The concept of "reverse-horror," as Carrion presents it, is an interesting one, and I think it deserves more development. I'll discuss it more below the break.
On Carrion
Carrion is a Metroidvania-style game, and as you explore the facility and find biological samples, your monster evolves, developing new abilities, from the ability to render yourself immune to bullets, to turning invisible, to puppeteering humans to open doors and flip switches for you. Some of the rooms and puzzles do require a little thinking to be able to get around enemy shields or defenses in order to get at the squishy humans within.
As with many Metroidvania games, there is backtracking to access previously inaccessible areas of the map, as new abilities are acquired. One of the abilities allows the monster to turn into thin worms when immersed in water, to slip past gates and barriers that its solid form can't get through. Later evolutions as the monster grows allow it to simply smash through other impassible barricades and blockages.
The backstory in the game is minimal. There are three playable flashbacks centering on a group of scientists investigating some old ruins, which also include some optional details suggest that the monster is some kind of mutated Tubifex worm. But ultimately, it doesn't matter where the monster came from, because all anyone playing the game really cares about is slithering around and chomping on people.
The main challenge in action sequences comes from the armored enemies. These guys will deploy an impassible electric shield in front of them when they get alerted, and attempting a standard frontal assault at that point will just end up shredding through your health. Therefore, fighting them becomes about scurrying into cover and slithering around behind them for a quick pounce onto them from behind. Other action sequences feature attack drones that either likewise deploy a shield, or whose propeller blades will shred your tendrils if you try to grab them. There are also heavily armored mecha enemies (presumably meant to evoke Ripley in the power loader from Aliens), whose armor must be removed in pieces before getting to the pilot. Staying in view too long, however, will cause the mecha to auto-track on you and unload with miniguns.
On Reverse-Horror
"Reverse-Horror" isn't actually that new, if one interprets it solely from the perspective of "you play a villain/monster." There are other games where you play "monsters," such as vampires (Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Vampyr), aliens (xenomorphs or Predators in Alien vs Predator, Crypto in Destroy All Humans!), and other monsters (any of the player-characters in Rampage, Alex Mercer in [Prototype]).
There's also the "asymmetrical multiplayer" games like Evolve, Dead by Daylight, or Predator: Hunting Grounds. In these games, one player played the monster or killer, while the others were trying to find and kill the single player. In the case of Dead by Daylight, the other players are simply survivors with no way to stop the killer permanently.
I feel like a proper "reverse-horror" single-player game should allow the player to not just play the monster/villain from the horror genre, but really let them delve into being that villain or monster. Using the powers or talents of the villain and causing the horror, rather than just being part of the experience. Carrion hit the right middle ground with its style. The backstory and everything is minimal, and the horror is kind of passive (unarmed civilians just run and scream the moment they even hear you clattering around in the next room), but the traversal felt smooth and fluid, and the action provides just enough challenge that you feel accomplished when you manage to smash the attack drones or slip around an enemy's shield to grab him.
Idea: Phantom - You are an Evil Ghost
This idea is what inspired me to write this blog. Let's call it Phantom, which focuses on an evil ghost. You're playing the titular Phantom haunting and stalking a location. I initially thought about making it take place in some manor complex or something, but it could also be in a sprawling underground tomb. Or a haunted artifact is taken off to some museum or research facility, where the phantom is unleashed.
Depending on where the game is set would determine what/who the Phantom is. If it's a big mansion, then the Phantom is likely the former owner of the mansion. If it's set at a tomb or museum, then the Phantom is something much older. Of course, it's also possible that the Phantom is just some ancient evil spirit that merely assumes the shape of someone more recently dead.
The Phantom is intangible for the most part. It can move through most obstacles and walls, but it can only interact with certain things. This could be explained as being objects that are empowered or altered in such a way that allows the Phantom to do so. Perhaps they're constructed out of some spectral-attuned material, or were steeped in ectoplasmic energy, or however the game wants to explain it. Similarly, this could explain why the Phantom is able to pass through some walls but not others. If a wall is too thick, the Phantom can't phase through it, or if it's likewise constructed out of a special material (or charged with ecto-blocking energy).
One of the issues you'd run into in explaining how these arbitrary rules work is how the game is designed. Carrion's retro 16-bit style design makes it very light on background story details. The three flashback sequences explain some of it, but this is all just optional detail. There are no dialogue or cutscenes to supply story detail in Carrion. Something similar might be necessary to explain Phantom's rules, perhaps via playable flashback sequences, with some basic dialogue to get ideas across.
Depending on how Phantom gets designed, art- and gameplay-wise, the same thing could hold true. A mansion- or tomb-bound Phantom could just be trying to get rid of the intruders on its property. A Phantom that gets inadvertently summoned to a museum or facility would be angry and trying to strike back at the ones who brought it to the material plane, and perhaps trying to escape again.
Using fear as an energy source would be a factor in the game. By interacting with the wiring or an electrical outlet or generator, lights in the area might flicker, scaring any people in the vicinity, which fills an energy meter. Similar to Carrion's "growl" button (which is used to taunt enemies and can lure them or drive them to certain places), a button that causes the Phantom to emit some ethereal whispering might be useful to scare people into certain places or otherwise drive their fear up.
Enemies in the game would fit into basically two categories. The first category is just 'mooks.' Generic and interchangeable, their primary purpose is to serve as fodder for the Phantom. They are easily scared and 'broken,' useful for harvesting fear. The second category are the 'targets,' the people the Phantom must especially overcome so it can either go dormant again, or escape from its confines. These targets are harder to crack, being more experienced or numbed to things to scare easily. Finding out what scares these targets is the key to 'breaking' them, so the Phantom can then move in for the kill.
Upgrades could be unlocked by finding and interacting with particular artifacts, allowing the Phantom to possess objects or even people. As the Phantom first awakens, it is only able to interact with a small range of objects, but as it finds or unlocks these new abilities, it can "haunt" other objects. At a certain level, it can haunt electronic devices like computers or smart phones to better scare its targets.
While not as visceral as Carrion with its gruesome and bloody graphics, Phantom could go that route with ways it can kill its targets, but that's not necessarily needed. But done properly, it's a game that could go a ways toward developing the "reverse-horror" genre that Carrion has helped bring to the fore.
No comments:
Post a Comment