I cleared two sectors at the time of this writing and i have to say this game is a success on almost every metric. First of all you can really immerse yourself into this game. It is not really an im-sim, more like a prototype of an im-sim. At the difficulty i play right now, you have to be very observant, and think like you are really there. If you just blindly run around, you will get confused really fast. So observe, listen closely to audio logs, plan out your routes, learn the layout and you will have a blast. The puzzles are also great. I especially love the ones, where you fix the "fuse panels". You plug and unplug wires and reroute traces with your own hands. I think this is really cool. It doesn't take you out of the experience, because it's not some abstract thing that happens on a separate UI. Weapons feel really powerful especially the sparq's 3rd firing mode and also have to be used purposefully, since enemies have specific strengths and weaknesses. Some animations are lacking weight tough (reload minipistol&shotgun). I also like the graphics, they are low-fi and high-res at the same time. From afar everything looks modern, but when you're up-close then everything shines in glorious retro chunkiness. I love that aspect. What i see as bit overkill, is the shinyness of certain objects/scenes. One good example would be the fuse-puzzles. On the first one i couldn't figure out what i was doing wrong, because the lighting made the heads of the cables so bright, that i couldn't see, that some cables are worth 2 "energy-points" and some cables are worth 1. So there are some moments where reflections become too bright, but aside from that it just looks beautiful, colorful and haunting at the same time. I'm currently playing this on Linux Mint, using bottles as a compatibility layer, and i get a solid 60 FPS on a GTX980ti, there is some weird audio crackling/pops here and there but aside from that it runs buttery smooth with almost everything maxed out.
I was following the development of this game since 2016/17. It was a real pain for me to see, just how much this game struggled in development hell. The art of H.R. Giger and Beksiński speak to me on a deep level, they are as therapeutic as they are disturbing to me. So the possibility to have a game, which leans heavily into their style and philosophy sounded like dream come true. In the end i got something i did not expect. After god knows how many years, the original vision of the game deteriorated into an almost empty husk of it's former self. What i expected was a fully fledged game, what i got was an interactive art installation. As such it succeeds very well, so much so that i cannot rate it as a "game" in a traditional sense. Yes there are "gamey" elements here, like puzzles, combat, problem solving, etc... but they are so bare-bones and especially the combat, are more like a burden then anything else. Surely, if scorn wouldn't have been stuck in development for so long, the weaker elements wouldn't stand out so much, but it's a wonder it got released in the first place... So if you cannot stand games, that almost have nothing that is traditionally understood as gameplay, stay clear off, or wait for a sale. So why do i give this 5 Stars? As i said, i consider Scorn more like an art installation, a museum or an exhibition, then a game. So if this would have been a museum in the real world and you would ask me afterwards, how i would rate the experience, i would say: Well, the toilets were broken and the staff was a bit grumpy, but the exhibition was definitely a 10/10. I really enjoyed my time, wondering, pondering, soaking in the atmosphere and wandering around, trying to connect the dots for myself. In the end, i was a little disturbed and confused but as i stared into the abyss, it also stared back into myself and revealed something true about myself, humanity and life itself. That to me is the beauty of art and in that regard they fully succeeded.
I have now one playthrough of this game (enhanced edition) under my belt. I played on Ranger-Hardcore all HUD Elements disabled. Sadly i had to push myself through this game, especially towards the end. This is a linear, cinematic game with some openworld sections threwn into it. I must say the openworld sections were a lot of fun to play but the linear sections suffer the same problems you had in the first and second installment of this franchise. NPC that walk really slowly and won't shut up about clearly obvious stuff whilst hindering your progress because artyom seems to have a selective phobia of doors, so your annoying npc compagnion has to open it for you. but that ain't the worst part. Awesome, big and scary, mutant grizzly bear: Killed in a cutscene. The comicly evil douchebag, who made your stay in the desert an absolute shitshow and who is keeping slaves and is beating and executing them for the crime of merely existing: Killed in a cutscene. You get the drill. Despite my super duper hardcore playthrough i never had the feeling that i was challenged. There were only 2 occasions where i felt "challenged" and that was because of bad map design, combined with an assault of hitscan enemies or the geometry not working properly. It seems that sometimes your body can clip slightly through cover. Also the story is way to drawn out, melodramatic, uninteresting and of course you discover the promised land you sought after the last 20 hours, you guessed it, in a cutscene. No one last open map, where you discover and conquer your new home. You kill a librarian in a cutscene, back on the train, almost die in a cutscene, then boom, a few hundred kilometers further, welcome home, game is over, go away now. So for the positves. The guns are as always very imaginative and have a thounderous sound and impact. The graphics are very atmospheric and beautiful. The business model is fair. This game is always so close to good but then misses the mark, it's a bit sad really.
Positive: I think overall it's amazing. Never had that much of fun with a fps in a long time. The ruination blade is one of my favourite weapons. I really like that it opens so many possibilities in terms of movement (which feels very tight and responsive to me btw). Especially that you can chain it together with bunnyhopping and go really fast because of this. Or that you can turn around in mid-air. great stuff. this blade is the first melee weapon in a fps game, i didn't instantly forget as soons as i got my hands on a gun. The coach-gun is ok i guess, a bit underwhelming, but it sounds really nice and gets the job done. The double barrel shotgun is my absolute favourite. It sounds perfect, it shreds through enemys and the secondary fire-mode can be very usefull around corners. With some practice, the secondary fire mode is also useful at mid to long ranges aaaand also it doesn't feel overpowered. In short i absolutely love the double barrel. The fang spitter is also very well done, i think. Sounds very powerful, tears through weak enemies and i love the fact that it stops enemies projectiles. I didn't use the retcher very often. I find it very effective against stronger enemies and the idea behind it, is very cool (and also how it looks). But in the end i was fine, most of the time, with the other weapons. It reminded me a lot of the grenade launcher in quake 1, which is my favourite weapon of all time. I absolutely dig the level design, flow and how they look. really impressive and close to perfect. Negative: The savesystem has a weird quirk. when you place a soul tether and then later save your game at a shrine, and then load your (now older) soul-tether save, the save created at the shrine is lost. The other way around is fine. Enemies have pathfinding issues. I often found them run against walls. Especially when i was around a corner or a behind a doorway.
