Scorn | Review

Mode: Single-Player

Developer: Ebb Software

Genres: Adventure game, Shooter game, Indie game, Survival horror, Puzzle

Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Publishers: Ebb Software, Kepler Interactive

Introduction: Growing up watching The Alien movies and later on Prometheus. Particularity in the movie Alien a parasite explodes out of a guy’s chest that left a 40 year impression on me to this day. I always wondered as a kid “who made this stuff?”.

Well, after googling I can blame now deceased (RIP) Hans Ruedi Giger better known as H.R. Giger. See, this is the guy who fathered “biomechanical” art. Why am I giving you a crash course on a deceased artist? It’s not to be pretentious I assure you. It’s because Scorn is largely H.R. Giger’s work in motion along with Zdzisław Beksiński.

Zdzisław Beksiński is the other half of the artist equation when describing Scorn’s interiors as well it’s exteriors in fantastic detail. Just google “Zdzisław Beksiński” images then google “Scorn game” images. Get the picture?

Or I can forget being educational about Scorn’s art and just look at it from an ignorant more childish point of view. It’s just a bunch of penises, vaginas, sex and woman reproduction visuals at play. Which it kinda is honestly. After spending five or six hours to beat Scorn I found myself looking at Scorn from two sides of myself. Keep reading to find out what the hell I am writing about.

Presentation: Scorn is part walking simulator, part combat and part puzzles. Judging and adding all parts to make up the total sum of Scorn isn’t easy. You see, not all aspects of Scorn are equal or positive. There are variables throughout Scorn. What I haven’t heard much about in regard to Scorn’s presentation was it’s technical prowess.

I experienced in-game mission stopping bugs where I couldn’t unlock doors and or upgrade the flesh key (Chapter 5). I had to restart a few times which causes a long ass checkpoint to reload if one does reload. I also made the fatal mistake of accidentally restarting a load game save on Chapter 4 in-turn making me restart the entirety of Chapter 4 which was bullshit.

Scorn needs better checkpoints and save points throughout. My experience overall was a delight half the time and anger the other half intertwined like the penises and vaginas vistas throughout Scorn.

Story: You start the game being vomited out a womb and end the game being vomited into a two-faced glob of humanoid goo fused with limbs. I’m not sure but there might be multiple endings to Scorn.

Story was opaque and guesswork ass fuck but that’s okay with me. You play a humanoid protagonist who’s trying to navigate a doomed hellish world that looks like a crashed ship from the inside the Prometheus movie.

I’m not certain but I think the starting humanoid protagonist was killed early in game (Chapter 2?) forcing you to play as a second humanoid the second half of the game. Either way you have to make the trek to a palace that houses Krang and two humanoid beings you are trying to revive or fix or both.

Like I said, my ending had two humanoid faces fused together into a glob of goo with limbs. Story-wise there is no hand holding but the humanoid does contract a parasite that changes the gameplay on Chapter 5 heavily. There is a surgery sequence to remove the parasite that will gross most people out.

In conclusion, a poor lowly soul must make his way out of hell only to be killed by the two humanoid entities you bust your ass to revive. Then you get fused together with a the original game’s humanoid into a two-faced blob. That’s the just of it. If there is a happy ending let me know in the comments.

Gameplay: As I eluded to earlier in this article Scorn is broken down into walking simulator, puzzles and combat gameplay. Let’s start with walking simulator. Maps are decent. I never once got confused as to where to go next. The key is to just always be aware of your surroundings. Scorn has landmark cues like statues, small lights, creature respawns etc.

Puzzles were a total love and hate relationship for me. Some were fun and easy. Others, I was impatient and made them so much more complicated (It’s just me). I am that guy who always made something obvious in your face more demanding and complicated for zero reason. I’m sure there’s a name for my issue.

Most puzzles are basic mathematical old fashioned puzzles like the prologue pod puzzle where you only have so many spots to move pods around etc. To be clear I am not a puzzle person. I do love puzzles like the ones in Uncharted or Tomb Raider etc. Maybe it’s just Scorn as a game. Or maybe it’s moi. I ponder.

End of Chapter 4 had a mega sized puzzle where you injure a giant creature to create passages to reach multiple consoles which culminated in a three pronged maze puzzle. I’m both sides here. I enjoyed and hated Scorn’s puzzles. But I can see how some people love all of Scorn’s puzzles. Furthermore, I can see people deleting Scorn after the first pod puzzle.

In Scorn, you fight creatures ranging from “workers” that look like walking dongs to smaller alien chicken “Spitter” creatures. You also have larger creatures like the “bull” creature. In Chapter 3 you had “Flyer” creatures. Not much in terms of variety creature-wise.

Humanoid protagonist isn’t fighting these creatures with no arsenal. First you have a Bolt Rifle that looks like a snailgun. You also have a alien pistol and alien shotgun weapon that deals massive damage. In Scorn you die easy which makes combat somewhat difficult. It’s about survival in Scorn.

You carry a permanent alien spider-looking healthpack that you can refill at health stations throughout the hellish den of Scorn. Maps are littered with locked gates that you must find and upgrade your Flesh Key up to six times throughout the entire game to progress.

I died playing this game. It is a survival game in the end. Your health can dwindle fast if you get attacked by any creature. Coupled with the bad checkpoints throughout Scorn it’s all about survival.

Scorn’s gameplay is old school. No hand-holding. No helping your ass. No telling your ass where to go next. None of that. Scorn doesn’t tell you how to use your weapons or solve puzzles. No HUD for the most part either.

I can see gamers who aren’t used to playing games such as Scorn saying “fuck this”. To me, Scorn is just another game (been there done that). With that said, I can see a crowd of gamers not liking it. On the flipside, I can see gamers loving the fact it doesn’t insult your every waking intelligence with hand holding as well.

Visuals/Graphics: I played Scorn on my Xbox Series X and have to say it’s one stellar visual masterpiece in art design. Hans Ruedi Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński would be proud of Scorn’s visuals I hope. It’s as if those two men’s art can now move and be controlled, manipulated in real-time transcending a stagnant portrait or painting.

Are their games technically/graphically better than Scorn? There are now and there will be in the future. I am drooling over Scorn’s art more than anything here. From it’s statues, weapons, to simple spiral staircases, to the palace. Hell, even the grotesqueness throughout the game is in some ways beautiful. In some ways I believe the art of Scorn has made me insane with genious. I kid! I kid! That last part was pretentious as hell. But yea, Scorn is a looker no doubt.

Sound/Music: Not much by design. There is some music near the end of the game but that’s it. It has a melody you would expect in Scorn. It’s all about torment baby! Sound design was good albeit gross most of the time.

Final Verdict: I liked Scorn. It’s a middle of the road game for me. I loved the art and visual presentation but hated the save system involving checkpoints. I did experience technical in-game issues that took me out of the game’s flow.

Puzzles were okay along with mediocre to average combat. Creature design was lacking. Overall gameplay design was good if you include all aspects likes maps, level design, health and ammo station positioning. Story was fine albeit odd like I figured it be.

The walking is the best part of Scorn. Scorn is old fashion. This game isn’t going to hold your hand at all. You have to learn everything on your own. With that, I enjoyed my 5 hours. Thank you Gamepass.

7/10