TEST Scorn: journey to the end of horror

After years of waiting, Ebb Software finally delivers Scornan atmospheric first-person horror game that stood out when it was announced thanks to its environments inspired by the works of Hans Ruedi Giger, a Swiss artist famous for his “biomechanical” style and creator of the Xenomorph in the movies Alien. As saying that the trip promised dantesque sensations, but Scorn is very imperfect.

Scorn is disgusting and that is a very good thing.

The player here embodies a man, or at least a humanoid being who wakes up in a totally unknown place, with a horror science fiction atmosphere. The walls are unlike anything known on Earth, heaps of organic and mechanical elements, flesh is scattered everywhere and there is an oppressive atmosphere, the player can almost smell the smell of blood behind his screen. Throughout his adventure, Scorn disgusts and that’s a very good thing. Ebb Software did not hold back and offers here a true tribute to the creations of HR Giger, with horribly fascinating decorations, taking us into an unknown world in the pure line ofAlien, the eighth passenger by Ridley Scott.

The biomechanical environment is a pleasure to explore, at once harrowing, disturbing and captivating, the textures ooze, a misty veil sometimes invades the room, blood makes up the nooks and emaciated bodies add an even more horrifying touch. It must however be recognized that the inspiration of the Swiss artist is a little too present, to the point that Scorn could be an official license game Alien/Prometheus, there are also many nods to these films, without the game’s artists having added their own touch to the whole. The only other elements not reminiscent of HR Giger echo other works, such as the body horror typical of David Cronenberg, with organic weapons in the pure spirit ofeXistenZ or bloody, chubby bodies reminiscent of Peter Jackson films (era bad taste and Brain Dead). A mixture of logical influences, which works terribly well and which haunts the players over the course of the adventure, pushing him to advance in the game to discover new visual craziness. It’s a pity that the soundscape is so set back, offering only slight atmospheric pads without any real impact.

Scorn is therefore a game that gives pride of place to exploration, with quite labyrinthine areas and some interactive elements to solve puzzles. Puzzles that can recall Myst, in a completely different atmosphere of course, even if the regulars of the genre will have no trouble overcoming it. Most of the puzzles simply ask you to explore these oppressive corridors to find objects, modify them in grotesque and bloody ways and use them in another place to progress through the level. Some puzzles are still a little more complex, posing the player in front of a fixed puzzle, but by groping more or less long, the solution ends up appearing (sometimes a little randomly). The main interest is to find out what horrible ideas the developers had to stage these puzzles, often asking to perform bloody actions on deformed beings, but visibly still alive and in full pain. Yes, even to complete a simple puzzle, you have to have a strong heart while playing Scornthe title is not to put in all hands, the uninitiated in horrific and gore works will quickly be shocked.

Unfortunately, between two enigmas, the developers had the bad idea to put enemieswhich looks a lot less inspired than the environments (which makes sense in the lore, we will come back to this). Purely organic monsters, not looking like much and spinning around in circles. A crawling creature spitting poison, another smaller one capable of shooting balls of blood (and which looks like a mix between a chicken and the SCP-173) and an ultra-resistant colossus capable of charging the player, you have there almost all of the bestiary of Scorn.

Scorn does not try to tell a story a little boat, it’s the sets that speak here.

Ugly critters, but not in a good way, resulting in heavy, soft and winded clashes. Scorn is a survival game, the player is first equipped with a piston weapon (like the mouth of the Xenomorph) striking hard in melee, but with a huge cooldown after two hits. It is thus necessary to strike twice by crossing the fingers to avoid the enemy blow, to flee the time that the weapon reloads with a long cool down and return to the assault, sometimes several times depending on the enemy. Fortunately, over the course of the adventure, three other weapons are unlocked, including a pistol and a kind of shotgun, organic weapons with a particularly neat and successful design, but ammo is so scarce that the player avoids using it too often. Moreover, to recover balls and health, you have to find distributors in the levels, again ultra neat objects with a design that perfectly matches the overall atmosphere, fascinating and off-putting at the same time. Scorn is divided into large areas, allow about five hours to get to the end of the gameif you manage not to crack in front of the penultimate area full of enemies and not very exciting, but the end of the adventure is clearly worth the detour for its crazy artistic side… a little less for its story.

Yes, let’s tackle the scenario of Scorn, or rather the absence of a scenario. The game ofEbb Software immerses the player in this unknown world without any indication and, throughout the adventure, no text or no reply is heard. Players are free to explore environments and pay attention to detail to try to figure out where they are and what is (or has been) happening here. Well, you still have to have a lot of imagination, but at least, Scorn does not try to tell a story a little boat, it is the decorations that speak here, you have to be sensitive to science fiction and agree not to really understand everything that is coloring before your eyes, otherwise you will be frustrated. There is all the same a common thread throughout the adventure, difficult to speak of scenario, but at least, it fits perfectly into the lore and the gameplay so as not to offend, while creating empathy for the character controlled by the player.

At first glance, with its fanciful and horrifying die-hard art direction, Scorn had something to remember Agonytitle of Madmind Studio which literally took us to Hell and which turned out to be pretty bad. Rest assured, Scorn is much better. Technically already, the title ofEbb Software looks great on a gaming PC Cybertek Level 9, with neat textures, rich in detail and nice smoky effects. We didn’t encounter any technical issues, except for small collision errors, but overall the game rolls out the red carpet for the player, perhaps a little too much. The puzzles are quite approachable for regulars of the genre and the fights are rarely punitive, returning the dead player to an autosave point. Sometimes a bit far, but when he knows what to do, he quickly returns to where he was, to start this confrontation again… slow and not very exciting. It’s really the big downside of Scorn, his fights are to be forgotten and fail to create real tension (besides, the game is not really scary). A walking simulator in scenery Gigerians would have almost been desirable, because in the end, the game is worth the detour essentially for that. If you like horror, gore, body horrorthe grotesque biomechanical creations, Scorn is damn worth the detour as games going to the end of their artistic ideas are rare. If you’re just looking for tricky puzzles or action, move on.

Scorn is available on PC and Xbox Series X|S as well as in the Game Pass, you can find it against €35.99 on GOG.com.

Clint008 Writer – Tester