Scorn

Scorn is almost entirely about the atmosphere, and it does it incredibly well- based on the haunting art of Giger and Zdzislaw, with a dash of Cronenberg and Lovecraft, it delivers a consistently disturbing, gory, bleak atmosphere where flesh and machine meld and your senses, conscience and body are repeatedly violated. The nightmarish world and your character within it are presented without explanation or narration, and it's up to you to draw your own conclusions- is it an alien planet, Earth in a distant future, a bad dream? Though answers are lacking, the game world is extremely well put together and provides more than enough clues to provoke thought- everything feels like it has a distinct function and history, even if it's so bizarre and alien that the player may not be able to fully understand it. The complex artistry and symbolism of the environs and mechanisms you interact with give the game surprising depth for its short (6-8 hour) play time. Though the short length isn't a problem, the clunky shooting mechanics can be frustrating. Ammo and health are extremely limited, reloading is slow, and it's almost impossible to take out enemies before they can get in a few hits. You could say this all adds to the mood by taking away the conveniences we've come to take for granted in an FPS game, but in truth it feels unfair and poorly implemented rather than atmospheric. However, this isn't an FPS-focused game by any means, and the shooting feels incidental, almost like another puzzle stretched out across the middle portion just to add some danger and keep you on your toes, being entirely absent at the game's beginning and end. It may ruin the game for some, but I found it tolerable. The puzzles are just about right- not insultingly easy, but not so hard that you're likely to get stuck. They're mostly an excuse to learn about the horrific world as you struggle towards an unknown goal. The journey is scarring and gruesome but definitely memorable and worthwhile.

After reading the reviews I was afraid the game was terrible and bought it to see the art, but it turned out pretty good for me! This game looks like a simulation of an alien world, very different from ours. This is what the heroes of the movie Prometheus should've seen, instead of ridiculous savage big white men. Strange, unexplainable world with twisted rules of biology. If you always wondered what the mysterious world from the first Alien movie could look like and behave (from where the ship or building with eggs came), this game is a really good try! There were no problems fighting the monsters. Usually you can just avoid them (if you don’t encounter them, they just leave through the holes). This game is more about exploration and not a shooter. P.S. One more thought about fighting the enemies. I played 95% of the game using keyboard+mouse, but when I used gamepad, it was much more difficult to use weapons (melee included). Maybe playing it with a gamepad is frustrating and that’s the reason for a lot of negative reviews?

Listen, this isn't your average "game" by a long shot. However it is one of the most beautifully, hauntingly crafted experiences EVER. The visuals and atmosphere are unprecedented in interactive media. Go into this game knowing that, while not expecting more "game" from it, and you'll have a blast. Take your time. Absorb what you see; what you hear. Don't rush through it for the sake of completion, that generally is a terrible way to live life. Immerse yourself in every way you can. Lights out, headphones on, and if you have the know how, play it in VR with a program called VORPX. For an even MORE unforgettable experience; play on some "magic truffles". This is how I did it and I will never forget it! Good luck and have fun!

I found the puzzles quite fun, and they get progressively larger and more elaborate as you get further into the game. The ambiance also progresses, with a surprising diversity of environments. I found the exploration quite entertaining and engaging. The game ran great. But as most others have said, the combat greatly reduced my enjoyment of this game, to the point I'm not finishing it. I think I understand the artistic vision behind it, as the fragility of the protagonist makes the enemy encounters stressful and unnerving. Heck, at specific points your own body attacks you, like an auto-immune problem, taking 1 hit point (you have 8), so the fragility of your life is clearly something the developer thought about and is a gameplay item. My problem is that it's too hard: aiming the piston-gun is difficult for me, and rather than perform reliably head-shots (which one-shot the quadrupeds), I hit the body, or worse, outright miss. The gun has a 4 second recharge time, and the quadrupeds have 6 hit points. The amount of damage they take, with such long recharge times, makes combat quite punishing. Some punishment is expected, but the current amount feels excessive. This dives into the second issue, which is repetition. A game like this derives a lot of value from the novelty, either the aestherics of levels, or just the unease & lack of familiarity with levels. Key to the horror and unease that's in the game, arguably a key reason to get it, is this novelty. Because I keept dying, I kept retrying the same areas over, and over, and over... by the 15th time, you've memorized where the enemies spawn, where their projectiles clip terrain, where the lines of sight are, and you've zoned-out from the cut-scenes and animations; the game became predictable and familiar. THIS game should never become that. And still I die... I feel a setting that eases the combat so as to make areas less repetitive and aiming less punishing would go a long way towards improving my experience.

It's a 5 hour game, the combat is clunky, there is no replayability. So let that reflect on how much you want to spent on it. But it also is a unique experience on a planet of yuck. The screenshots do some of it justice, but overall I would describe Scorn as an experience you reluctantly want to have. The game has no narrator but tells what little story it has with visuals or the interactions you can do with the world. It's a couple gunfights away from a narrative walking simulator. I have to say it took me a bit to want to play through this game. The whole setting is horrible, worse than that. You are on a planet that is barely alive, in a structure that used to do all kinds of horrible things to living beings and now you have to - And that question was the experience for me. This game doesn't need you to shoot up aliens to level up a hero, it doesn't need you to build a village for prosperity and the glory of your people. You cannot safe anyone in this scenario, but maybe you can safe yourself?!? but at the same time you as a human playing this are thrown into this uncanny world where there are clearly different understandings of morality and you are in a factory and you don't understand the purpose of it, but you know how to interact with it. So like a good worker boi you get up and you do your job. Because you have nothing else to go on here. And this feeling of looking for purpose and how you can find purpose and what you are and whom you are willing to sacrifice for it is what this game did for me. There are no answers to any of this but I really liked how this game asked the question. It took me around an hour to understand that the game can be more than puzzles and mediocre and frustrating combat mechanics. The game is super yucky, there are all sorts of body horrors in it, all sorts of horrific acts - so be aware of this. And the graphics and sound design drive this home.