Scorn

About Scorn

Scorn was made by Ebb Software and published by Kepler Interactive. It was announced in 2014, after a Kickstarter campaign that failed, and came out on 14 October 2022 for Windows and Xbox Series X|S, then on PlayStation 5 on 3 October 2023. Its look draws on the art of H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński, and the Deluxe Edition adds the soundtrack by Aethek and Lustmord and a 192-page artbook.

The game is built around the idea of being thrown into the world. You wake in a vast structure of bone, tissue and metal and are told nothing. Every region is a maze of rooms and paths with its own puzzles, usually machines you operate by hand: levers that are tendons, locks that need a living key, carts on rails that must be routed. The makers call this full body awareness: you pick things up with your hands and grab the controls of each machine. All the storytelling happens through what you see, and the game will not help you if you miss something.

Combat is deliberately awkward and rare. Your weapons are organic tools with very little ammunition, so every encounter makes you ask whether it is worth fighting at all, and some of the creatures are easier to avoid. The real enemy is the place: its scale, its wet sounds and the growing sense that your own body is changing.

Critics were split, with a Metacritic score of 70: its art and atmosphere were praised and its combat criticised. Players on Steam rate it higher. It suits players who want to be unsettled by a world, rather than chased through one. It is sold on Steam, the Epic Games Store, GOG (DRM-free), the PlayStation Store and Xbox, where it can also be played through the cloud with Game Pass.

How to play Scorn

1. Explore each region on foot and look closely at every machine and doorway; nothing is explained.
2. Operate machines by hand to solve the region's puzzle and open the way forward.
3. Use your organic weapons sparingly; ammunition is scarce, so avoid fights you do not need.
4. Heal at the stations you find and manage your small inventory before entering new areas.

Tips

• If you are stuck, go back to rooms you have seen; the solution is usually a machine you passed.
• Save ammunition for the creatures that block your path rather than ones you can walk around.
• Play with headphones; sounds tell you where creatures are.

Questions