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I’ve not played anything like Scorn. First shown to the world as an unsuccessful Kickstarter in 2014, the game was later revealed at an Inside Xbox event two years ago in 2020 and was arguably one of the highlights. Now, the whole experience will be available to explore in just one month, and I’ve had some time with the opening hour. While it’s most definitely got me hooked and will no doubt have me playing come October, I still have some concerns that it won’t be for everyone.
Scorn is a highly minimalist game in many ways. The game sees you playing as someone who has been thrown into an alien world. You’re skinless and supposedly human and must explore a nightmarish alien planet that feels like it’s been pulled from the minds of the likes of H.R. Giger or Zdzislaw Beksinski. The world you explore as this human is alien, there’s no doubt about that, but it also feels alive. Walls are made of nightmarish amalgamations of wet flesh and cold hard metals. Strange liquids drip from vacant holes unsettlingly. It’s a genuinely uncomfortable world to inhabit, and while it’s a style that any fan of Alien or even Silent Hill might be familiar with, it’s unlike anything I’ve explored in a game.
My preview took me through the supposed prologue of the game, lasting about an hour or so on paper, though with my slower style of exploration, it was easily beyond that. The main goal of this area seemed to be to get through a door that requires two people to open. It sounds simple, but even the idea of finding someone else in this dilapidated hellscape seemed like a tall ask. The solution was something you’d not expect, of course, but it’s also an aspect of this world that once again had me asking more questions rather than garnering answers.
As I’ve alluded to earlier, Scorn isn’t your typical horror game. Not quite in the same breadth of the disingenuously named walking simulators, nor on the same level of combative horror like Resident Evil, Scorn solely inhabits its own niche. You’ll explore these areas and be outfitted with weapons, but a lot of it feels like methods to solve puzzles rather than kitting out the player to defend themselves. I oft find people using the word “cerebral” to euphemise anything slower than most mainstream media, but Scorn feels like a truly cerebral experience. From the get-go, you’ll be overwhelmed by the fantastic atmosphere the team at Ebb Software has crafted. So much so that, in the height of my own delirium amidst a late-night session, I had to switch it off and return to it the next night.
It’s not that Scorn is actively scary. But like incredible horror films like The Witch and Hereditary, Scorn doesn’t employ jump scares to shake the player. Instead, you’ll be bathed in its cold and isolating atmosphere to the point where you’ll feel genuinely uncomfortable exploring. There’s no voice work in Scorn, and no player character talking themselves through things. There’s no music. Instead, strong ambient effects help give the world of Scorn a real sense of place. Wind bellows through vacant hallways, walls squelch, and loud indistinct clangs in the distance imply that something is alive in this world or at least moving. But you’ll never see it. At least, not in the prologue.
Following my run-in with the second “person” who I used to unlock the first big door of the area, I was given my first weapon. A biomechanical piston of sorts, it was helpful as a low to mid-range melee attack and a way to navigate the final puzzle of the preview. I use that term lightly – you had to find a few switches to move on. But it was at this point that some enemies appeared in the game. They didn’t do much – blowing hot steam in a tight space to prevent me from progressing – but a single shot from my weapon was enough to see them downed entirely.
After navigating this final area, hitting some switches, and placing some items back where they should have been, a cutscene played. The weird flesh pillar I was working on exploded, covered me in ropey white goo, and my character passed out. All things you’d want on a good night. The demo ends, and while I’m pretty satisfied with how Scorn looks and feels, I have a few worries about the final game.
For one, I sometimes can’t help but feel that it’s too minimalist. I’m not somebody to usually ask for direction in games like this, but there will definitely be some players who will find themselves getting lost regularly as they try to solve certain puzzles. Granted, Scorn feels non-linear at times – there’s more than one solution for one of the puzzles I solved during this preview, but it might not be as accessible to more novice players.
On the same note, I really, really hope that the story has some actual weight to it. During the opening moments, as my character crawled out of his coma, there were some flashes of something that appeared to allude to a plot. Still, I have concerns that the story won’t have any direction or explanation even after the credits roll. I don’t mind a story that you have to piece together. Perhaps the point of Scorn is to explore this alien world rather than tell a story, but I do hope there is some narrative there to uncover.
That being said, I’m still incredibly excited for Scorn. The atmosphere is so perfectly executed that even if it falls short in any other area, I’ll still find it charming in a strange and macabre way. But only time will tell as to whether Scorn has already played all of its cards or not, so I’m beyond excited to continue my journey come October when the full game releases.
Scorn launches on October 21st 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. It will be available to all Game Pass members at launch.
