Scorn broke our brains when it was first teased a few years back. The short teaser revealed a world that looked like the inner workings of H.R. Giger’s mind. The game’s preview was stunning in every sense of the word. Nightmarishly good news! Scorn squelches its way onto PC and Xbox today and we are here to report that this is a game that needs to be experienced. If you are a horror fan, do not miss this deeply disturbing experience.
A biomechanical hellscape that makes up the entirety of the Scorn is absorbing. Everything from wall to wall is a living piece of a grander piece of a nightmare.
The atmosphere of Scorn is all-consuming and brilliant. The world is a mashup of H.R Giger and Zdzislaw Beksiński. The Kepler team fantastically focused on every single squelch, ooze, and pulse of the organic world. Every direction that you look could be screenshot and hung on a gallery wall. It has been a long time since I have recalled a game that focused so succinctly on the art within the game.
A lot of developers would have instantly hurried to make this a run-and-gun hardcore first-person shooter. The art of the unique experience comes from its restraint. Instead of the run-and-gun, white-knuckle experience, Scorn takes the scenic route and allows you to fully explore the world and organically discover what this entire structure was built for. The game doesn’t spell anything out for you or hold your hand. That extends to both the game’s narrative as well as its tough puzzles.
The focus on puzzles is a fascinating one. There isn’t ever a puzzle that is placed in your path to feel cheap or as a necessity. Each puzzle is a naturally occurring piece of the world. At times you will be exploring and you might see pieces of something that you will later have to find a solution to. However, it is entirely organic in its nature.
The puzzles themselves range from medium to hard. There are moments in which you might find yourself entirely stuck. I know that I did. What Scorn does really well is allow you the space and time to configure a solution for each puzzle. Sometimes, the game allows you to move to different puzzles before coming back to solve something you had yet to configure correctly. Sometimes, you don’t even have the tools necessary to solve it. There are moments in which you have to backtrack in order to find keys or bio modifications that will later allow you to pass particularly tough areas.
The controls for Scorn are well-suited for this very specific type of game. Your character walks at a slower pace. Even using the sprint button doesn’t hurry him along too quickly. The purpose of course is rewarding. It allows you to take in each and every nook and hellish cranny. Part of the game’s brilliance is that it forces you into a hellscape with no idea where you are, what you are doing there. It doesn’t give you an understanding of the purpose of this biomechanical world on its own.
Scorn is an awe-inspiring journey through a beautifully, nightmarish world. The restraint shown in shooter elements sets the game apart from most other experiences. The tough-as-nails puzzles really do force you to explore the inner workings of the hellscape. The entirety of Scorn seethes with a special kind of menace. Its two-fist approach to making this world a singular environment makes Scorn a 2022 must-play.
Scorn is available on PC and Xbox Series X|S. It is available to Game Pass subscribers free for download.
4 eyes out of 5
