and keyboard. It felt fluid AF with that. I think they threw the controller option in there for those who prefer controllers, but it isn't really the best tool for the job on this one. Music was great (you think you get that atmosphere with bad music?) and honestly, I loved the ending and that it left a lot open to interpretation. The lore was pretty sparce, but the flashbacks to when you come back as a human to try become a monster again... was freeking genius. To me it really hammered down that ending, walking out - getting your freedom after being stripped of everything that made you powerful. Not only that.. but you walk out, knowing that in trying to become a monster again, you die.. You freeking die man! I agree the game is short (I got on sale so price wasn't an issue). Prolly not worth 20 bucks tho, sure. I also fully agree on the map issue. Some dude on Steam made a lot of effort and made a pretty ace map for that last bit of runaround. Go there and give the dude some kudos!

how is it wasted? You're not meant to be scared. You're meant to realize how the monster sees people and the world around it, a small claustrophobic maze where it was brought to ageist it's will.

omg 10:46 onwards , that background song, I know it from somewhere but can't put my finger on it

I remember this one as well, and they added workshop which was nice for a bit - but yeah I walked away from that one empty too. You should try Valfaris for fun deathtime and metal Uncursed bring the beat headbanger style

Really smooth editing

"so short it's the last to know when it rains" yep, that's going down in the book to use later

I say buy it if you can tho. I want to reward the effort and see more of it. It was definitely fun.

This looks really cool. 🙂 It’s even available natively on Linux, I think I’ll pick it up now during during the Christmas sale. 🙂

bro I love your content whenever you are ready with some new stuff, I'll be sure to eat it up no criticism because there is none to be done you just rock love this shit can watch it on 1x even good job proud of you more please but don't make yourself suffer if you have enough money, live life, I wish you the best man

The game just needed to be longer in my opinion, It doesn't need a story. I am an alien monster, and some bastard is shooting at me.

Zombie Night Terror is a highly underated indie that avoids all these pitfalls.

you're undefeated with these intros

It did have bosses...even if they were pint sized walkers. Game never did mention why they captured but didn't kill you, let alone being shot at without the scientists "trying" to recapture you. Flamethrowers/shields were a nice touch but to think you'd at least get to see what the plan was aside from secure, study and contain. Even then, no facility wide alarms or protocols? Just strange but the gameplay's solid, didn't really think about the story up until now

it would be cool if the creature could remember where its been for a map

I think carrion shouldn’t really have that much of a prominent story, you are after all a barely sentient blob of death with seemingly no comprehension of anything more complicated than “gurgle kill gurgle.” Although now I come to think of it the monsters limited mental understanding could be a good jumping point for a story based around the monsters actions, for example humans could have dialogue that uncovers some more information about the facility. Tiny cutscenes could show humans begging for mercy, before cutting to the monster hearing garbled noises, showcasing its complete lack of comprehension of the world around it. But One thing I really wish they did was include more ways to interact with humans, attacking a group one by one would effect the kicking members of the group, like driving humans insane and beyond, (making them suspect their comrades of being possessed etc)

Man I really dig your moves in front of the camera, makes my adhd brain happy. This game remind me of old nokia mobile games but on steroids.

Most indie games are just a simple idea. You want too much from it and it is overpriced but it's doing everything it wanted to do so next time buy a better game.

The reason there’s not much gameplay is because it’s up to the player to figure it out, it’s kinda like an A.R.G. 2nd, there’s no map because it’s trying to make you feel like your in the moment and discovering the facility as you go. 3rd YOOOOUUUUUUU AAAARRRREEEEE TTTTHHHHHEEEE BOOOOSSSSSSS AT THE END.

I beat it 7 times, loved it. No map isnt great, but the end area beneath the starting area has damaged places that suggests there was another creature that escaped....and its way more dsngerous than your powered up monster.

The boss fight at the end needed to be the hero type character, like some generic Samus esc character that'll be hard to hit, but low health

I would've liked boss battles with other monsters and once you defeat them you can eat them and gain that boss' abilities

Ooooo I was so close to buying this one , what a bummer man. I remember watching the trailer for the game and admiring how different it was , it really caught my attention so much so I was having an internal battle whether to get on switch or pc. Unfortunately I think I won’t pick this game up. If the game ever gets an update where they add a map, couple bosses, an actually interesting story that I won’t forget after 5min, I will definitely buy, awesome video🤙🏼

There actually intended on adding a boss to the game, but it ended up being cut. You would've had to fight a black version of the monster we play as as.

8:30 something even as simple as having a map at the start but have it blacked out and you fill it in as you travel around the map would be fine and non-immersion breaking by saying the monster has a really good memory for this sort of thing

the pacing was perfect, idk what else you could possibly want

Almost 1k subs dude!

Rain World thpe map would be neat. But honestly I think especially if this game is popular enough, it could fund a more polished sequel with a larger budget. I think the game is pretty good as it is imo

The human flashbacks are actually you using the upgraded parasitic ability. And in the flashbakcs you go back to the lab , were at the last flashback you get caught and shot up. And then it snaps to the beggining to the game. Parts of your body and abilities separated in multiple facilities. And your job is to get all of them back. Spoiler And at the end you upgrade your parasitic ability once more and set out free again. Choosing peace instead of going on a human wipeout.

Your videos are so good

Tried this game on Gamepass. I had fun with it, but I haven't played much Metroid or metroidvanias so no point of comparison. Lack of boss didn't bother me, but lack of a map did. Controls felt good using keyboard + mouse. There's even a Christmas DLC included in gamepass, although its more of the same with a different enemy units and setting. Overall, I recommend it IF you find it in gamepass.

Tree:Carrion's Wasted Reverse Horror Potential.

Great work on this, honestly it may have just pushed me over the edge to finally buy Carrion. If you're into Metroidvanias, consider playing/reviewing Iconoclasts, it's easily one of the best games I've ever played.

Bro I'm binge watching your vid why the hell aren't you blowing up?

In the game they use enviromental story telling so it's don't have much dialog explaining stuff like in Metroid, and apparently they sell comic that tell the story and backstory's explanation.

wow, i mean, personally i found the difficult way too easy. I was really hoping i was gonna have to do alot more for most of the fights. 3-4 hours in, and i got one encounter with 2 of the mechs, I actually died for the first time there, and I loved it! felt like i actually had to put my brain into it.

I'm sure you've played it, judging from your taste in games, but this game feels like a few elements from Prototype were made into their own game, and that was enough for me. The music was my most consistent complaint, but nothing Spotify couldn't fix. Also, I something about the first half of your review reminded me of Thing Thing. LO AND BEHOLD you mention Thing Thing Arena! Gawd what a good time those games were!

I miss miniclip. And even more, I miss the old tower defense sites I used to find games on. There aren’t many good tower defense games left after the death of flash.

Story was more than enough, it wasn't all spelled out as you wished but that is a good thing in a game like this. Controls... idk I played with keyboard and mouse.

I just wish this game had more content and a map

How would you fix it? I think when you're playing the thing you really need to have a Kurt Russell, if you had sequences interspersed where an R.J. MacReady character was directing people to do things to stop you. You could have the humans winning and a scrap of the monster remaining or a true Thing homage and have the final scene from that movie. If it was all done in a colourful comic/animatic style it could really work.

"there's even some good ones" doesn't show hollow knight

i played it with mouse and keyboard well mostly just mouse and i must say that is the way to go with this game aaaaand id say you play as the boss

LOLLLLLLL you played this with a controller XD XD XD i'm dying, half the fun was using the mouse, it felt so good

this one makes me kinda sad I actually liked this game, I think it does what it needs to do well

I read the description, and ending wise I was very satisfied with it's end

you spit when you say epic at 10:11 :D

you really do have the best takes man, goddamn take my like, i'm already subscribed LEAVE ME ALONE naw jk keep it up braj

Honestly this game reminds me alot of The Ooze on the sega genesis You were basically doing the same thing only in a 3d space as opposed to 2d and you were nuclear ooze instead of a meatball

Yeah, but what's wrong with indie devs today?

I hope y'all grabbed this on steam on Devolver sale, it was 50% off. 💯🔥 About story, I don't think story is really that required here, since we play as monster, the only thing we supposed do is cause Chaos and escape from that facility. I don't think those human flashbacks segments are really necessary.

I'm going to disagree. I thought the story was diagetic, and the end of the story gives off real The Thing vibes. The game did NOT overstay it's welcome. I beat this game in 7 hours, I got a job, so something that I can enjoy all the way through and isn't a time sink is always welcome.

that rain joke legit took me 40 seconds to get 🤦‍♂️😂