Scars Above Review
Everyone loves a good backronym for a fictional government organisation, and when a mysterious alien structure appears in Earth’s orbit, mankind is fortunate to have the SCARS – that’s the Sentient Contact Assessment and Response team – ready and waiting to investigate. What follows in Scars Above is a sci-fi adventure filled with twists and turns and moments of genuine emotional impact.
The storyline of Scars Above is a slow burner. To begin with, Dr Kate Ward has no idea where she is and how she got there. The alien structure seemingly transported the four members of SCARS to an alien planet, and thankfully it’s one with a breathable atmosphere. In searching for her companions, Kate starts to unravel the mystery of the planet itself and also the way that she is seemingly unable to be killed – instead respawning at strange obelisks when defeated in battle. I particularly liked the way that the game takes such a common place feature in video games and integrated it into the storyline.
On the surface level, this would seemingly make Scars Above a blend of Returnal’s sci-fi and Souls-like mechanics, something furthered by pre-release images showing melee combat and a clear stamina bar. In practice, the focus is far more centred on ranged combat and environmental puzzles, with many of the most atmospheric parts of the game being more about quiet contemplation than action packed fights. This is appropriate since Dr Kate Ward is a scientist not a warrior and must use her wits to survive. I found that I only really used the melee combat in the very early parts of the game and quickly came to rely on the surprisingly deep range of guns and elemental attacks.
Kate is able to scan both the wider environment and individual items,
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