Game Cover

Hmm... Hmm... Ahh..

Platform played on: Xbox Series X

# Review

Scorn takes place on a nightmarish alien planet that has been devastated by time. You play as an inhabitant of the planet and have to navigate the decay towards an unclear goal.

The story is very vague and has some ambiguous themes such as birth and decay. The main attraction for Scorn is the macabre atmosphere created through the soundscape and visuals. The sound is very well-done and conveys a constant sense of desolation and hopelessness. The artstyle is horrific in the best way; it’s heavily inspired by H. R. Giger (the artist behind the Alien franchise). The terrible biopunk aesthetic accomplished its goal in making me deeply uncomfortable.

Desolate environment

The actual gameplay, however, is the game’s greatest downfall. It flat out sucks. The game is technically a first-person shooter with puzzle elements but the shooting feels clunky and tedious. The puzzles are oftentimes unclear and one can spend a lot of time just traveling back and forth between the different puzzle sites. The game may have been better off by removing the shooting elements and allowing a faster speed of movement, so you can just run away and hide from enemies.

Clunky shooting gameplay

# Conclusion

An FPS that may have been better off without the shooting.

# Overall rating: 7.6

What does the rating mean?