Decarnation Reviews

That is good. It will teach you a lesson.

Everything in this game is polished to 400%. Very well written, beautiful and very intimate. It's clear the developers had a very thoughtful approach towards women's experience with men. It's also full of details and love.

game drags, and there is no gameplay. it's just watching a story that you cant control. typical indie.

Calling this a puzzle game is generous. Really it’s a story driven game with a few rhythm mini games and 3 environmental “puzzles”. That being said this game has beautiful artwork and music, with a great creative concept and story. You don’t really have much of a influence on the story and the gameplay feels pretty secondary (and majorly buggy at times) but I found myself engrossed and wanting to finish the story even if it outstayed its welcome in the last few hours. Great music, cool graphics, interesting story, hardly a game.

Decarnation is one of those games that is not only thoroughly entertaining as a game, but also deeply moving as a piece of art. There are mature themes that aren't often related to such a cutesy, pixelated art style, but the developers make quick work of ripping off that blanket. And beyond that, the themes presented are disturbingly poignant without relying on low-hanging fruit, or unnecessarily cheap shots to get their points across. There is horror, some genuine little jump scares, and tragic material. This game is built on the sturdy foundation of an engaging story with a relatable protagonist, and wrapped in a beautifully crafted look and sound, by the hands of someone who really loves to craft meaningful experiences. I've ranted, but TLDR; this is short and sweet psychological horror game with gobs of punchy heart, and some very fun, and sometimes challenging mini-games sprinkled in. I can't sing the creator's praises enough, and I will DEFINITELY be purchasing and downloading the soundtrack to this game for some contemplative drives~ Thanks, developers!

One of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard. The whole game is beautiful; it will be with me for a long while.

Really excellent beginning but somehow gets extremely boring afterward. Having trouble finishing it after it gets a bit surreal and doesn't seem to be going anywhere specific

Was looking for a game that would make me bawl my eyes out, but instead found a game thats even better because it made me start facing the problems in my own life the same way she did, head on. This game seriously gave me the courage to confront a problem that's been in the back of my mind for years 10/10 you should play this game

A beautiful soundtrack and extremely well made and beautiful pixelart. Yet the story was so abysmally boring after the ''big event'' happens and so weirdly corny i'm unsure what the game was even trying to say, if it was even trying to say anything. I wish they would've gone the complete horror/psychological horror route instead of this failed attempt at a deeper emotional meaning behind everything, which spoiler there wasn't any.

Decarnation has been on my radar ever since it was released, and now that I've played it I wonder if the 'hype' I had for it wasn't the equivalent of shooting myself in the foot. Alas, dragging my foot as I walk to the nearest ER would have been just as sluggish, clumsy and annoying as traversing the world of Gloria's nightmares. Don't get me wrong, because Decarnation as a really strong art direction, the sprites and their animation cycles are pixel perfect, the color palettes masterfully chosen to enhance the ambiance. The problems come when the game has to be playable and the story has to be readable. Certain story sections are also minigame sections. Most of then rhythm-based to go with the fact that Gloria is a dancer. The UI elements are either so small, so compact, or shake so much that achieving the correct timing is difficult because of readability, not skill. Decarnation is very, veeeery forgiving in most of these also, so they could have been removed and the experience would have been smoother. Some of these sections also occur while the story is being relayed to the player, so you've got to choose whether to lose and try to catch dialogue bubbles amidst a series of 'bad' sound bites, because you're losing the minigame, or play well and miss on crumbs of the story. One of two puzzles are physics based, and you've got to control Gloria's character sprite to push other characters off of a cliff. Because of the top down disposition of the camera, and the forced perspective, it's more successful as a source of annoyance than an actual, and very spoon fed, metaphor for what she's going through. See, in its inspirations, time was space was given to the player to internalize the messages being sent through the script and the visual language of the world. The level designs had their own story to tell, and here there isn't much. Traversing is awkward, and there isn't much to explore or gain from exploring. And that's the other thing with Decarnation. It's cliched and unsubtle and its characters are incoherent in parts. Sure, there is a message about people being multilayered and complicated, but what's being portrayed is a handful of characters that change their actions and behavior based on what the scene needs. There's one good 'twist' that isn't much of a twist, and the script understands that it should be a twist, so we're okay on that front, and it's the one bit of good commentary on how perpetrators don that sheep skin in order to induce you to commit 'the sin of empathy' and join their victim's flock. It was accompanied by some contrivances on both sides, so its effects were muddled. So, not all is lost, there's things of value in Decarnation. It's gorgeous, really, the music is also pretty cool. Puzzles, specially the logic and scenery based ones, were also good brain teasers. Had it been more elegant or played better with its allegories (pr better, period), or stepped fully on the horror shaped gas pedal, then it would have been a stronger experience. But the pacing is horrid also. Anyway, not a bad deal on discount. For more reviews of games that are creepy, or cute, or both, check out my curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44079361/