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Scorn (video game)

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Scorn
Developer(s)Ebb Software
Publisher(s)Kepler Interactive
Designer(s)Ljubomir Peklar
Programmer(s)Milan Cekić
Artist(s)Filip Acović
Composer(s)Adis Kutkut[2]
Brian Williams[3]
EngineUnreal Engine 4[4]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Xbox Series X/S
Release14 October 2022[1]
Genre(s)Survival horror, adventure[5]
Mode(s)Single-player

Scorn is a first-person biopunk survival horror adventure video game developed by Serbian developer Ebb Software for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S. The game is inspired by the works of visual artists H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński.[6] The game was released on 14 October 2022 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S.

Synopsis

The game director wanted to study the "Space Jockey" from the film Alien, the pilot of the crashed spaceship on planet LV-426.[7] The technology and the living tissue all look as if it’s part of one thing; everything within the game abides by this idea of solid materials impregnated with organic growths. Scorn’s world aesthetic was also assembled by the work of Zdzisław Beksiński.[7] On the alien planet, the engineers, Homunculi, waged war against the two own split factions; one faction built cyborgs from bodies, while the other made militarized robotic exosuits.[8][7]

The story takes place after the war, on the ruined planet, between two silent protagonists in a factory called the Assembly, a recycling plant that repurposes living things. The first awakens and attempts to cross a wasteland heading towards the looming citadel Polis seen in the distance before falling down a massive crevasse; the second emerges from an egg-like structure. The protagonist escapes a massive egg chamber before entering a transportation hub that has been infested with parasitic entities.

During this time, the protagonist is attacked and seemingly infested by a parasite, which allows the protagonist to use several weapons and machines, but regularly wounds them and apparently grows tendril-like roots that gradually cover their body. The protagonist reaches a central elevator that has been enveloped by a massive creature with a vaguely humanoid head. Reactivating the elevator kills the creatures but allows the protagonist access to a skyway to reach an apparent temple previously seen in the distance.

Exploring the temple, the parasite nearly fully envelops the protagonist, forcing it to use a machine to remove it. During this process, it is heavily implied that the parasite is actually the first protagonist. Just before it is removed, the parasite disembowels the protagonist, who staggers to another medical device that connects them to an apparent hive mind within the temple. Controlling an android of sorts, the protagonist carries his own body towards a swirling energy field, where he is attacked again by the parasite, which merges with them completely and transforms them into a giant cocoon.

Gameplay

The player controls a humanoid lost in a nightmarish world filled with odd creatures and living techno-organic structures composed of machines, flesh, and bone. Over the course of the game, they must explore different interconnected regions in a non-linear fashion, searching for answers that will explain more about the game's world.

Gameplay is primarily split between exploration and combat. Exploration also involves occasional environmental puzzles to progress. For combat, the game presents various biomechanical weapons that all attach to a modular base: to utilize a specific weapon, the player character must remove the current weapon from the base and replace it with another. The game features four weapons: A melee weapon similar to a pneumatic drill, which can also be used to power machinery at specific points; a pistol-like weapon, which can be used for accurate shots; a shotgun-like weapon, which has high damage at close range, but a low ammo capacity; and an implosive grenade launcher, mostly used for environmental destruction in the context of puzzles.

Development

Ebb Software is a Serbian game development studio founded in 2013. The developers claim to have designed the game around the idea of "being thrown into the world", and as such, very little context is given about the game's setting. They also explained that they want the unsettling environment to be a character itself.[9]

The game itself was announced on 12 November 2014, with a trailer showing pre-alpha footage, followed by a Kickstarter campaign in December 2014, which ended unsuccessfully; despite this, the game remained in development with a planned two-part release. In January 2015, Scorn received private funding from an investor and full production started in February 2015. The game was planned to be released in two parts,[10] with only the first part being announced as Dasein (German pronunciation: [ˈdaːzaɪn] , a German word that means "being there" in vernacular German (German: da "there"; sein "being"), and "being-in-the-world" in Martin Heidegger's philosophy). In August 2018, the production team announced that they would launch the game as a whole, instead of in parts, although no concrete release date was announced.[11]

In 2017, Ebb Software launched a second Kickstarter, which reached its goal of €150,000 in September of that year.[12]

On 7 May 2020, it was announced that the game would be published on PC and have timed console exclusivity on Xbox Series X/S, running in 4K and 60fps, and would not be released on the previous generation of consoles as the developer team did not want to spend development time on what would be a sub-par version of the game. Scorn was also released on Steam, Windows Store, and GOG.[13]

Reception

Scorn received "mixed or average" reviews, according to the review aggregator Metacritic.[14][15] Though praised for its puzzles and art direction, Scorn faced frequent criticisms for its combat, which many reviewers felt was tedious and unnecessary. PC Gamer US described the game as a surreal horror adventure, which with "the striking visual feast of the alien capital, accompanied by mournful audio, practically moved me to tears. It was so strange and wonderful, and seemed to hint at some greater mystery at the heart of Scorn". Conversely, they criticized sometimes unclear gameplay and the checkpoint system.[21]

Alessandro Barbosa of GameSpot praised Scorn for its interesting setting and aesthetic, but heavily critiqued it for its "frustrating combat, unbalanced puzzles, and unforgiving checkpoints", feeling they made the game "an infuriating slog".[18]

Writing for IGN, Leana Hafer described the game as "a relentlessly unsettling delve into Hell with dreadful combat", adding "combat itself is dreadful, and I don't mean that in a good way", though applauding its "macabre art direction" and puzzles. Hafer concluded Scorn would have been a better experience had most if not all of the combat been removed, feeling it "[worked] against the exploration and puzzle-solving aspects".[20]

Electronic Gaming Monthly's Michael Goroff echoed the combat complaints, believing it "[felt] more annoying than tense", but kept the game from "feeling like a walking simulator". Goroff commended the exploration and puzzle aspects working together with the overall horror tone of the game, saying "everything in Scorn seems built around the simple desire of making players feel like they’re somewhere new" and considered it to have captured the "horrified and disturbed, exhilarated and intrigued" experience of a nightmare.[16]

References

  1. ^ Reynolds, Matthew (12 June 2022). "Scorn, the Very Bloody Horror Game Inspired By H.R. Giger, Has a Release Date". IGN. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Exclusive interview with lead Developer of SCORN (Scorn music composer)". opiumpulses.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Scorn composers". Ebb Software. 20 January 2022. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Scorn – First-person Horror Adventure Game Powered By Unreal Engine 4 – Gets Kickstarter Campaign". dsogaming.com. 17 November 2014. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Ebb Software". Archived from the original on 25 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Behind the beautifully grotesque art of Scorn". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 2018-09-02. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  7. ^ a b c Pellet, Matthew (2022). Scorn: The Art of the Game. Titan Books. ISBN 1803363053.
  8. ^ "10 Things Cut From Scorn We Learned From The Artbook". TheGamer. 2 November 2022.
  9. ^ "'Scorn' gets 14 minutes of new gameplay". NME. 22 February 2022.
  10. ^ Prescott, Shaun (4 July 2016). "Scorn is a disturbing horror shooter in two parts". PC Gamer. PCGamer. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Important announcement". scorn-game.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  12. ^ "Ebb Software Takes Scorn To Kickstarter". The Arcade.
  13. ^ O'Connor, Alice (2020-10-22). "Scorn will envelop you in its Gigeresque guts in 2021". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 2021-06-20. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  14. ^ a b "Scorn for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Scorn for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  16. ^ a b Goroff, Michael (14 October 2022). "Scorn review - Flesh crawl". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  17. ^ Faulkner, Jason (14 October 2022). "Scorn Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  18. ^ a b Barbosa, Alessandro (14 October 2022). "Scorn Review - Pound of Flesh". GameSpot. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  19. ^ Bailes, Jon (14 October 2022). "Scorn review: 'Captures the sense of a place that's truly alien'". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  20. ^ a b Hafer, Leana (14 October 2022). "Scorn Review". IGN. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  21. ^ a b Litchfield, Ted (14 October 2022). "Scorn Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  22. ^ Shaver, Morgan (17 October 2022). "Scorn review: Everything hurts and I'm dying". Shacknews. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  23. ^ Reuben, Nic (14 October 2022). "Scorn review – Giger-inspired horror puzzler is a revulsive but rewarding nightmare". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  24. ^ Raynor, Kelsey (14 October 2022). "Scorn review: An immersive, visceral horror experience that takes environmental storytelling to the extreme". VG247. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
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