(C)2022, Published by Prime Matter, a Division of PLAION GmbH, Austira. Developed by Mad Head Games. All rights reserved. "Scars Above" is a registered trademark of PLAION gmbH. "Prime Matter" and the PLAION labelname logos are registered trademarks of PLAION GmbH.
This game isn't the longest. In about six hours you'll see the credits rolling. But the time spent in the world of this adventure/shooter hybrid is awesom.
Yes, there is a bit of jank here and there, but there is way more to enjoy. Great guns, simple but fun puzzles, cool enemies with nice mechanics to beat them, cool boss fights, great athmospere...
The story and collectible's don't tell the most original of stories, but it kept me going from start to finish.
There is a lot to love here!
TL;DR: It's better than the “overall most helpful review” would have you believe.
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Clarity on the negatives of the “overall most helpful review”:
I only found two mentions of “horror” on the Scars Above GOG page. One in the Tags, and one in said review. While it IS helpful to inform buyers which Tags are subjective, to call them “a gimmick” is quibbling.
There IS a story. One that I found intriguing in fact, but it doesn't reveal itself until the end.
Outright wrong: Of the four basic guns, only ONE required charging before firing, A future upgrade mitigates that requirement as well.
Right Trigger (or Left Mouse) is the "attack" button. You aim if you want to shoot a gun. You don't aim if you want to melee. Hence, the 'Aim State' before firing. (And an upgrade in the Skill Tree makes melee an inviting option once unlocked.)
The enemies respawn every time you die. Manual save or no.
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The issues that I had?
-The weak points of some enemies require PERFECT accuracy. Annoyingly so. Watching slow-motion replays of these encounters, it's alarming how stingy this game can be with precision and damage. “Nothing but net” as they say. No amount of fiddling with the auto-aim will fix this either.
-Some enemies have illogical weaknesses.
What elemental weapon would you use to damage an enemy that attacks AND HEALS with fire? Ice?
No... Fire! “Fight fire with fire” I guess.
And that's about it. Nothing insurmountable. Overall, a solid game that (devoid of my personal preferences and biases) deserves more praise than it's getting in the GOG reviews.
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Extraneous epilogue:
As a rule, I avoid games that are generally lauded as “difficult”. While it's true (for me) that it DOES start off fairly hard, it gets easier as you unlock more of the skill tree. So much so, that I found the final few bosses to be no more difficult than standard enemies from the beginning.
While some may decry the length, I still feel like I got my money's worth.
If you like to live through an adventure this game might be for you. There is no clutter of side quests and NPCs to interact with, it is a story about survival from a perspective of a spaceship crew member stranded far away from home.
It is story driven adventure, it is good, yet is not something oscar worthy so keep that in mind. Lengthwise it is 7-9 hours of play.
Throughout the adventure you feel that you are being presented with more and more tools to overcome future challenges and that feels great. New unlocks new weapons, it all ads up to be a true arsenal of options to deal with encounters and puzzles.
Gun design is ok, two weapons I found has to be charged to shoot, the other are just element based guns, you have to aim to shoot, otherwise you attack with melee - something I avoided as much as I could.
Save system and respawn system is taken out of soulslike games, so if you die or save or reload the game, enemies will respawn, but you keep your progress nonetheless. Bulk of it is done through pillars like in Remnant.
Leveling up is done by scanning new species and finding data cubes, much preferred by me when it comes to this particular soulslike design - I would not want to grind monsters in this game, it is meant to be experienced not grinded through.
Now for three obvious disadvantages for a PC player:
1. Collision models, I have died multiple times just because my character got stuck on the patch of snow.
2. Navigation during research/puzzles - if you lowered your mouse speed to be able to aim with a gun, you lowered how fast you can move a camera during certain puzzles, so hand was hurting for sure.
3. When engaging with certain exploration activities, I had to approach perform interaction multiple times or game would not let me progress further.
All and all good game, but if I paid full price I would not be happy. Thus I suggest to buy it on a discount.
It is okay. The 1-star reviwes are unfair in my opinion. I am into the game a few hours and so far is is pretty ok. The bossfights suck, and some of the weapons are annoying, but overall for the ~6€ it is a really good game. Not triple A, but so far no big bugs, it has ok storytelling, I think it is okay.
They went a bit overboard with making Dr. Resting B1tchface as bland a possible, but meh. Get it on sale and enoy some non emotional facial ecpressions :D
This is a very competent and fun SF adventure. Lowkey pretty alien environments, guns are a pleasure to shoot. Combat has some light elemental / puzzle / weakpoint mechanics mixed in, and they can be opaque at times, esp. with bosses. A bit on the short-ish side.
The story is actually decent! Not Hugo or Nebula levels of good, but significantly better than the usual "hurr durr aliens bad".
