Microsoft Scorn (Gigeresque first-person horror adventure, 21 October 2022) - reviews from OpenCritic posted

[Pikachu]

 

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Scorn is an atmospheric first-person horror adventure currently in development by Ebb Software for Xbox Series X and Windows PC.

http://www.scorn-game.com

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I backed this one on Kickstarter

[DPCyric]

The art direction is fantastic I just hope the gameplay is at least passable... however this is totally the type of thing I would really like to experience in VR 

[number305]

There was a playable demo of this on PC back in 17.

[number305]

 

From 2017 - Probably has progressed quite a bit since then.

[Xbob42]

I've been worried about this one for a while. Mainly because I remember hearing ads for it during podcasts that were incredibly vague.

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Scorn is an atmospheric first-person horror adventure currently in development by Ebb Software for Xbox Series X and Windows PC.

That's pretty much word for word the ad used in podcasts except it would also sometimes mention sound design, it was always so vague I wasn't even sure it was a game.

 

While that doesn't necessarily mean anything negative, I'd think of you had something worth talking about for so long... You'd have more to say after all this time.

[Keyser_Soze]

HR Giger made a game.

[Bloodporne]

9 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I've been worried about this one for a while. Mainly because I remember hearing ads for it during podcasts that were incredibly vague.

That's pretty much word for word the ad used in podcasts except it would also sometimes mention sound design, it was always so vague I wasn't even sure it was a game.

 

While that doesn't necessarily mean anything negative, I'd think of you had something worth talking about for so long... You'd have more to say after all this time.

While the art is obviously really impressive, this game has consisted of trailers and footage exclusively showcasing that and barely any gameplay whatsoever.

 

I want to be into this but I'm baffled there is yet another trailer showing...nothing. We know it looks unique, where is the game?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Mr.Vic20]

Looks like an aliens walking simulator where you occasionally shoot a worm penis monster. 8/10! 

[Bloodporne]

Continues to look like a cool tech demo and little else. Gameplay looks like dog poo. 

[Ghost_MH]

Looks like slower-paced Metroid Prime, only now I need to take a shower and make sure I'm up to date on all my shots.

 

I could be into this. I don't normally like FPS with a gamepad, but this one looks like it'll be fun on a TV.

[Dre801]

Agony 2.0

[Nokt]

50 minutes ago, Dre801 said:

Agony 2.0

I hope not. I didn’t even touch that game after playing the demo. Hoped it would get better on release and then saw the reviews

[Keyser_Soze]

6 hours ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Looks like an aliens walking simulator where you occasionally shoot a worm penis monster. 8/10! 

 

So it sounds like your life?

[Mr.Vic20]

2 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

So it sounds like your life?

More or less, yes! 
 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Keyser_Soze]

Right around the corner!

[Bloodporne]

They've been showing this for years, announce a release date and still show no gameplay. What they did show at one point looked like some on-rails tech demo shit. My money is on style-over-substance disaster but I'd love to be proven wrong just because I'd like to play a game full of Giger knockoff art.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

5 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

They've been showing this for years, announce a release date and still show no gameplay. What they did show at one point looked like some on-rails tech demo shit. My money is on style-over-substance disaster but I'd love to be proven wrong just because I'd like to play a game full of Giger knockoff art.

 

The project essentially had to be rebooted and most of the previous work scrapped

 

[Bloodporne]

2 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

The project essentially had to be rebooted and most of the previous work scrapped

 

Add that to my previous post of doom and gloom then cos that doesn't sound good either!

[Keyser_Soze]

21 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

They've been showing this for years, announce a release date and still show no gameplay.

 

I only recall seeing it one time. Deathloop is a game that was shown for "years"

[Bloodporne]

10 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I only recall seeing it one time. Deathloop is a game that was shown for "years"

I just checked, it was announced in late 2014 originally and even had a demo in 2017. I've seen screenshots and vague announcement videos for this game for years by now, that's why I said that. 

[HardAct]

   This was the game I replied to in the topic "What games have fallen off the radar?" So I was excited to not just see a release date 10/21/22 but Free on Gamepass day one too! long ways away though but excited non-the-less

 

Scorn, the Very Bloody Horror Game Inspired By H.R. Giger, Has a Release Date - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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Scorn, the new horror game developed by Ebb Software, will be out October 21. It will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.

 

[Dodger]

I hope the gameplay is good. Looks interesting in a very creepy kind of way.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[SoberChef]

That whole "start the game by freeing yourself from your umbilical cord" moment ... yeah that's not setting a creepy tone at all, whatsoever! Totally stoked to check this out in Oct. on Game Pass!

[Brick]

Really do hope this is good. Also hope the visuals don't get too repetitive, and lose their novelty after a while. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Brick]

 

 

[jaethos]

I knew this game was gross for the sake of being gross, but that deformed person thing used as part of the door puzzle was on a different level. 

 

I'm going to try this game, since it's on gamepass, but I have no idea how long I'll be able to play it.

[Bloodporne]

Still looks cool visually and also boring as hell gameplay-wise. Looks like a lot of really slow walking and really slow opening of doors so you positively have to drink in every detail of the visuals.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Scorn's gross meat palace isn't that scary, but its writhing mass of hardcore puzzles did put the fear in me

WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM

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At this year's Gamescom we got hands-on with survival horror game Scorn and came away impressed with its grisly architecture and a puzzle-induced headache.

 

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Of all the games I sampled at this year's Gamescom, Scorn surprised me the most. For whatever reason, I was expecting this survival horror adventure to ditch spookiness for kookiness, perhaps rattling my bones with hyper-violence and monsoons of crimson.

 

Nope - the game wasn't what I expected at all. At least, not the 45-minute portion I got to play. Rather, my demo was more of a hardcore puzzler with some exploration elements and the teeniest smattering of action. Don't get me wrong, it was still unsettling and grotesque! Just in more of a brain-training way, if the brain-training was for MIT graduates, or like, the human calculators on University Challenge.

 

Right at the start of the demo, my character – an unfortunate body model – awoke from his slumber and peeled himself from a prison of tubes and bones. He then crawled forwards towards a large pylon of meat as flashbacks of another less meaty tower obscured by a raging sandstorm flickered into view. All went quiet after that rush of noise, and I continued to amble through an eerie facility and, err, take in the sights.

 

At least in the portion of the game I played, Scorn's flavour of gross wasn't all flailing limbs and spurts of gunk from walls of screaming heads. And it certainly wasn't scatological, as surfaces seemed mercifully clean of poo and/or wee. To me, it seemed to be aiming for a more understated body horror where flesh met machine. Or, to put it another way, where each room and corridor felt like a splayed open cyborg. It wasn't scary per se, but its architecture was unsettling, closely resembling what I'd imagine a space station would look like if a jar of wrinkled dates, a ruptured achilles tendon, and Siri worked on a group project together.

 

 

 

Scorn Looks Like Giger, But Might Play Like The Witness - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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After an hour of its blank, cerebral puzzling, Scorn feels as though it teeters on the gunk-covered ledge between “intriguingly disturbing” and “willfully grotesque.”

 

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Scorn feels as though it teeters on the gunk-covered ledge between “intriguingly disturbing” and “willfully grotesque.” In the hour or so I play of the the game – its completely tutorial-less opening section – I’m introduced to a truly unpleasant biotechnological setting, shown how its many opaque puzzles will link together to form neat chains of wordless storytelling, and gently repulsed by it occasionally pushing beyond its Giger-indebted fleshscape and into less impressive straight body horror.

 

The core of Scorn is in its puzzles. It may play from the perspective of an FPS, and occasionally offers you what look like weapons, but this is a cerebral game at its core. Opening with your mysterious main character literally ripping themselves out of its seemingly living landscape, Scorn gives no on screen indication of what to do, or how anything works, leaving you to trudge the gently undulating corridors of its world, occasionally sticking your hands into horrible contraptions just to see what happens.

 

To Scorn’s credit, this self-directed approach works well. Quickly, you’re given (well, violently implanted with) equipment that allows you to manipulate biotech machinery, leaving you to try and work out what the hell any of it is for. The player’s then drawn to a single puzzle - unlock this big door - that you slowly realize is, in fact, made up of multiple smaller puzzles that must be chained together.

 

 

 

Scorn is so gruesome it's infiltrated my real-life dreams | GamesRadar+

WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM

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Horror adventure game Scorn is one of the darkest, weirdest, most unsettling horror games I've ever played

 

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Scorn, as Ebb Software has stated on a number of occasions, does not hold your hand, like, at all. No glowing beacons, no tutorials, nada. And so, while it was establishing itself early doors, I found myself wandering around its ghastly but admittedly gorgeous corridors – composed of skeletal stairways, walls that looked like they were adorned with stretched-skin, and the most hideous flesh-like contraptions that sounded positively hideous; activated by shoving your arms deep within them – pretty aimlessly, as I sought to learn the ropes. 

 

Despite the controls menu noting words like 'fire' and 'aim', I spent the first half-hour of my time messing with disgusting gadgets and wrestling with head-scratching puzzles. One of these involved operating a huge robotic arm to shuffle stone balls around a wall-mounted board, akin to the sliding tile puzzles we might have found in our Christmas stockings as kids. Upon completion, I released a prisoner partially encased in one of the said stone balls, before using a different contraption to shove him into a train cart and crush his skull. Shortly after that, and I'd ripped his right arm from his body, equipped the bloodied limb with a special amulet, and used the severed appendage to open a mechanical gate and access a once inaccessible area. Only once there, did I finally pick up a gun.

 

 

 

I played Scorn and I'm still sick to my stomach a month later | Digital Trends

WWW.DIGITALTRENDS.COM

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We played 45 minutes of Scorn, a grotesque horror game that's not for those with weak stomachs.

 

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Based on my 45 minutes with the game, that level of immersion is Scorn’s key trick. The grotesque psychological horror game transports players to one of the most uncomfortable locales I’ve ever experienced in a game. It’s like someone got into the darkest corner of H.R. Geiger’s mind and brought it to life.

 

I’m already seeing both pros and cons of the all-encompassing nature of Scorn. While my time with it was genuinely harrowing thanks to gnarly body horror that would make David Cronenberg wince, I found myself walking around in circles trying to solve the world’s esoteric objectives. It’s a level of give-and-take that makes Scorn feel more puzzling than terrifying.

 

In terms of atmosphere, Scorn is already unforgettable (and that’ll be good or bad depending on your stomach). It’s hard to really describe many of the game’s sights as they feel too otherworldly to name. It’s a creepy combination of the organic and mechanical, like a structure made out of deconstructed bodies but caked in layers of rust and dust. There’s very little music during my session, with atmospheric hums filling the eerily silent space. I might have fallen asleep if the visuals weren’t so nauseating.

 

 

 

Scorn Preview: Gross But in a Good Way

GAMERANT.COM

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Scorn's prologue sets a tone that is unnerving and disturbing, but it's the game's approach to horror that is most surprising.

 

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After playing the 45-minute prologue of Scorn, it’s clear that Ebb Software is not trying to make an explicitly horror game. Elements that typify the genre like jump scares, funhouse-style gags, and violent combat are not a key part of Scorn, or at least in its opening moments. The developers made it a point to say that Scorn bucks those typical horror trends in favor of a more puzzle-focused experience.

 

And the puzzles in Scorn are complex enough to require players to think, but well communicated through the game’s design. Because the game has a very minimalist HUD (usually only an interact icon is on-screen when necessary), Scorn players will need to search their surroundings for solutions. In that 45-minute chunk, there wasn’t any puzzle that was confusing, but they are involved enough that players will need to find the first step in the order of operations. For example, an alien “crane” can’t grab an item before it is first lined up perfectly using a different terminal. Some of the puzzles were clever in terms of their mechanics and at least one was downright shocking when its conclusion becomes clear.

 

 

 

Scorn preview: Xbox’s most “disgusting and mysterious” game

FTW.USATODAY.COM

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Scorn is one of the most distinctive and mysterious games we’ve seen in a while.

 

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It feels truly alien, even from a game design perspective. There are no telling flickering lights to lead you down the ideal hallway, it’s a truly unknowable space. On the one hand, this level of hands-off exploration can be incredibly engaging, and each revelation can feel like a huge achievement. On the other hand, you need to aimlessly navigate interconnected and identical corridors in order to get to that huge achievement.

 

One puzzle sees you complete a block puzzle, grabbing an egg with a claw, and then revealing a half-formed humanoid still fused with the shell. Eggs hatch. That’s the way things are in the natural world. Scorn’s world is violently unnatural, therefore, you take the alien creature out of its egg with something like an ice cream scoop. It’s gory and more than a bit gross. Most of the creature is thrown into a garbage chute, while a severed arm is left behind and can be used to open up a door to progress even further. Lovely.

 

 

 

Scorn might be a great Alien game, but more scares please | PCGamesN

WWW.PCGAMESN.COM

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Scorn delivers glorp, slorp, and some taxing puzzles, but while its art direction calls Alien and Beksiński to mind, it could use a bit more fear

 

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Everything is intentionally alien and abstract. There’s no narration, no obvious direction, and almost no UI, so you have to slow down and really look around the environment for clues on what to do next. It all works perfectly, immersing you in the horrifying surroundings without letting you get properly lost.

 

The puzzles themselves are a bit clumsier. The main goal is to get past a massive gate, which can only be opened by using two control panels on opposite sides of the room – so you need another person and you’re in a person-making factory. Having just witnessed your own birth, you know that the first step is to go and get an egg from the giant egg chamber. To do this, you’ve got to move various clusters of eggs around a grid so that the ‘living’ egg is within reach of a crane. It’s a simple matter of shifting the bigger, bulkier clusters to the back of the grid so you can manoeuvre the correct egg through the narrow, congested path that leads to the crane.

 

I start out by shifting a few eggs around to learn how the puzzle works and if there are any hidden limitations. However, those few, seemingly harmless movements make the matter of actually solving the puzzle so difficult that a developer – who presumably knows the solution and how to get there like the back of their hands – steps in and spends a few minutes frantically solving it. I dread to think how long I would have been stuck there trying to figure it out, which is frustrating because it’s a really simple, albeit arduous task.

 

 

 

'Scorn' doesn’t demo well, but that’s a good thing

WWW.NME.COM

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Ebb Software’s Beksiński-inspired bonanza 'Scorn' is a violently repulsive feast for the eyes and the fingers.

 

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As for what you’re meant to do with all of these terrible tools, Scorn keeps its warped lips tightly shut. The game is non-linear by design – you’re meant to feel lost and trapped here, so don’t expect any sort of handholding. This suits the ambition of the experience, which trades in terror and gristly, confusing puzzles. It also means that it’s a challenging game to demo, sadly. When there’s a very strict time limit between you and the next journalist in the schedule, trying to make the most of a non-linear game like Scorn is hard. I wanted to appreciate it rather than rush through it, but even though I did my best to gawp and ponder its horrid brilliance, the looming pressure of seeing it all in the time allotted definitely impacted my experience in an unfortunate way.

 

The main crux of my demo involved methodically interacting with outlets and inputs to open doors, but it took a sharp turn for the obscene when I entered a dome-like area with a central pillar and a circular, suspiciously empty cart track. Soon after, I discovered another area with a bunch of crunchy-looking carapaces on the wall. After organising them in some sort of strange game of sour flesh Puyo Puyo, you use a piston to crack and pull it to the floor, revealing that there was a writhing humanoid inside.

 

Now wailing, you have to use what can only be described as a cartilage trebuchet to deposit the long-limbed little guy into the previously vacant mine cart before peering into a void pool to pivot the train tracks and then taking them to their next torture station. Along the way, you blast it with hot gas — for no apparent reason, because existence is pain, I guess? — and then use a saw and a stone machine shaped like a fingernail to kill it and scrape it out of its shell, like a helpless snail.

 

 

 

Scorn is the squishiest game I have ever played and I am all for it

WWW.THESIXTHAXIS.COM

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Delve into the alien world of Scorn, a deeply strange feeling, and squishy game that embraces the latent horror of H.R. Giger's iconic art.

 

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First things first, Scorn is not a game for the squeamish. Everything in the game slithers and oozes with a slimy viscosity that inevitably makes you feel uncomfortable. This may sound hyperbolic, but it is easily the most icky game I have had the pleasure of playing (and that’s a compliment!). I find myself debating whether a VR mod would be the greatest thing ever or something that I might never recover from playing…

 

Alongside the very moist and squishy look and feel of the game, the audio also consists of the kind of foley work that must have brought doom to a whole greengrocer’s worth of vegetables. Any misopohonia sufferers would probably want to avoid Scorn, or at least turn the volume down whilst playing. The music accompanying this is lowkey and mostly consists of an unsettling drone, although I would hope for more variety in the full game.

 

There wasn’t much in the way of narrative on show here, but the game’s intent is to focus on creating an unsettling air of mystery and uncertainty. The very beginning opens up directly from the main menu as a disturbingly human shaped lump of flesh embedded into the floor takes form and opens its eyes. This homunculus turns out to be you and the scene oscillates between an arid desert wasteland and the alien building/craft you find yourself in as you drag yourself forward by your fingertips.

 

The effect here is one of complete confusion as any sense of normality or certainty is ripped from you. Even after having played the opening section I have no clear idea where the story is Scorn is going or even what the overarching narrative is. This may sound like a criticism but, on the contrary, I am all in favour of more ambiguity in gaming narratives. From the way Ebb Software described the game to us before I got to play, Scorn is less about escaping this world and more about finding a place and purpose within it. It’s a game that will leave you with questions.

 

 

[Brian]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Game Information

Game Title: Scorn

 

Platforms:

• Xbox One (Oct 14, 2022)
• PC (Oct 14, 2022)
  

 

Developer: Ebb Software

Publisher: Kepler Interactive

 

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 71 average - 49% recommended

 

Critic Reviews

Attack of the Fanboy - 5 / 5

Scorn is a special experience for anybody looking to have their expectations subverted for what a good horror game can be. It is a gory, surreal, provocative dive into difficult or even taboo topics, and is wonderfully crafted, and near perfectly optimized. The game's themes and visuals are challenging and extremely mature, but executed with great subtlety. The game is a technical marvel and concise as any horror game should be, so as to not overstay its welcome.

Capsule Computers - 9 / 10

A masterclass in world-building and tension. A horror game that relies more on the proper atmosphere rather than cheap jump scares

Gaming Nexus - 9 / 10

Full of body horror and psychotically twisted imagery, players will have a variety of reactions to Scorn, but they are unlikely to be bored. While the game's world building and puzzle design are top-notch, the combat and a punitive checkpoint system may turn some players off. Regardless, the big swing by developer Ebb Software definitely pays off. There are no other games on the market quite like Scorn.

WellPlayed - 9 / 10

Scorn is a feast for the eyes, a buffet for the mind but not for those of a weak stomach. It satisfies the morbid and the curious with its odd forms and sombre tapestries.

Everyeye.it - Italian - 8.8 / 10

If you are a fan of extreme horror, you should really try Scorn.

SECTOR.sk - Slovak - 8.5 / 10

Scorn is a unique and high-quality video game horror that doesn't try to jump-scare you in the first place, but builds an exciting atmosphere that you'll love to dive into again and again.

Spaziogames - Italian - 8.5 / 10

Scorn is a brilliant piece of dark art that knows how to praise Giger and Cronenberg fans. It's a modern and decadent tale about the endless suffering in our empty and useless lives.

But Why Tho? - 8 / 10

Scorn is a survival horror shooter puzzle game and it uses each of those elements in its own mold.

EGM - 4 / 5

Scorn is a daring aesthetic experiment in virtual, interactive science fiction. Taking inspiration from the art of H.R. Giger and Zdzislaw Beksiński, developer Ebb Software seems hellbent on giving its players a surreal, nightmarish experience, and it mostly succeeds. While combat can feel like a secondary concern, Scorn's puzzles provide just enough challenge to keep the game from feeling like a "walking simulator." Really, though, the main attraction is Scorn's compelling world, a fully realized artistic vision that will haunt you for days after experiencing it.

GamesHub - 4 / 5

I certainly don’t enjoy Scorn in the way that I do most video games. The thought of revisiting its monstrous world makes me feel ill. But I respect Scorn for its technical artistry, design and environmental world-building that successfully encourages player agency, and how strong and cohesive it feels in its overall creative vision, despite its mentally and physically taxing nature.

Guardian - 4 / 5

An evocative work of art but the things the game evokes are so unpleasant players might need to ration the lengths of their sessions

Hobby Consolas - Spanish - 80 / 100

It is likely that many do not agree with its mechanics, but its visual impact is so powerful that it is impossible not to recommend it. Scorn is so disturbing that you're going to want to look away and so overwhelming that you're going to be able to stop looking at us. It's as if a macabre mind's nightmare has become a video game.

IGN Italy - Italian - 8 / 10

Scorn, with its mix of puzzles, horror, monsters and exploration, is a unique and alienating experience that you'll love or hate.

Kakuchopurei - 80 / 100

Scorn is certainly not for the squeamish or those not familiar with body horror, I can tell you that. However, if you're into Cronenberg and body horror, you'll love Scorn. Scorn is best experienced with no prior knowledge or tips because that's how a game like Scorn is meant to be experienced.

PC Gamer - 80 / 100

Checkpoint woes and a short runtime couldn't keep this body horror sci-fi game from burrowing into my skull.

TheGamer - 4 / 5

Scorn is a hard game to pin down, but it’s one I can’t help but recommend. It’s disgustingly alluring in its visual execution, with each new location bringing with it a waterfall of questions as you poke, prod, and cower at every discovery. This ambition of being artsy and cryptic can hold it back at points, but there’s something fiercely admirable in its artistic vision that few games in the genre are able to match. This is a tragic horror of Lovecraftian proportions, and one that really must be seen to be believed.

Tom's Hardware Italia - Italian - 8 / 10

Scorn was intended to be an extremely impactful experience, capable of transporting the player into a world that is, in its own way, astonishing.

Twinfinite - 4 / 5

Overall, I would very highly recommend Scorn to fans of both horror and puzzle games. It definitely stands out in both genres as unique, and its challenges will keep you thinking constantly. It is also a game worth checking out if you are a fan of the Alien series or anything biopunk. The art alone was enough for me to immediately wishlist it. While the lack of dialogue did at times feel upsetting, possibly because I myself am a writer at heart, it definitely did add to the creepiness of the atmosphere. With more dialogue, it is very likely that my immersion would have been broken, or at the least, paused. If you think that you have the guts to be surrounded by guts, grab Scorn now on PC or Xbox.

VG247 - 4 / 5

In truth, Scorn doesn’t tell a particularly fascinating story, but it hardly matters; the way in which it’s told is done to perfection, and provides an incredibly refreshing horror experience that truly gets under your skin.

Gamersky - Chinese - 7.9 / 10

Scorn is a mind-blowing experience that will satisfy the eyes of thrill-seekers. But walking through such a flesh and blood maze, only visually experience is not enough. The gameplay and art are supposed to complement each other.  I wonder if Scorn is held back by the mediocre gameplay or is too high by the impressive art - its poor bones can hardly hold up its entire core experience, which eventually leads to a discrepancy between the exterior and the interior.

COGconnected - 75 / 100

It’s hard not to admire developer Ebb’s commitment to a bleak and violent biomechanical world. No game has ever nailed the style of Giger quite so precisely and consistently. Scorn is genuinely disturbing in the way of an unsettling nightmare, but even unrelenting tension eventually loses impact. Its puzzles and exploration sometimes feel arbitrary and needlessly obtuse. Ebb might not care if I waste time getting lost or missing important clues, but Scorn’s rewards aren’t always worth the effort. Scorn is a darkly beautiful vision but just not much fun to play.

Press Start - 7.5 / 10

Scorn successfully leverages an intense atmosphere with striking artistic direction to offer a horror journey like no other. While combat can get in the way of an otherwise strong offering, and the story takes a back seat to everything else, Scorn is a unique horror experience and a great debut.

The Games Machine - Italian - 7.3 / 10

Scorn is a half-won bet: aesthetically beautiful, with clear references to Giger's art, but all the substance and game mechanics are barely sketched.

GameSkinny - 7 / 10

A remarkable, vital piece of art that both transcends and is blemished by shortcomings specific to the medium of video games.

Gamer Escape - 7 / 10

Which is exactly why it pains me to remember that Scorn was a long time coming, and while the visuals suffer nothing for it, the mechanical design of the game at large feels outdated and incongruous with its aesthetic triumphs. Despite a solid (if somewhat superficial) iteration of survival horror mechanics, the lack of enemy variety and an archaic checkpoint system guarantee multiple spots of unnecessary frustration.

These sections end up being little more than forced time away from the game’s proper strengths of puzzles and atmosphere. Scorn is still a journey worth taking for its appearance and environments alone, but I would have traded away every single repetitive combat encounter for just one more puzzle to sink my teeth into.

GamesRadar+ - 3.5 / 5

Scorn works wonders with Giger's and Beksiński's artwork, not only in terms of aesthetic fidelity but in creating a world that's utterly strange to exist in. This is a violent, painful, but fascinating place, thick with symbolism and interlocking puzzles that hint at some terrifying grand design. While it can be overly obscure and frustrating, especially in combat, Scorn serves up one hell of a journey.

IGN - 7 / 10

Scorn is a relentlessly unsettling delve into a surreal, macabre world of alien mystery, but the scariest thing about it is the dreadful combat.

GamePro - German - 69 / 100

Unconventional experience in an impressive H.R. Giger world that shoots itself in the leg with superfluous shooter mechanics.

Stevivor - 6.5 / 10

Scorn isn't necessarily scary, but it is gross and uncomfortable. You may not like what's on the screen, but there's no denying that Ebb has thought long and hard about the world it's presenting and has succeeded in creating a cohesive and fully-formed offering.

Xbox Achievements - 65%

As far as horror games that ape the works of H.R. Giger are concerned, Scorn is certainly one of the most interesting examples around, and many of its puzzles are nicely executed. However, crappy combat cramps Scorn’s style, while the unrelenting bleakness of the thing will leave you feeling deflated.

Game Revolution - 6 / 10

Scorn is arguably worth playing for the visuals alone. We’re rarely transported to somewhere truly alien in games, and it’s something I’m glad I experienced. However, it’s more of a theme park ride than a genuinely immersive experience. That’s fine, but with a little more complexity and refinement outside of the artwork, it could have been something extraordinary.

Gamepur - 6 / 10

For every vomit-inducing scene of body horror, you’ll also lose your lunch at the game’s technical and design issues. Like the creature and the protagonist, it just feels as if Scorn is fighting against itself at every step along the way.

LevelUp - Spanish - 6 / 10

An atmospheric experience more than a game itself, Scorn is a desolate travel reminiscent of old school adventure games like Myst.

Thumbsticks - 3 / 5

Most video games that model themselves on H.R. Giger's biomechanical monstrosities are purely aesthetic. Scorn wears its influences not on its sleeves, but inside them; a mass of ooze and darkness and gnarly, desiccated things; a grimly singular puzzle, but perhaps one that didn't need the combat to deliver its horrors home.

Digital Trends - 2.5 / 5

Scorn impresses as a visual tribute to H. R. Giger, but half-formed gameplay hurt its horror more than it helps.

Gameblog - French - 5 / 10

Scorn is a game with a terrific art direction that is directly inspired by the creator of Alien, H.R Giger, but also the works of David Cronenberg. An incredible ode to Hans Ruedi Giger that fails on every other level. Combats aren't good and necessary, and puzzles are too often base on the same mecanic. A VR version could have made the ride perhaps less tedious.

TechRaptor - 4.5 / 10

Scorn is aesthetically impressive and sets a tone early on. Unfortunately there's nothing more to back up this experience as plot is non-existent and puzzles are linear.

GameSpot - 4 / 10

Scorn's frustrating combat, unbalanced puzzles, and unforgiving checkpoints make it an infuriating slog through an otherwise intriguing setting.

VGC - 2 / 5

Scorn has one of the most beautiful worlds you'll see in a game (if you can see beauty in the grotesque). It's just a shame that world is also home to a frustrating puzzle-heavy adventure filled with aimless wandering.

XboxEra - 4 / 10

I have enjoyed some action-adventure horror games out there. Limited ammo and health reserves can be a great tool for upping the tension and a great story helps make it worth seeing things through.  Scorn has none of that. It is bland, boring, plays poorly, and excels in no areas.

Game Rant - 1 / 5

It should be pointed out that Scorn is a day one Xbox Game Pass game, and that is really the only way to justify playing it. Otherwise, Scorn is an experience that even the most diehard horror game fans should skip.

ACG - Wait for Sale

Video Review - Quote not available

Eurogamer - No Recommendation

In Scorn, a game of wonderfully horrible atmosphere and smart, hands-off puzzling is undermined by some dodgy checkpoints and wonky combat.

Polygon - Unscored

By the time the parasite does finally obstruct your ability to use machines or change weapons, the damage is already done. There are few enemies left and the game is almost over, so whatever additional tension might have resulted from these restrictions never materializes. Scorn is a transportive experience to be sure, at times a genuine masterwork of visual craft. But the unfulfilled possibilities linger a little too prominently, a reminder that it falls short of being a mechanical masterpiece, too.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Unscored

Scorn's dreadful bio-mechanical world is a fantastic example of horror design and level design alike, but its lovely mess of flesh is let down by messier combat.

Skill Up - Unscored

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VG247 - Unscored

Scorn is an exercise in environmental storytelling, eschewing cutscenes and exposition in favour of simply letting the player piece things together for themselves. It doesn't provide all the answers, leaving much of its deeper meaning wide open to interpretation: and it's all the more compelling as a result.

Washington Post - Unscored

“Scorn” is an art house experience. I’m sure that other reviewers will plumb “Scorn” for its hidden high-minded commentary on the human condition, but for me, the appeal of the game is how it made me feel rather than think. I felt a constant, humming anxiety for simply existing in its macabre world. I was never particularly scared of anything I encountered; like the playable creature, I just wanted out.

gameranx - Unscored

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