Carrion

As it stands, Carrion is an impressive, creative, and inventive game on paper. In practice, it ends up being a rather middle-of-the-road experience, with unfulfilled promised of potential greatness. If you’re looking for an inventive new take on the Metroidvania genre, Carrion might be what you’re looking for –but don’t go into it expecting it to be Super Meat-troid.

When there are soldiers to kill and helpless scientists to terrorize, Carrion absolutely lives up to the promise of its monstrous premise. It’s unrelenting in its pursuit of delivering that pure power fantasy of being an uncontrollable monstrosity making its escape from a locked-down facility, but in that pursuit, it leaves out fundamental tools that would have made exploration less of a slog.

It excels at making you feel empowered as an evolving lab experiment gone wrong, giving you ample opportunities to flex your death-dealing tentacles and tear enemies limb from limb. While giving you numerous tools to wreak havoc, it also uses them in smart ways to find a good balance between its gory combat and problem-solving.

Turning the horror game genre on its head, Carrion is a gory delight for you rip and tear your way through.

Playing as a monster has moments of devious fun, but the quest is repetitive.

If you're looking for a cathartic pick-up-and-play game with little to no fat that you can slip in between this summer's massive story-driven titles, that's Carrion all the way. It's a devilish snack.