Video Games

Scars Above Review – IGN

I felt a surge of excitement and fear as I took my first steps on the mysterious planet of Scars Above. That grotesque alien encounter soon turned out to be far more complicated than I expected. I had the impression that I was at the beginning of a grueling and nerve-wracking journey to do my best to survive at a degree. disappeared an hour or so after unlocking the first few of the vast arsenal of weapons.

The first section of Scars Above is subdued. You are introduced to the main character, Kate, his Dr. Ward, and the rest of the Space Science Crew, who are investigating strange objects in Earth’s orbit. After some silly chatter, puzzles, and explanations, you (barely) get to know the team and build your first device. This tool looks like a standard assault rifle found in most shooters, but with shock bullets. Then we hear an unnecessarily serious speech from the captain. This should be exciting, but it ends up being cheesy because of its delivery and timing. Wake up on the planet

Right after picking up an electric cutter, a basic melee weapon with the most boring attack pattern I’ve seen, I faced my first enemy. It’s kind of a spider that brings friends, but as long as you don’t have too many friends there’s really nothing wrong with it. It was the turn of the second type of creature. A mutated scorpion that normally hides in water. Coming out of nowhere startled me, then hit me with a venomous projectile. After dealing with the beast and its sidekick, I realized my life was still downhill thanks to my new stats. There was no way to fix this, and seconds later I found myself respawning at a checkpoint.

It will eventually become very powerful and offer little or no resistance.


Honestly, what initially felt unfair turned out to be the most important lesson I learned over the nine hours and six chapters of Scars Above. Your electric cutter is a joke – even with the charged attacks you can unlock, if you can successfully blow off an alien’s head with a headshot, it will always leave you exposed. This can be difficult in linear third-person shooters where you face faster monsters and small spaces with nowhere to run as you move through levels, but after the first few hours you probably don’t need anything . Combat tips. As soon as you craft and level up new guns and gadgets, you’ll eventually become very powerful and offer little to no resistance.

At its core, Scars Above’s weapons are the typical guns you’d expect from any type of shooter, but with a basic twist. A grenade launcher that freezes enemies and a shotgun that disintegrates them in acid. As you can imagine, these weapons can be used to chain attacks and generate elemental reactions that deal bonus his damage to anything that comes close. You can also use the environment to your advantage. Fire and acid bullets create powerful explosions, but shooting enemies standing on water with a grenade launcher freezes them faster. Some enemies have weaknesses in their bodies, representing the elements they want to shoot, color-coded orbs around the level, and effective explosive barrels that deal elemental damage.

The elemental damage system worked a little too well.


It’s a clever way to force you to constantly change weapons, thinking about what’s the best and most effective plan for what’s at hand. until I realized that the system was working too well. Most of the creatures in front of me could be crushed in a matter of seconds by utilizing any combination of elements I could think of, regardless of their strength or circumstances. By firing an orb, you have completely eradicated all threats around you.

If this isn’t enough of an advantage, Kate has the ability to create various gadgets. For example, a barrier that protects her with a few hits, or a gravity grenade that slows everything in that area for a few seconds. , or, among other things, holograms that feed on creatures. All of these are replenished using the same resource (batteries) crafted from resources found almost anywhere, or by replenishing inventory at any checkpoint. This is very useful and you will rarely run out of ammo or craft her resources, especially after you load up.

You will rarely run out of ammo or crafting resources.


What’s worse is that different gadgets that are fun and thoughtful when used individually become useless when stacked together. For example, you can basically spam gravity grenades to effectively get the exact effects and benefits of all other gadgets. When you find the , you can forget about dying.

Some regular enemies you discover later make things a little more interesting, like one beast that can teleport behind you, and a mushroom monster that blinds you. It was too late.

Even the bosses don’t stand out as challenges, except for the first one you encounter while crafting a basic gun. It comes with mechanics that constantly swap ammo and move around large arenas. I don’t. For example, breaking the surface your enemies are standing on is nothing new. It also doesn’t feel good when you can do it multiple times in a row without moving the boss or, if fast, shooting back. sufficient. The fact that some boss fights are repetitive doesn’t help the case either.

What’s so frustrating about all these issues is that Scars Above has moments of pure joy.


What’s so frustrating about all these issues is that Scars Above has moments of pure joy. When facing new creatures for the first time, it’s usually accompanied by moments of genuine surprise, and figuring out how to handle them can be fascinating. When you feel rewarded by understanding and feeling your own power, you will find satisfaction. And some of the later areas struck me with their scatological and repulsive (but in a good way) designs, at least when compared to the dull plains and boring swamps of the early stages. Not having a map is a good choice because you can follow your intuition to find your way without it being big or full of secret paths. It is surrounded by elements that lack depth and challenge.

Aside from fighting, you’ll spend time analyzing resources, clues left in the environment, and some very basic symbol-matching puzzles. The intention is to bring a scientific perspective, given the protagonist’s background. For example, you can hear what Kate thinks when scanning an unknown object. She approaches in true amazement how a creature’s digestive system works and wonders how the body evolved into that group of organs and functions.

Kate’s voice actor, Erin Yvette’s voice, feels fresh and embodies a character more concerned with discovering and understanding what’s around her in moments of calm. It’s a shame that there is no expression on her face in , creating an unintentionally hilarious contradiction between what we hear and what we see.

The objective of finding the rest of the crew is one of the main plot points, but it’s weak and lacks motivation due to the fact that we know nothing about them. I can’t say anything about any of the characters except that they are “scientists” and have cute cat toys in hoodies. The intended emotional moments don’t land and some of the transitions between scenes are incredibly abrupt, killing the pacing and built tension.

The same can be said for plots. Kate’s motives are clear, and he always knows why he’s doing what he’s doing, but it’s neither funny nor original. The world of Scars Above feels flat, with some cool alien designs here and there, but nothing quite like exploring every nook and cranny and finding every available audio his log. There are some cool ideas in the back of the story that I’m not going to spoil, but they’re either abandoned or never paid off in a big way.

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