Scars Above Review Summary

Enjoyable and Engaging Experience: Players found the game to be highly enjoyable, fun, and entertaining, often exceeding expectations, especially when purchased on sale. The game's length was frequently praised as 'just right,' preventing it from overstaying its welcome and offering a refreshing change from longer AAA titles. Many considered it a 'hidden gem' or 'underrated' title.

Stunning Visuals and Atmosphere: The game's graphics, environments, and overall atmosphere received high marks. Players described the visuals as beautiful, atmospheric, and immersive, creating a compelling sci-fi world. The sound design and soundtrack further enhanced this immersion, often drawing comparisons to titles like Mass Effect and Alien.

Unique Elemental Combat System: The combat system, featuring four elemental weapon types (electricity, fire, ice, corrosion) and various gadgets, was a major highlight. Players enjoyed the strategic depth, requiring them to exploit enemy weaknesses, combine elements, and utilize the environment. This system made combat feel like a puzzle and kept encounters fresh and engaging.

Captivating Sci-Fi Story & Lore: The game's story was consistently praised as interesting, intriguing, and captivating, often with a strong scientific and psychological horror bent. Players appreciated the unique premise, the well-paced narrative, and the rich lore that kept them engaged and eager to discover more. Many expressed a desire for a sequel.

Accessible Difficulty & Progression: The game offers multiple difficulty settings, making it accessible to both casual players and those seeking a challenge. Many found the medium difficulty to be balanced, while the easiest setting allowed for a more story-focused experience. Character and weapon upgrade systems were also well-received, making progression feel rewarding.

Mediocre and Unpolished Gameplay: Players frequently describe the game as mediocre, clunky, and unpolished across various aspects, including combat, movement, and overall design. Many felt it was not worth the asking price, citing a lack of innovation and a feeling of being rushed or unfinished.

Frustrating Save and Progression Systems: The save system is a major point of frustration, with a lack of manual saves, infrequent checkpoints, and the deletion of save files after completion. This, combined with respawning enemies and long backtracking, leads to significant loss of progress and a lack of replayability.

Unbalanced Skill and Upgrade System: The skill and upgrade system is poorly balanced, with skill points being scarce early on but becoming excessive and unspendable by the late game. This leads to a lack of meaningful progression and a feeling of wasted potential.

Forced Souls-like Mechanics: Many players felt that the 'Souls-like' elements, such as high difficulty, respawning enemies, and dodge-focused combat, were awkwardly implemented and did not suit the game's linear structure. These mechanics often felt forced and detracted from the overall experience.

Poor Level Design and Invisible Walls: Level design is criticized for being linear, uninspired, and often featuring invisible walls that break immersion. This, combined with issues like character clipping and poor camera behavior, contributes to a clunky and frustrating experience.

Variable Souls-like Difficulty: Player perception of difficulty is highly varied, with some finding it too easy for a Souls-like game, even on higher settings, while others find it challenging, especially early on. The game incorporates Souls-like mechanics like respawning enemies and fixed save points, but often without the same punitive consequences.

Linear Story & Progression: The game features a linear, narrative-driven story that is generally straightforward and easy to follow. Progression is mostly linear, with some minor exploration off the main path, and the overall campaign is relatively short.

Sci-Fi Third-Person Shooter: The game is primarily a third-person sci-fi action-adventure shooter, where players control Dr. Kate Ward, a scientist stranded on an alien planet. It blends shooter mechanics with RPG elements, exploration, and some puzzle-solving.

Respawn & Save Mechanics: Save points (monoliths/pillars) replenish health, ammo, and energy but also cause all non-boss enemies to respawn, similar to Souls-like bonfire mechanics. Dying typically returns the player to the last save point without loss of items, making death less punitive.

Accessible Achievements & Skills: The game is noted for its easy achievement completion, with many achievements tied to the main story and obtainable in a single playthrough on any difficulty. Players often find themselves with surplus skill points after maxing out all abilities, indicating a generous progression system.

Generally strong performance and optimization: Many players report excellent optimization, smooth gameplay, and high frame rates across various hardware, including lower-end systems and the Steam Deck. The game is noted for its stability, with few crashes or major bugs reported by a significant portion of the player base.

Occasional frame rate drops: While generally smooth, some players experienced minor frame rate drops in specific scenes, during heavy snowfall, or in certain areas on the Steam Deck. These drops are usually within a tolerable range but can be noticeable.

Vsync issues reported: One specific technical issue mentioned is Vsync not functioning correctly, leading to fixed FPS at 240 on a 165 Hz monitor, indicating a potential display synchronization problem.

Minor character and visual glitches: Some players noted minor visual issues, such as characters looking 'weird' or getting stuck in the environment, requiring a pillar re-activation. The game's overall graphical quality is described as 'AA look' or budget-friendly.

Inconsistent loading times: Loading times are generally fast, especially after death. However, some players reported unusually long loading times in specific biomes, particularly after dying in the icy biome.

Best Value on Sale: A significant majority of players recommend purchasing the game only when it is heavily discounted, often suggesting prices below $10 or specific percentage off sales (e.g., 80% off). Many feel the full price is not justified, but at a reduced cost, it offers decent entertainment for a single playthrough or a weekend.

Sequel Highly Desired: Many players express a strong desire for a sequel, indicating that the game has potential and they are interested in seeing the developers expand on the mechanics, story, and character development in a future installment. This suggests a positive core experience despite any flaws.

Recommended for Sci-Fi Fans: The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy sci-fi themes, action-adventure, and third-person shooters. It's often described as a solid choice for those who appreciate the genre, especially if they are looking for a good story and challenging combat.

Mixed Reception, Not Essential: A notable portion of players cannot recommend the game, citing it as not worth the time or money, even on sale. Some suggest there are better alternatives available, while others found it mediocre or a one-time play at best.

Souls-like Combat Appeal: The game appeals to fans of Souls-like games due to its challenging combat and boss fights. However, it is not recommended for casual players or those unfamiliar with the genre's difficulty, as it can lead to frustration.

Short but engaging playtime: Players generally agree the game is on the shorter side, with most playthroughs ranging from 6 to 10 hours, even for 100% completion. Despite its brevity, many found the experience enjoyable and intense, with some wanting to replay it.

AA production quality: Many players identify the game as an 'AA' title, striking a balance between indie and AAA productions. It's seen as a small-budget project with soul and original ideas, often exceeding expectations for its perceived budget, despite some rough animations.

Mixed comparisons to other games: The game draws frequent comparisons to titles like Returnal, Mass Effect, and Metroid, particularly in its combat, music, and sci-fi setting. While some see it as a 'Wish version' of Returnal, others find it distinct, and its difficulty is sometimes likened to Souls-like games.

Minor technical and quality issues: Some players noted minor issues such as rough animations, occasional glitches, and certain quality-of-life features that could be improved. While not universally praised, these issues are generally not considered game-breaking.

Good monster and creature design: Players appreciate the impressive and well-designed alien creatures and monsters within the game. The local bestiary is noted for its cool appearance and interesting world-building.