CARRION stands out as a reverse horror action-adventure game where you take control of the monster instead of fleeing from it. Developed by Phobia Game Studio and published by Devolver Digital, this indie title casts you as an amorphous, tentacled creature escaping a secretive facility. Released in 2020, it blends Metroidvania exploration with visceral combat, letting you grow from a vulnerable blob into a formidable predator. Available on PC and other platforms, CARRION appeals to those seeking a fresh take on horror mechanics in a single-player setting.
Gameplay
In CARRION, the core loop revolves around navigating a sprawling underground facility as a shapeless monster, using fluid movement to stalk and eliminate human threats. You propel yourself by extending tentacles to latch onto surfaces, allowing quick dashes through vents, ceilings, and walls for ambush tactics. Combat involves grabbing enemies with a controllable tentacle, then consuming them to restore health and increase your biomass, which fuels growth and unlocks new areas.
Exploration follows a Metroidvania structure, where backtracking becomes essential after acquiring abilities that open previously inaccessible paths. Puzzles often require manipulating the environment, such as ripping off doors or hurling objects at switches. As you progress, encounters escalate with armed soldiers, flamethrowers, drones, and mechs, demanding strategic use of stealth and evasion, like retreating to water to douse flames.
Game Modes
CARRION focuses exclusively on a single-player campaign, guiding you through the facility in a narrative-driven experience without separate multiplayer options or competitive modes. The campaign unfolds across interconnected levels, emphasizing progression through evolution and facility destruction, typically lasting around six hours on a first playthrough.
Abilities and Evolution
As your creature consumes DNA strains scattered throughout the facility, it gains specific abilities that enhance both combat and navigation. These include cloaking to avoid detection, growing sharp blades for slicing through barriers, and charging attacks to smash obstacles. More advanced powers allow parasitic control over human hosts to solve puzzles or access restricted areas, plus echolocation for revealing hidden paths and a web shot to pull distant levers or enemies.
You can also split your biomass to manage size, leaving parts behind to fit through tight spaces or activate multiple switches. This evolution system ties directly into the horror theme, transforming you from prey to apex predator while adapting to increasingly fortified defenses.
Is It Worth Playing?
With a Metacritic critic score of 75 based on 57 reviews and a user score of 7.5 from 410 ratings, CARRION has earned solid praise for its innovative reverse horror concept and satisfying power progression. On Steam, it holds a Very Positive rating with 94% approval from over 15,000 English reviews, including recent feedback from 2026 maintaining 92% positivity.
The game remains in a stable state without ongoing seasons or major updates since its 2020 launch, though it includes DLC for the soundtrack. If you enjoy Metroidvania games with a horror twist and appreciate fluid, monster-centric mechanics, CARRION offers a compelling short burst of gameplay. It's particularly suited for players who like strategic predation over traditional survival horror, making it a worthwhile pick for indie adventure fans looking for something unconventional.
