This review contains spoilers

Would've loved to be able to hear susan sontag's thoughts on Scorn, regarding lustmørd/Wikluh Sky, as well as in relation to an "erotics of art".

Incredible atmosphere and design, with a bit of need of guidance in the middle. Not a lot, but on certain occasions it could be better at design-navigation without being at the expense of the game's tone-poem, specifically around the big elevator act. Thankfully there's no map, and instead, the use of color in set-pieces here-n-there are great underused design fluoresces. I'm Allowed to just soak and wonder, and wander.

Gameplay keeps you anxious, always close to death. Staggering while trying to clunkily pick fights with flesh, dodging acid to keep the player on their toes. The puzzles adds purpose and invitation to explore, without reaching the difficulty of the more unwelcoming point-click titles from the 90's. Nothing really stands out as upcycled into becoming its distinctly own, with two slight exceptions being the deliberate intersection of the two artists; Giger's and Beksiński, and the final colorful mural, which art-pops like a science-illustration. Scorn Overall pays tribute without being cloying about it.

More Half-life, SOMA and dead space rather than directly Doom or Dusk, but more definitely a family member of Quake's aesthetic gumbo stylings. Though it needs to be underlined that it's more subtle than anything else where the game falls in the family.

There's a lot of beauty in this, had me on several occasions just.. stop. Stop and take everything in. Dark ambience pieces ruminating thru' it all. Some Lustmørd stuff / general dark ambient music is still ambience, and something that still has the capacity for comfort, despite intention and/or subject matter.
Giger's and Beksiński's works have been translated/adapted thru all mediums in various ways so far that, mainly on my own part, the familiarity is there.
So it's still creepy to me, but I would LOVE to watch someone else, who's got zero exposure to this style, play through the game.

solid narrative, not my cup-of-tea in certain aspects.
The solidified abstractions brought forward from the primordial soup of the game's inspiration, with fantastic starting points assembled from the concept artwork, comes together as a well-oiled machine.
I didn't expect any happy endings, but no catharsis for the end is a bold though traditionally edgy move, and fits into a general goal/thesis of the whole thing, comeuppance? Outer Gods too Out there? The Body in pain (Elaine Scarry + some Clive Barker in the mix maybe)? Beksiński without titles? Ruthless Reality of once own actions disregarded by the systems? Going BERSERK??? TRAPPED BY AN ECLIPSE?? CALIGARI? EYES MELTING?? THE LOATHSOME DUNGEATER? THA JOKER?? ROAD RUNNER CARTOONS????? THE DESERT OF THE REAL? SHE FRANCIS ON MY BACON CRUELLY TIL SHE SQUADS?!!? MAN PLANS, GOD LAUGHS??? THE NAME OF THE ROSE??? OVERTHINKING?? SLOP?? PENIS POOPNESS?! PUSSY!?!? CUMM?!!??

Really Happy that Ebb Software and the lead developers, through 9 years, have been able to stick the landing on the project. Being able to realize what, I imagine, has been an evolving vision with a solid core over a long time, brings me existential joy.

Reviewed on Oct 18, 2022


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