I don’t know if there’s been a game that has challenged my expectations more than Decarnation. This horror puzzler from Shiro Games never stopped going to places I didn’t anticipate, in ways I didn’t expect. It continuously surprised and challenged me, but also left me feeling discombobulated.
The story centers around Gloria, a cabaret dancer in 1990s Paris. She’s nearing the end of her run (well, as suggested by the various people in her life), and is wrestling with her relationships with her girlfriend, her mother, and her employer. Gloria is verbally assaulted by a sculptor who’s making a statue of her, and that statue is in turn physically assaulted while on display at a museum. These incidents cause Gloria to have a bit of a mental breakdown, and when her family friends aren’t there for her, she decides to accept a job offer from a wealthy (but shady) art patron.
We’ve learned by now to never trust wealthy (but shady) art patrons, right? Those who can’t do, kidnap, and that’s what happens here.
I don’t want to offer much more detail on the plot, as uncovering its twists is integral to the overall enjoyment of Decarnation. As mentioned, the story goes to places you may not expect, but it does so in a believable, empathetic way. I thankfully have never experienced the issues Gloria faces, but I was able to relate to her plight and understand the decisions she makes along the way. It’s not often a video game has me rooting for a French cabaret dancer, but there you go.
Central to Gloria’s story are the horrors she faces even before the kidnapping. Can I make a reference to Sucker Punch here? In that movie, the protagonist created multiple fantasy layers to protect herself from guilt and from the hostile environment in which she was trapped. That’s kind of what’s going on here, as Gloria finds herself fighting or fleeing grotesque monsters born from her reality. Whether they’re real or imagined isn’t important; what matters is that Gloria is struggling to find a way to deal with them.
It’s impressive that the developers are able to give them such impact with the game’s pixel art graphics. The retro visuals are actually a very good choice, as the pixel art provides plenty of detail without showing us so much that the monsters lose impact. You can see what you’re fighting, but there are plenty of gaps to be filled in by your imagination. And isn’t your imagination scarier? You know what frightens you, after all.
Dealing with these monsters changes radically throughout the game. Early on, Gloria has to shine lights on them before they can reach her. Soon thereafter, she must scream at them while making her escape.
And what horror game would be complete without a rhythm-based dance-off?
That, actually is where things start to get a bit disjointed. There are many mini-games in Decarnation, most of which are tied directly into what’s going on in Gloria’s immediate surroundings. As with the story, you never know what game the developers are going to toss at you next, and sometimes those games just don’t work. I mean, they do physically, but they seem forced within the context. Considering the emotional impact of the narrative, it was somewhat annoying to be yanked out of it by a weird quick time event or a pop-quiz on what has transpired so far. Also, there’s no real penalty for failing. The mini-games aren’t stressful, they’re just…there. Or, maybe that’s the point. Things are what you make of them, Gloria.
The music is worth mentioning, too. The game’s wonderful score by Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill) is offset by a pretty decent pop song that surfaces at weird times and tends to go on longer than it seemingly should. I’m not sure if that’s a glitch or another planned element to keep the player off-kilter.
I’ve used multiple words to describe various elements of Decarnation, and they also apply to the game as a whole: off-kilter, disjointed, discombobulated. How weird that it’s praise when considering the story, but criticism for the mini-games. Regardless, it’s worth playing if you enjoy slow-burn terror. It works better as a visual novel than as a horror/puzzle game, but it will continue to surprise you throughout its somewhat short duration regardless of why you’re into it. And honestly, that’s more than I can say for a lot of what’s out there these days.
