The Creature is an unrecognizable horror, a mound of flesh and tentacles with no real shape. Perhaps the most prominent way that The Creature is cinematic in nature is through its otherworldly appearance. There are two primary ways the game accomplishes this feeling: first, by emulating the cinematic language of horror films in its aesthetic, and second, in how The Creature feels to move around and control, which is incredibly intuitive, delightfully brutal, and pretty unique as far as games go. What I love most about Carrion is how much I feel like I am a horror movie monster as I am playing. I am fascinated by this little game, it is quite novel in an industry where controlling humanoids is the accepted norm. Since it lacks a name, we will call the player-character “The Creature.” The Creature is clearly inspired by The Thing, but instead of taking the role of a scientist or worker like in the movie, you are the menace! Which is gleefully fun. In Carrion, the player controls a strange, red, amorphous, tentacle monster trying to escape from a research facility. ![]() This is not the case for one of the most interesting games of 2020: Carrion. Some games do subvert this, such as Dead by Daylight, where some players are the victims and one the killer, but even in games where the player is the villain they are still recognizably human, somewhat like the player behind the screen. Because the player inhabits the position of one of the characters the story, it is typically clear who we are supposed to root for: ourselves! Most horror games put the player in the role of the victim, trying to survive against a terrifying force, against all odds. One place where this relationship tends to not be so hazy is in horror video games. Sometimes, this relationship can be ambiguous, we don’t always know who we are centrally following like in an action movie, with clearly defined heroes to root for. We watch their films because we’re interested in what those crazy villains will get up to next, not really because we care much about their victims as characters, even if they play a key role in narrative. A good example of this would be any serialized horror film like those featuring Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger. ![]() In other films though, we root for the killer. We might be interested in the villain, because their deeds are the central conflict of the film, but they are an aberration, their phantom more influential than their character. We experience most scenes from their perspective, empathizing their plight and identifying with them. Sometimes, we root for the “final girl,” or some potential victim of the evil entity. You can tell a lot about how a horror movie by considering who the film is asking you to root for.
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