Devolver’s CARRION is a reverse horror in which you play the monster

The ultimate in (possibly) alien terror.

Revealed at E3, CARRION is a grotesque, reverse horror game in which the player steps into the shoes, or should I say tentacles, of the antagonist – an amorphous mass of withering limbs. It’s not often that games move away from the typical hero scenario they like to present to give us a glimpse from the other side, so CARRION immediately caught my interest.

The reveal trailer kicks off with your escape from what looks like some kind of shady, underground government research facility. Despite the lack of a clear narrative its safe to assume you’re hell-bent on destroying the soft and mussy humans who once held you in captivity. Consuming all who stand in your path in a swathe of bloody tentacles you swing your biomass around the environment presumably looking for a way to escape.

You’re not impervious to damage on your violent rampage through your meat sack oppressors though. Like John Carpenter’s, The Thing taught us, fire is the cure-all to be rid of any unknown, alien blob creature possibly from outer space. Swelling in size as you indiscriminately murder everyone in your path, you’ll have to solve the mysteries of this clandestine prison if you ever want to escape it. That’s assuming you do, of course.

CARRION looks like it has a lot of potential as an enjoyable Metroidvania with a novel twist but I’d love to see a little more narrative from it. Maybe they think bloated, deadly balls of alien flesh don’t need an emotive reason for destruction, but I do. Are they trying to get back home to their nine to five? Do they just think consuming humans is actually kind, like the alien expression of a hug? There are questions I need to know the answers to.

Hopefully, I’ll get those answers next year, as CARRION is set to release on PC and consoles in 2020.