Scorn

Scorn is the first project from the Serbian development team Ebb Software. It was announced in 2014 with the launch of a support campaign on Kickstarter, but it did not reach its goal. The development team was able to find an investor who could support the project following the failure of the support campaign, and here the project entered the full development phase in 2015. After many postponements and the game’s absence from the public, and after the decision to release it as a complete experience instead of releasing it in two episodes, 8 years later we get Scorn as a temporary exclusive to the PC and Xbox Series for Microsoft home devices .

The Unique Narrative Style

The game adopts a completely different narrative style than usual, as it contains no dialogues, texts or even film clips. The story is told through the surrounding environment, which represents the most outstanding features of the game, namely its identity Taken from the works of HR Giger, which combines the human body and mechanical machines to… We have a strange world that differs from different from the experiences we have had before. The game throws you into its world full of many symbols that relate to certain themes and have a philosophical dimension that serves the game world and its essence while also relating to a number of social issues.

The Immersive Atmosphere

The style of storytelling and heavy reliance on symbolism may not appeal to many. With the exception of some clear symbolism and suggestions that the developer intends to direct the player to the general focus of the game, the remaining details of the game and others. His world requires deep thinking about what is happening around you, what you are doing and what it is means. The development team has not only managed well to design the strange game world, but also to present a high technical level, taking care of the various details of this confusing world, creating an immersive atmosphere that makes you feel uncomfortable and curious at the same time . The experience is characterized by a feeling of loneliness in this world with gentle melodies that captivate you.

A Different Kind of Horror

Despite being classified as a horror game, Scorn is very far from the usual experience of these games. The focus is not on scaring you and surprising you with an enemy attacking you or with scary sounds. Rather, it’s about feeling uncomfortable. The game world and some of the tasks you will perform will seem very ugly and cruel. The game features many puzzles that will give you a tool or pave the way to the next area. A group of innovative and varied puzzles have been presented while maintaining a balanced level of difficulty. They won’t make you feel helpless to solve them, and you’ll be satisfied once you’ve mastered them.

A Linear Progression and Intuitive Guidance

Progression in the game is linear as you move from one area to another. The areas where you wander around to find a solution to a puzzle or complete a mission are medium in size. It’s interesting how the game guides you in completing missions and solving puzzles in an intuitive way without providing any text or hints and the player might feel lost at the beginning. Go through the experience due to the lack of a map, but if you think about the nature of the puzzles and missions, you’ll realize that there’s a rhythm that guarantees you won’t get lost if you focus on it , what you do. During your journey you won’t feel alone the whole time as there are a number of ugly and dangerous monsters that attack you as you wander around, which brings us to the conversation. About the battles.

The Challenging Combat System

The game offers 4 different weapons that you will get during your journey and the ammunition will be very limited. You also have a device that helps you treat your character and replenish the life meter. Resources are very scarce and require you to be careful when dealing with monsters. What’s confusing about the combat system is its slowness and limited ammo, forcing you to use it more often… It’s bigger than the first weapon you’ll find and requires getting close to monsters. However, she can only attack twice before requiring a relatively long recharge time to attack enemies again. In this, the attack speed on enemies is much faster and this weapon has to attack many enemies multiple times to eliminate them, which makes the combat experience confusing and not fun as some enemies can catch up to you quickly and trying to get in close to them Avoiding game environments is difficult and annoying. Another major downside is the poor distribution of save points, which may require you to repeat many steps after going a long way in some areas.

A Short and Unique Experience

The experience is short and we completed it in just 4 hours, and there is not much point in repeating the experience again since it is linear and there are no paths that change the end of the experience. In the end, we feel that this experience is not over and there is still a sequel, and we see the opportunity to offer a distinctive experience in a larger sequel that maintains the innovation in the puzzles and offers a more fluid combat experience. Scorn is essentially a short and unique experience that may not be suitable for all players, not only because of its drawbacks, but more importantly because of its unusually presented story.