![]() ![]() While Scorn is billed as a horror title, it’s far more a ponderous and mood-led piece than most other examples of the genre. But for all of its experimental leanings and bucking of established forms and conventions in the medium, Scorn is still very much a game, and ultimately, unfortunately, to its detriment. Despite the narrative silence, a subtle game this is not. Weapons thrust and pulse, and you’ll insert your limbs and digits into a huge number of fleshy holes that serve as switches or input devices for machinery before the credits roll. ![]() Sex, birth, life, and death loom large here, and these themes feed into the design ethos of both environment and equipment. A window’s shutters can look like the chitin of a beetle’s shell, spines appear to hold up the ceiling in places, and there’s a glut of more, shall we say, explicit references, as well. Each component part of the decaying, biomechanical world is highly stylized and often recognizably of-Earth despite its distinct capital-A Alien flavor. The level of detail on display is astonishing, to be perfectly honest – there’s not a wasted pixel across Scorn’s handful of biomes, spanning a multitude of dank, labyrinthine buildings peppered with the occasional bit of out-of-doors. And it is absolutely a marriage of these artistic approaches – perhaps owing a little to earlier surrealists such as Alfred Kubin, too – and has been realized and executed par excellence. The Giger counter on Google Trends must be absolutely off the charts right now – Scorn’s promo art is even served as a top result for a search of the Swiss artist, evocatively name-dropped in press release and review alike, alongside ZdzisÅaw BeksiÅski’s otherworldly visions. It’s all the better for it, too, as you’ll be dying to see every last inch of this immaculately detailed living gallery that Ebb has created. There is a minimal HUD here, too – it surfaces when absolutely vital to do so, displaying a few key details, such as your remaining health, before scurrying away to leave your eyeline of Scorn’s world unbroken. Though this, of course, is told in the game’s own language of viscera and must first be deciphered. Don’t be like me and realize you have an approximation of an inventory screen as you’re nearing the end. My advice? Memorize the control scheme in the pause menu from the off, and try each command whenever the next esoteric grotesquerie finds its way into your possession. There is, in fact, not a single word present outside of the game’s menus, written or spoken. And this stark message tells you all you need to know going into Scorn you will get no commands or directives, the systems and controls will not be explained, and there will be no conveniently exposition-heavy conversations either now nor towards the game’s climax. ![]()
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