Decarnation Video Game Review
Equal parts David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky, Decarnation provides the player with a way of interacting with psychological horror outside of your favorite streaming platform. Decarnation, a 2D survival/adventure horror game from indie developer Atelier QDB, drops on Steam and the Nintendo Switch May 31, 2023.
Set in Paris 1990, the game follows Gloria, a cabaret dancer who must navigate her personal and professional relationships while she struggles with her own self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy. As she turns 30, her career trajectory plateaus and her relationship with her mother and partner reach breaking points. Fortunately, she receives an offer from a wealthy fan which should help solve all her problems. Unfortunately, this is an indie horror game, so the offer has dire consequences.
The developer cites Mulholland Drive and the anime film Perfect Blue as inspiration for this game, and it shows. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to decide what is real and what is in the character’s head. While the game markets itself as ‘phantasmagorical,’ there are enough clues and inconsistencies in both the dream and real scenes to cause the player to pause and genuinely consider which existence this is. It’s also difficult to not make Arronofsky comparisons since the main character is a dancer who works at a club called The Black Swan.
Much of the horror, especially in the early scenes, comes from this tenuous relationship between Gloria’s reality and the player’s perception of it. A glitch in the floor could just be a glitch in the floor, or it could be the first thread to unravel in Gloria’s mind. Single frames of phantom beings accompanied by sound cues have been a staple of independent horror games for years, but Decarnation uses subtle clues early on to let the player know that this story will not be happy for our protagonist.
As a pixel/retro game, the graphics are fantastic. Each frame brims with detail whether in the streets of Paris or Gloria’s corrupted psyche. Each scene carries its own aesthetic, from trash ridden basement to pipe laden streetscape. Several times, I walked the perimeter of each screen, absorbing the details the artists added. Particularly satisfying were the posters throughout the game, including a ‘Oui’ poster and it’s ‘Non’ counterpart inside Gloria’s nightmare world. Since the game plays with time and space loosely, certain items and food exist in multiple spaces, helping the player navigate.
Even with the spot-on graphics, the highlight of the game is the soundtrack. The soundtrack features French artist fleur et bleue providing a modern theme to a nostalgic setting. The song fits the game exactly like Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill does in season 4 of Stranger Things. The opening synth notes ground the player in the game’s setting while the singer’s opening line brings emotional weight to the story. The main title of the game is “Tout dépend de toi” which translates to “it all depends on you,’ or, more appropriately for Decarnation “everything is up to you.”
The score also provides genuine fear and anxiety. The developer recently announced on Steam that Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka contributed 10 pieces to the soundtrack. While the soundtrack itself feels modern, the score and music match the retro vibe well. It sounds like playing a vintage game with modern sensibilities. The sound design propels the story, particularly in the dialogue cues. Each main character has a dialogue sound that triggers during conversations. This not only helps the player keep track of who is saying what, but it includes crucial clues to characters’ motivations or emotional states.
Decarnation touts itself as a narrative-rich, survival, adventure horror game. The story does take the front seat to the gameplay. Several of the scenes are simply reading small dialogue bubbles while clicking the space bar repeatedly. The game shines when forcing the player into uncomfortable or anxiety-inducing situations, but it, unfortunately, doesn’t do this as often as I wanted. Gloria walks through an art museum, looking for her own statue, while the developers reward curious gamers with a selection of unsettling and misogynistic artwork. At one point, the only way forward is to confront a large mass of body horror. However, the game mostly takes place in a small studio apartment or a similar one-room cell.
The minigames are quite miniature. A small chess match stands as a shining moment of ingenuity, while many of the challenges are just quick time events that rely on rhythm or timing. The largest problem with this design choice is that it lowers the stakes of each scene. A 5-star rating on one challenge brought cheers and adulation from the crowd, while a lackluster performance didn’t stop my progress or seem to change the story in any way. Since the narrative is taking the lead, the story is on rails regardless of your choices or performance in the game.
At 7 hours, Decarnation is not a long game, but the resolution did drag a bit. Each character received their own epilogue while Gloria goes on a greatest hits tour of the minigames. Overall, Decarnation is an excellent indie horror game that will be worth the investment of time and money.
