Decarnation sacrifices a lot for it's artistic vision. It's most prominent location takes up a tiny portion of the center of the screen, but this makes it so unbelievably vibrant and visceral whenever it opens up. The gameplay is mostly gimmicks for effect - unwinnable mini games, metaphorical puzzles, button mashers, etc - but the effects they have on the player's interactivity in this story often work very well. It's formatted like an RPG Maker visual novel/adventure game but has a lot more love and detail put into it than that label typically entails.
With games like this, many often echo the sentiment of 'just make a movie instead', but while playing Decarnation, I kept feeling over and over again that I've never seen a video take on subject matter like this, much less in such an unapologetically narrative focused way. And while that can turn some gamers off, it felt so refreshing for me to see a 'story focused indie game' take on an actual heavy story focus that far exceeds 'it's actually a metaphor for depression.'
It takes influence from all avenues of psychological horror, particularly (and very unsubtly to a bit of an eye roll degree sometimes), Perfect Blue and Black Swan. The themes of obsessive fandom, exploitation, career anxiety, aging as a female performer, and their brand of surrealist visual direction are plastered all over Decarnation's vision board. But Decarnation takes these themes and mostly runs with them in its own direction after the first act. Unfortunately, the story does become less interesting when it starts to stray further from these influences, and winds up in a pretty predictable place by the end. That being said, it's still a journey I enjoyed that has it's own surprises along the way, and definitely has enough of it's own identity that these influences rarely feel blatant. It's pixel art and body horror imagery is also gorgeously disgusting - I adore how the art has just enough resolution to make your stomach turn but still leaves room for imagination to fill in the morbid gaps.
Its script and characters are far stronger than many indie games I've played that could be compared to this, and I think a lot of it can be attributed to how boldly it benches any traditional gameplay. There's point and click elements and other minigames, but it's rare that anything halts the pace of the narrative. Often times these minigames are just things your character is doing during story moments and it makes it feel really natural. It's not always perfect - a lot of qtes can leave you confused until you mash or guess you're way out of them, and the consequences of winning or losing are slim to none. But they're risks to be admired, often with at least a memorable payoff.
The biggest thing that's holding me back from rating it any higher is that I think it really does drag in getting to its conclusion, or at least the pacing of the game just feels off. The first chapter has you meeting so many characters, going so many places and learning so much about your character. But the next five chapters after this mostly take place in one location, with a few other areas becoming explorable in dreams and flashbacks. It feels weird to say a 6 or so hour game drags, but it's just structured so unevenly, that it's hard to not feel that way.
Overall I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I might. It's not without it's problems but it's an indie game with a lot of love and care put into it that tells a really unique story for a video game.
With games like this, many often echo the sentiment of 'just make a movie instead', but while playing Decarnation, I kept feeling over and over again that I've never seen a video take on subject matter like this, much less in such an unapologetically narrative focused way. And while that can turn some gamers off, it felt so refreshing for me to see a 'story focused indie game' take on an actual heavy story focus that far exceeds 'it's actually a metaphor for depression.'
It takes influence from all avenues of psychological horror, particularly (and very unsubtly to a bit of an eye roll degree sometimes), Perfect Blue and Black Swan. The themes of obsessive fandom, exploitation, career anxiety, aging as a female performer, and their brand of surrealist visual direction are plastered all over Decarnation's vision board. But Decarnation takes these themes and mostly runs with them in its own direction after the first act. Unfortunately, the story does become less interesting when it starts to stray further from these influences, and winds up in a pretty predictable place by the end. That being said, it's still a journey I enjoyed that has it's own surprises along the way, and definitely has enough of it's own identity that these influences rarely feel blatant. It's pixel art and body horror imagery is also gorgeously disgusting - I adore how the art has just enough resolution to make your stomach turn but still leaves room for imagination to fill in the morbid gaps.
Its script and characters are far stronger than many indie games I've played that could be compared to this, and I think a lot of it can be attributed to how boldly it benches any traditional gameplay. There's point and click elements and other minigames, but it's rare that anything halts the pace of the narrative. Often times these minigames are just things your character is doing during story moments and it makes it feel really natural. It's not always perfect - a lot of qtes can leave you confused until you mash or guess you're way out of them, and the consequences of winning or losing are slim to none. But they're risks to be admired, often with at least a memorable payoff.
The biggest thing that's holding me back from rating it any higher is that I think it really does drag in getting to its conclusion, or at least the pacing of the game just feels off. The first chapter has you meeting so many characters, going so many places and learning so much about your character. But the next five chapters after this mostly take place in one location, with a few other areas becoming explorable in dreams and flashbacks. It feels weird to say a 6 or so hour game drags, but it's just structured so unevenly, that it's hard to not feel that way.
Overall I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I might. It's not without it's problems but it's an indie game with a lot of love and care put into it that tells a really unique story for a video game.