Genre Puzzle, Psychological Horror, Adventure
Release Date 2022
Platforms PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Developers Ebb Software[ebbsoftware.com]

Scorn is the first installment of Serbian game studio Ebb Software, based around the "being thrown in the world" concept, as it follows the player in their exploration of an unknown bio-steampunk world, filled with bizarre creatures.

The player plays as an unknown humanoid creature that wakes up in a seemingly alien world, inside a facility covered in fleshy, mechanic looking mass and organisms. As the player traverses the different sections of the massive building, solving different puzzles, he eventually faints after an explosion in one of the facility's rooms.
Soon after, the player wakes up in a different place, outside the facility, and navigates his way back inside to find himself in new areas, this time crawling with horrifying living beings. Around this time, he is attacked and becomes infected by a deadly parasite, that slowly saps his health away.
Eventually, the player finds himself in this temple, high above the original facility, and is able to remove the parasite from his body, but is disemboweled in the process. Later, he finds another medical device, which connects him to this flesh hive mind inside the temple and allows his consciousness to carry over to nearby bodies, which carry his original body to a seemingly safe place, until the player is attacked again by the parasite, which successfully kills him and consumes his body to form a giant flesh mass.

The gameplay in Scorn consists mostly in walking/running around different environments, solving puzzles of various difficulties. After the first encounter with the parasite, the player also starts dealing with enemies, managing health and shooting weapons, due to the fact that it's the parasite itself, which is attached to the player's body, that controls these elements.
There are four main weapons - a bolt-action like gun which launches a metal bolt forward on a cooldown; a pistol with low damage which becomes more accurate when standing still; a high damage shotgun with low ammo count and a grenade launcher, mostly used in later puzzles - and four primary creature enemies - a medium size and speed crawler; a small size, bird-like spitter; a large size, bull looking melee range charger and a roof-hanging spitting worm.
There are also a large variety of machines and mechanisms the player can interact with throughout the game for different purposes, like dispensing ammo and health, opening doors, or just as part of the puzzles.
Regarding the player's inventory, Scorn takes a unique approach, as it doesn't manifest as a interface or menu, but as an integral part of the world, in the form of a flesh pouch, held by the parasite, which can be seen when looking down at the character's feet. This pouch stores health charges for healing, and ammo for the different weapon types.
There's also a small boss fight towards the end of the game, where the player needs to shoot key points of the enemy while avoiding projectile and melee attacks.

I found the game a unique and refreshing experience, with an original biomechanical theme, stunningly disturbing visuals and eerie sounds all throughout.
The puzzles were very creative and different from eachother, with varying levels of difficulty, and made great use of the surrounding environment.
I enjoyed the very minimalist interface, as the only prompts and tooltips appeared while handling mechanisms or aiming weapons, which definitely contributed to a bigger sense of immersion.
The enemy and weapon variety was good given the length of the game, but the combat system felt very clunky and mismatched, as changing between weapons and reloading was incredibly slow when compared to the fast paced nature of the enemy attacks and the damage they dealt. Also, some of the enemy encounters felt very cheesy, as it was pretty much impossible to react on time without dying first and knowing what was coming beforehand. This prompted a lot of unnecessary deaths that, with the badly placed checkpoints, made it frustrating at times to progress.
The boss battle was a nice exception to this clunkiness, as the attacks were fairly slow and only one weapon (the grenade launcher) could be used, which removed a lot of the lengthier animations and allowed for a bigger focus on the actual mechanics of the fight.
Regarding the narrative itself, I struggled to understand it, as the game gives little to no context of the circumstances and events that happen. This paired with non existent dialogue, high degree of symbolism and the fact that most of the vital information about the world is only accessible through the game's paid artbook contributes to a lack of connection with the character and obliviousness for the player.
Finally, I also experienced quite a bit of lag and stuttering in most areas of the game, even on lowish settings, which suggests a lack of optimization for the game's level of detail.

The main appeal of Scorn is its outstanding visual quality. Even though the game proved to be smaller than hoped, had basically no narrative components and presented a terrible combat system, if you're only interested in the appealing style, it's a must try. Otherwise, if you're looking for a deeper, more story driven long-term experience, don't bother.

- Steam, Xbox[www.xbox.com], PlayStation Store[store.playstation.com] and Epic Games Store[store.epicgames.com] Pages
- Official Wiki[scorn.fandom.com] and Website[scorn-game.com]
- IGP's Exploration/Lore Video

[b]Genre[/b] Puzzle, Psychological Horror, Adventure [b]Release Date[/b] 2022 [b]Platforms[/b] PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S [b]Developers[/b] [url=https://ebbsoftware.com]Ebb Software[/url] Scorn is the first installment of Serbian game studio Ebb Software, based around the "being thrown in the world" concept, as it follows the player in their exploration of an unknown bio-steampunk world, filled with bizarre creatures. [h3]Plot[/h3] The player plays as an unknown humanoid creature that wakes up in a seemingly alien world, inside a facility covered in fleshy, mechanic looking mass and organisms. As the player traverses the different sections of the massive building, solving different puzzles, he eventually faints after an explosion in one of the facility's rooms. Soon after, the player wakes up in a different place, outside the facility, and navigates his way back inside to find himself in new areas, this time crawling with horrifying living beings. Around this time, he is attacked and becomes infected by a deadly parasite, that slowly saps his health away. Eventually, the player finds himself in this temple, high above the original facility, and is able to remove the parasite from his body, but is disemboweled in the process. Later, he finds another medical device, which connects him to this flesh hive mind inside the temple and allows his consciousness to carry over to nearby bodies, which carry his original body to a seemingly safe place, until the player is attacked again by the parasite, which successfully kills him and consumes his body to form a giant flesh mass. [h3]Gameplay & Mechanics[/h3] The gameplay in Scorn consists mostly in walking/running around different environments, solving puzzles of various difficulties. After the first encounter with the parasite, the player also starts dealing with enemies, managing health and shooting weapons, due to the fact that it's the parasite itself, which is attached to the player's body, that controls these elements. There are four main weapons - a bolt-action like gun which launches a metal bolt forward on a cooldown; a pistol with low damage which becomes more accurate when standing still; a high damage shotgun with low ammo count and a grenade launcher, mostly used in later puzzles - and four primary creature enemies - a medium size and speed crawler; a small size, bird-like spitter; a large size, bull looking melee range charger and a roof-hanging spitting worm. There are also a large variety of machines and mechanisms the player can interact with throughout the game for different purposes, like dispensing ammo and health, opening doors, or just as part of the puzzles. Regarding the player's inventory, Scorn takes a unique approach, as it doesn't manifest as a interface or menu, but as an integral part of the world, in the form of a flesh pouch, held by the parasite, which can be seen when looking down at the character's feet. This pouch stores health charges for healing, and ammo for the different weapon types. There's also a small boss fight towards the end of the game, where the player needs to shoot key points of the enemy while avoiding projectile and melee attacks. [h3]Personal Opinion (Pros / Cons)[/h3] I found the game a unique and refreshing experience, with an original biomechanical theme, stunningly disturbing visuals and eerie sounds all throughout. The puzzles were very creative and different from eachother, with varying levels of difficulty, and made great use of the surrounding environment. I enjoyed the very minimalist interface, as the only prompts and tooltips appeared while handling mechanisms or aiming weapons, which definitely contributed to a bigger sense of immersion. The enemy and weapon variety was good given the length of the game, but the combat system felt very clunky and mismatched, as changing between weapons and reloading was incredibly slow when compared to the fast paced nature of the enemy attacks and the damage they dealt. Also, some of the enemy encounters felt very cheesy, as it was pretty much impossible to react on time without dying first and knowing what was coming beforehand. This prompted a lot of unnecessary deaths that, with the badly placed checkpoints, made it frustrating at times to progress. The boss battle was a nice exception to this clunkiness, as the attacks were fairly slow and only one weapon (the grenade launcher) could be used, which removed a lot of the lengthier animations and allowed for a bigger focus on the actual mechanics of the fight. Regarding the narrative itself, I struggled to understand it, as the game gives little to no context of the circumstances and events that happen. This paired with non existent dialogue, high degree of symbolism and the fact that most of the vital information about the world is only accessible through the game's paid artbook contributes to a lack of connection with the character and obliviousness for the player. Finally, I also experienced quite a bit of lag and stuttering in most areas of the game, even on lowish settings, which suggests a lack of optimization for the game's level of detail. [h3]Final Verdict[/h3] The main appeal of Scorn is its outstanding visual quality. Even though the game proved to be smaller than hoped, had basically no narrative components and presented a terrible combat system, if you're only interested in the appealing style, it's a must try. Otherwise, if you're looking for a deeper, more story driven long-term experience, don't bother. [h3]Useful Links[/h3] - [url=https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/698670/Scorn/]Steam[/url], [url=https://www.xbox.com/pt-pt/games/store/scorn/9nm3tnrpqxlr]Xbox[/url], [url=https://store.playstation.com/pt-pt/product/EP7579-PPSA07850_00-SCORN000000PS5EU]PlayStation Store[/url] and [url=https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/scorn]Epic Games Store[/url] Pages - [url=https://scorn.fandom.com/wiki/Scorn_Wiki]Official Wiki[/url] and [url=https://scorn-game.com]Website[/url] - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mexYNVlfD5Q]IGP's Exploration/Lore Video[/url]