#carriongame

[chetzar]

Carrion commission WIP for @monarchaudio To see progress shots and time lapse video of this painting and all of my other current work, join my @patreon by clicking bio link! . . . . . #chetzar #carrion #crisvelasco #gaming #carriongame #darkart #darkartworks #darkartwork #darkartsociety #darkartsocietypodcast https://www.instagram.com/p/CNvGva8sSDx/?igshid=538x3rtl086r

[chetzar]

Carrion commission finished! . . . . . #chetzar #carrion #crisvelasco #gaming #carriongame #darkart #darkartworks #darkartwork #darkartsociety #darkartsocietypodcast https://www.instagram.com/p/COMGGMTsSrp/?igshid=18tz6rd9jmkfb

[carriongame]

Maja’s Advice

(I’m back baby, enjoy this convo between Rory and a new character. Maja!)

The occult shop was past the town’s fountain. As Rory got closer, she could see Astarte holding her stone arms out for a lover’s embrace as streams of water fell around her. The infrastructure had been damaged, so some of the streams were a little less than graceful.

Maja was the sole visitor of the dysfunctional fountain, her figure no less imposing despite her lack of armor. Ready-for-battle muscles didn’t hide well in commoner’s clothes.

She seemed to be throwing pebbles in the air, then kicking them so they’d land in the fountain’s pool.

Rory approached the taller woman and was sure she knew Rory was there, but Maja issued no greeting. “How long have you been doing that?”

Maja picked up another pebble. Throw, kick, splash, it was in the fountain.

“Long enough to be good at it, which is too long.” Despite saying this, she didn’t stop. Another kick, another splash. The two hadn’t even made eye contact.

Rory observed the oddly specific skill, “And you’re still at it because…?”

Weariness crept into Maja’s voice, “Because there’s nothing to do here, and I *cannot* drink with Esmeralda again. At least not anytime soon.” Throw, kick, splash.

“Bad night?”

Maja finally looked at her, pausing before picking up another pebble. “She drank me under the fucking table. I’ve met sailors who would be impressed with her.”

Rory threw her hands up, “She said so herself that she’s a jack of all trades: magic, drinking, being a cunt. The list goes on.”

Another kick, another splash. “If you’re a cunt back, she’ll respect you. Try asking her about her parents, worked for me.”

“I’m not sticking my nose in her freaky business.” Rory was exasperated at this point, “I don’t know how you willingly work with her. You told me your oath was to protect the weak from evil.

“Yeah, I protect them from *evil*. Not *vicious women*.” Then Maja caught herself and smirked, “Not officially, at least. That’s a side project.”

Rory groaned internally as she shifted her weight externally. Maja could be such a perv, “Be serious, Maj.”

The perv replied, “I am. Es is not a threat to the lives of innocents. Maybe a threat to their peaceful afternoon, but that’s not a crime.”

Maja seemed to pause for a moment, considering her next words before letting out a heavy sigh.

“Look, you have to work *around* her. Make what you want what she wants. She wants money, I want to kill vampires. Boom! Town pays us to kill vampires. She’s a run-of-the-mill social manipulator, just play her game. She likes it.”

“I hate playing her game. I refuse to participate in your weird-ass social dynamics.”

Throw, kick, pause. Maja had missed the fountain. “Admirable, but harder for you in the long run.”

This was true, but Rory had never been particularly interested in making things easier for herself.

She looked to the west. The sun was getting lower, was it already that late? Gwen would be waiting, it would be harder to find her way back in the dark. The shop was visible in the distance.

“Speaking of long runs, I should go. Supposed to meet Gwen soon. Have fun kicking rocks, Maj.” and Rory turned to go.

Maja just stood still now. “Alright. Well, if you see Matthias tell him I found those herbs he wanted.”

With the increased distance between them, Rory had to yell. “You should just go find him yourself! maybe he has something better to do.”

“You’re probably right….anyway.” She looked at the fountain again and did not move.

Maja was a bit odd, Rory thought as she turned away from the fountain. A lover of silence, a perv, and uncompromising in her goals (thought she was certainly able to frame them in a way that appeased her allies). They were all a bit odd though, so Rory supposed she couldn’t judge.

Compared to getting there, the occult shop was a walk in the park. Esmeralda hadn’t lied about the availability or prices of the items in Gwen’s list. She was in and out in minutes.

She began her walk to the edge of town. Time for the main event.

[carriongame]

Esmeralda's Exchange

Hey everyone! Things have been busy but I am back on my shit. I'm planning on writing out important dialogue cut-scenes as full fanfiction style one-shots just to get the tone right for my personal use later on when I actually make the in-game scene. Anyway, enjoy this peek at two characters: Aurora (Rory) and Esmeralda!

Rory wandered into The Purple Crane intent on finding Esmeralda. She hated to admit it, but she had no idea where to find the rest of the items on Gwen’s list, and Esmeralda was more likely than the rest of them to know what the hell some of this stuff even was.

A golden candle? Was that a candle made of gold? It couldn’t be, Gwen knew they couldn’t afford that. Not with the luck that the team had had lately…

Her thoughts were interrupted as she passed the tavern’s threshold, “Aurora! To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” And there was Esmeralda. Her lithe half-elven frame lounging in the Crane’s taproom, alone as usual, with a sly smile and a glass of some dark wine.

Rory approached the otherwise empty table, but did not sit. Esmeralda’s languid movements were exaggerated—no doubt this was not her first drink—as she began to faun over her new visitor, “Oh, flowers! Lovely. Set them here, I’ll have someone fetch a vase before I take them upstairs.”

Rory glanced at the multi-colored flowers that were poking out of the bag Gwen had given her to carry their supplies.

She sighed, “You know they’re not for you.”

That made the Es’s smile turn sour, but Rory found it hard to feel pity toward half elf. She had no shortage of admirers on their travels. At least when she felt like being personable, which was rare.

As an example, Es continued the conversation. “You really do need to give up on that sad excuse for a sorcerer, I mean look at you! You could be having all sorts of fun where ever you go. With anyone! I—”

Rory cut her off, “Didn’t come here to talk personals with you Es, come on.”

Esmeralda rolled her eyes and began to lean back in her chair, moving the glass in front of her to her lips again. “We should drink, then.”

Rory crossed her arms, “Don’t have the funds.”

A puff of air left Esmeralda’s lips, “Well then, whatever are you doing here my dear? I was rather enjoying my solitude.”

Rory pulled out the short parchment list that Gwen had given her, the familiar writing easy to read. “I wanted to ask you where I could get a few things, as well as what I should expect to pay for them. Some arcane chalk, it uhhhhh has to be purple? And a gold candle.”

“Those?” Esmeralda leaned forward again, “Interesting, what are you up to with that girl? Crazy arcane sex? I could give you some tips, if you want.”

Rory tried her best to keep her face neutral, not wanting to give anything away, “Just like my personal life, the details are none of your business. The benefits of keeping all our money seperate, remember?”

Another sip of wine, “Ah, the consequences of my advocation in the early days of our work. Still, it was the right choice. After all, since I am the guardian of information in this scenario, Rory baby, you need me. I could simply refuse to tell you what you want to know. And then what will you do?”

Rory could feel her muscles tensing, this had been a mistake. She had agreed with Gwen that what they were doing needed to be kept secret. The others wouldn’t trust them to do this. “Es, I’m getting tired of this.”

Es took a brief pause, swirling her drink in its glass, “So am I, so I’ll change the price. Tell me why you defend our dear Gwendolyn. You’re not nearly as much of a dolt as you appear at first glance, so you must notice that her skills are truly lacking in the magic department.”

Rory was tempted to just leave, Esmeralda was really pushing it today. But Gwen deserved defending, “She’s capable of spells you aren’t and is getting better with each job we complete. What about that is lacking? We’ve known each other as long as we’ve been alive. She goes and I go Es, that was the deal.”

“Yes, yes, the crucial condition that secured my vote when we welcomed you both to the team. The one I am bound to keep secret lest you do all sorts of sexy violent things to my insides.”

That was the last straw for Rory, “Es. Shut it.”

“Alright, alright. You held up your end of the bargain, even if it was unsatisfying. Childhood sweethearts? Ugh. But now it’s my turn. You can find both of your items at that little occult shop down the road. It shouldn’t cost you more than a few silver for both together. Happy?”

“Yes.” And Rory turned to go, “Later, Esmeralda. Please be shitfaced by the time I get back. It makes you more tolerable.”

Esmeralda raised her glass in toast to the woman’s departure, “I could say the same about you. Have fun Rory! And be careful! That chalk can do some nasty things.” and, Gods above, Esmeralda waggled her eyebrows in Rory’s direction.

She made her exit without another word. That’s what Esmeralda always did, she said things to try and suck you down to her weird level. She could barely stand it at times, but the half-elf was a damn good caster. She knew it too, claimed she got taught by some fancy wizard on the coast before he was arrested for murder. If that was true, Rory wished the wizard hadn’t passed along his arrogance.

But Rory needed to realign. She had more important things to do. Occult shop shaped things. She squared her shoulders and began to walk.

[carriongame]

How do we feel about the little guy

[carriongame]

Enjoy these very nice picrews of lesbians from my video game!

Picrew is “Couple Maker” by Kanahani

[lihimsidhe]

Carrion | Game Review

Full Review: https://youtu.be/HynGUbP3GZk

Summary

Carrion is a sidescrolling, action adventure, game.

Developed by Phobia Game Studio, Published by Devolver Digital who also published the last game I reviewed Stories Untold

Phobia Game Studio is based in Poland but has members that work remotely all over the world. Phobia previously released their game Butcher which in their own words is, “a fast-paced 2D shooter and a blood-soaked love letter to the cult classics of the genre.”, that’s been well received. It looks interesting. I might check it out down the line.

The premise of Carrion is that of a Reverse Horror game. In a conventional horror game you play as a ‘normal person or group going up against horrific threats & odds in a frightening environment w/little chance of survival. In Carrion you ARE that horrific threat seeking to escape an unidentified research facility & your human captors.

As for the game’s achievements, it’s not bad to 100%. You’re looking at roughly 10-20 hours to 100% this game. More on this in a bit in the Achievements section.

Analysis

Disclaimer: I do not like most ‘video game puzzles’. To me they too often devolve into ‘guess what the developer was thinking’. I’m more of an action genre gamer that decided to start his YouTube review process doing two puzzle heavy games. I don’t f**king knows why I did this.

Firstly, the music in this game is incredible. The credits cite Cris Velaco and Maciej Niedzielski for music in the game but I believe it’s the score by Chris Velasco that really drew me in. It’s dark, textured, and goes a long to establish that atmosphere of Carrion. It’s good enough that I’ve been listening to it frequently outside the game… like when writing this review! In short, it's awesome.

The pixel art has a visceral and vibrant feel to it. It’s enough that if I stare at most parts of the environment long enough I start to wonder about the backstory of that location. There’s enough details to support a somewhat ‘lived in history’ with all the tiny pixel artifacts of life.

The player controls an unidentified monster of unknown origins that is a writhing mass of worms, ravenous mouths, and eyes. This monster grows in size and ability the more people it consumes. I have to say playing as this monster feels absolutely grotesque at times. There is something to be said about gore caused by avatars resembling humans. For the lack of a better phrase such gore and violence is relatable. This same gore when controlling a completely inhuman monster though? It’s really unsettling at times. There was something about when the monster grew in size and was flying through vents and passages that almost made me sick to my stomach. I kept thinking of how my waste matter passed through my intestinal system when I did this which in turn made me think of the wet pile of meat we are just neatly contained in a bag of skin.

Carrion reminded me a lot of the body horror genre David Cronenberg is known for with his films such as Shivers and Videodrome. Body horror being a genre of film that exposes the revolting reality and fear of being a product of a messy organic body. There will be 3 main things the player will be doing in Carrion:

-COMBAT

-EXPLORATION

-PUZZLES

The combat essentially boils down to grabbing an enemy and eating them, grabbing an environmental object (or enemy) and thrashing them about, or using some special abilities on both enemies and objects. The enemies aren’t pushovers most of the time. In fact I had to err on the side of caution more often than not as even a basic human with a handgun could mow the monster down in just a few seconds. So carefully considering my approach was usually an interesting series of choices to make. Should I be stealthy? How can I use the environment to my advantage? Since the monster’s combat options were more physics based than not I did get a real sense of agency applying my IRL logic to overcoming combat encounters.

When the combat got really intense that’s the only time there seemed to be a disconnect between my intentions as a player and the actions of the monster. In tight situations the physics based approach to combat and movement seemed closer to a bane than it was a boon. Or I could just be terrible at controlling the writhing mass of a creature. This disparity wasn’t enough to destroy my overall enjoyment of the game but I do wish the mappings between input and on screen movement were tighter.

The exploration in this game is light. There isn’t too much rounding the next corner or going to the next screen to happen across some pixel art vista of epic proportions. There are sights to behold for sure. But most of the exploration in the game was a means to an end of going from location A to B and/or puzzle solving and not so much discovery.

“Good design requires, among other things, good communication of the purpose, structure, and operation of the device to the people who use it. That is the role of the signifier.” -Don Norman

What was frustrating about exploration in this game in general is there was little in the way of signifiers to navigate one’s way around the world and this led to me getting lost and backtracking a lot. When I first went to this game’s subreddit the most common post I came across was addressing the game’s lack of an in-game map. The thing is not every game needs a map. Navigation as a gameplay mechanic is as valid as any other mechanic and some players may find great joy in knowing the lay of the land and using their own sense of direction to traverse the environment. Level designer for Carrion Krzysztof Chomicki had this to say during an interview with Oleg Nesterenko of Gamer Career Guide:

“It's like with Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, those games being vastly misunderstood at first by the majority of reviewers. Demon's Souls didn't review all that well because the game didn't explicitly tell you what to do. Those games didn't have any maps. But eventually a few people figured out what those games were about.” -Krzysztof Chomicki

To much of this I agree. I absolutely love the Dark Souls series. If I keep doing this YouTube thing I promise you there is going to be a TON of Dark Souls content. I almost wish I could exist in that world. The thing is IF the Dark Souls character picked a paper map or something like that would exist ‘in universe’ that’s not going to just thrust me out of the game. BUT…

When Chomicki said, “The original Metroid didn't have a map and it was totally fine and nobody complained. Back in the day, even games that did have maps still required you to pay attention to the environment.”

This is where I wildly disagree. Here’s the thing. I played Metroid when it was released. I played a lot of old fucking games when they were released. Generally your goal as a gamer back then was to have access to Nintendo Power, the Nintendo Hotline, a Game Genie or someone at school to help you out. Because you knew that there were games out there that you might ‘get stuck’ in. Getting stuck meaning if you didn’t have one of the previously mentioned options you weren’t going any further in the game. There’s ‘paying attention to the environment’ and then there’s pixel hunting every inch of a game to the point of statistical exhaustion. The key difference between Metroid and Carrion is that in Metroid, for better or worse, your goal is to survive while using exploration to drive your pixel hunting quest forward. The overarching puzzle was finding the spot you didn’t interact with yet and hope that’s the next step forward. It was a giant yet simple task. And as obscure as some of these spots were there was at least a sense that maybe… that’s how that world would ‘really’ be constructed.

In Carrion it seemed more the exploration and combat was held back by having to solve Rube Goldberg puzzles on a regular basis and it was just such a bummer. I’m not totally against puzzles but in video games especially they seem so utterly arbitrary a vast majority of the time. In Carrion the real horror aspect of the game was realizing I was having fun with the combat, movement, and exploration BUT all that was going to come to a screeching end when I had to solve Rube Goldberg Puzzle #05. You’ve seen by now in the footage the monster is just this mass of meat pulling itself around on its tentacles right? Even as a newly freed monster at the beginning of the game it’s strong enough to thrash people around like throwing toys and mash a human being in its jaws to jelly in seconds. So it’s reasonable to say this monster… it’s pretty strong right? Let’s take a look at this switch. Being that this creature is tentacle madness would it be reasonable to bet that this being could flip a switch within its range that can be pulled by much weaker humans that it eats up, spits, out and eviscerates? Let’s see what happens. Oh that’s right. Not a damn thing. See… you need a ‘special’ tentacle to flip switches. It doesn’t matter that this creature is strong enough to rip that switch off the wall with any one of those tentacles… you need the ‘special flip the switch’ tentacle to flip the switches. So right away in the early parts of the game I’m being told to discard some of my common sense to play another round of ‘guess what the developer was thinking’. This vibe continues onto the level design itself. While the game is beautiful to behold from its industrial settings and vibrant fauna areas, the actual infrastructure… when I tried to make sense of it… really seemed to fall apart at times.

<insert clip of makinig fun of infrastructure>

And don’t even get me started on the one way air ventilation ducts. Like if this game is going to have puzzles… so be it. But for the life of me they barely made any sense.

Too often the AI in this game felt like they were meat bags waiting to challenge the player or roving health packs instead of living beings inhabiting a space they worked and/or lived in. That doesn’t mean they weren’t challenging; I died PLENTY in this game. This also doesn’t mean there weren’t some AI that was actually ‘living and working’... but most of them just yeah… roving health packs and ‘gunmen automatons’.

As for the deluxe edition… I felt it was on the steep side. Ten bucks for a bunch of wallpapers, a small artbook, and a very short comic is a bit much. Considering their previous game Butcher is also ten bucks Phobia is kinda saying the art runoff from Carrion is worth just as much as an entire one of their games. However if they threw in the incredible soundtrack I would consider that fair. But they don’t sooooo…. I would avoid it if you do buy this game.

Achievements

-21 achievements total.

-All but 3 are done via natural progression of the story.

-Do Cerebral Feast as soon as possible as it is possible to reach the end of the game having killed everyone & have no one left do Cerebral Feast on. OR start a new game & do it in under 5 minutes. ;)

-After player completes ‘The Bunker’ level is the best time to complete the remaining achievements.

-Resources I used to 100% are linked in the description.

Impact

BAFTA 2020 Best Debut Game

Steam Reviews: Very Positive Open Critic: 77 out of 100 Metacritic: User score of 7.9 out of 10

At least half a million sold.

There aren’t a lot of reverse horror games out on the market. Especially ones where you play as something utterly inhuman; a true monster. Carrion is no doubt likely to be part of most if not all ‘reverse horror’ and ‘villain protagonist’ game discussions for years to come. That’s not even mentioning it’s very unique movement system owing to a very unique avatar. There’s little doubt Carrion has opened doors on mobility in game design as well. Recommend

Who is this game made for? First and foremost… people who like puzzles. If you are the type of person that likes a little gore ridden science fiction horror in your puzzle experience Carrion should be right up your alley. Also if the idea of ‘physics based combat’ because you’re a many tentacled monster that can thrash people and things about the environment… it might be worth your time to check out. You also might like the last game I reviewed, Stories Untold which is a sci fi horror adventure game with 100% less swarming mass of worms as the main character.

Avoid this if you’re gamers like me; people who prefer action oriented games like Prototype, Nier: Automata, Warframe, etc. If this game was free of Rube Goldberg puzzles I’d have a completely different disposition on it as I would love to just freely explore Carrion’s world free of such contrivances but I really don’t like ‘guess what the developer was thinking’ puzzles and this game is chocked full of them. As fun as I did have with the game I am so eager to be done with this review and done with this game forever… or at least until I fire it up again for a potential art study for the game really is beautiful. Finally if you’re a fan of dark, atmospheric music the soundtrack by Chris Velasca is 100% worth checking out whether this game sounds like your thing or not. You’ve been listening to it the whole time!

Sources

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/953490/CARRION/

Credits: https://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox-one/carrion/credits

Rube Goldberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_hbEhyrNAM

Open Critic: https://opencritic.com/game/9846/carrion

Metacritic: https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/carrion Achievements: https://steamcommunity.com/id/LihimSidhe/stats/appid/953490/achievements

Containment Unit Guide: https://youtu.be/gjEte2Mr2Hw

Sales: https://gamerant.com/carrion-game-sales/ Dev Interview #1: https://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/3628197

Dev Interview #2 (history+): https://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/1961/carrions_krzysztof_chomicki_on_.php

[doc-simpson]

Mögt Ihr Indie-Games? Wenn ja kann ich Euch “Carrion” wirklich empfehlen! In diesem Indie-Hit schlüpfst du in die Rolle des Monsters und musst dir einen Weg in die Freiheit bannen. Das Konzept dahinter finde ich spannend und sehr gut umgesetzt. Ihr erkundet ein riesiges Forschungslabor und müsst natürlich alles beseitigen, was sich Euch in den Weg stellt. Und da dieses Spiel das Grundkonzept der meisten Spiele umdreht, müsst ihr die Menschen die Euch aufhalten wollen töten. Dabei entwickelt ihr Eure Monsterbrut stetig weiter und werdet immer mächtiger. Und eines dürft ihr mir glauben, ihr werdet schnell Spaß daran entwickeln Euch heimlich in Lüftungsschächte zu quetschen und eure Beute zu überfallen😏 🎮 Für mich definitiv eines der besten Indies Games, die ich seit langem gezockt habe. Und für alle Besitzer des @xboxgamepass von @xboxdach ist das Spiel kostenlos verfügbar 😍 🎮 Schaut bei meinen Partnern vorbei: @freetimeghost @hyrule_huntress @altairundwir 🎮 #carrion #carriongame #indiegame #indiegamedev #indiegames #indiegamedeveloper #indiegamestudio #indiegamer #xboxcommunity #xboxdach #xboxgamepass #xboxgames #xboxgamepassultimate #docsimpson #docsimpsongaming #gamersofinstagram #gamer #gamerlifestyle #gamerlife (hier: Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKHP3m7n2Ji/?igshid=bvx718d18ssm