Scorn review: Bold psychological horror game is only half-formed

digitaltrends.com:

Scorn has three things on its mind: birth, death, and H. R. Giger.

Heavily inspired by the Swiss artist known for creating the iconic Alien Xenomorph, Scorn isn’t just interested in imitating Giger’s biomechanical aesthetic for flattery’s sake. Instead, the developers at Ebb Software are eager to engage with the thematic threads present in his work. It’s an unconventional horror game that explores birth trauma through a series of grotesque and nightmarish images, from claustrophobic flesh canals to bloated fetus monsters. Though taking the deeply personal works of a singular artist and turning them into a genre video game feels a bit like squeezing a watermelon through a straw.

Scorn is in conversation with H. R. Giger’s art, but it’s playing a game of telephone. Despite nailing the aesthetic it’s going for with excellent sound design and striking visuals, it struggles to deliver the same intimacy that makes Giger’s work so unsettling. Even when it does, Scorn’s artistic ambitions and its video game obligations are often at odds with one another. Ebb Software makes bold design decisions here to achieve the perfect atmosphere, but those decisions make for a frustrating shooter and first-person puzzle game that never quite feels fully formed.

Rather than delivering a clear narrative, Scorn wants you to feel it in your bones. The “story” follows a skinless humanoid wandering some form of eerie alien world that looks like an H. R. Giger painting come to life. The horror game largely takes place in dark corridors that look like the inside of a body. Veins and flesh run through its narrow passageways, as if it’s all part of some giant being’s nervous system.

All of that is brought to life with impressive visual design, as