Common Sense Media Review
By Dwayne Jenkins
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Bloody, atmospheric horror game fails where it counts.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 18+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
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Scorn
What's It About?
In SCORN, something has broken free of its bondage. It crawls along the ground in a desperate attempt to get to its feet, slowly reclaiming its freedom. From there, players will work their way through many puzzles and survive close encounters with distasteful creatures to get the nameless protagonist where they're trying to go. At times, a necessary sacrifice is the only way to progress, and players will find themselves forced to make difficult decisions that may stick with them long after the game's over. Can you overcome a nightmarish alien world with danger around every corner? There's only one way to find out.
Is It Any Good?
Sometimes, a good atmosphere is unable to save a fundamentally flawed experience. Scorn's biggest positives start and stop at its H.R. Giger-influenced world. Its visuals are haunting and disturbing. It's easy to become distracted by how much work went into the game's graphics and general ambience. "Gross" would be a tragic understatement as it'll be impossible for players not to cringe or wince at something within the game, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a gaming experience that sets the table like Scorn does. The first hour of the game is almost indicative of the entire experience: long, visually unsettling corridors and uneven puzzles when it comes to quality and an overall sense of accomplishment. It becomes clear at a certain point that the game's mostly atmosphere as players are "treated" to long stretches of playtime where they're simply taking in the scenery instead of doing much of substance.
Then enemies and guns are introduced, and that's where the game really begins to suffer. The moment you get a gun and have your first enemy encounter, the true horror sets in: the unsatisfying gunplay combined with the lack of movement options against your enemies. If you die, the game's checkpoint system kicks in, and suddenly, you're set back about five minutes and must make your way back to where you were. And maybe you'll die again in that same encounter, get set back five more minutes, and do it again. And again. And again. If you see more than one enemy, you'll be forced to strategize – but not in a way that the game intended. You'll skulk around corners and try to get as many shots off as you can before an enemy can retaliate, which becomes a chore when you realize fighting an enemy "fairly" is an exercise in futility. Worse still, the game leans more into the shooting in the late game, and rather than taking in the game's well-done setting, players will be begging for the game to end in the midst of all its mounting frustrations. Though it's a mercifully short experience at around 5-6 hours, it's hard to recommend Scorn for anything more than the preferable route of watching a playthrough online rather than playing it yourself.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about excessive violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in Scorn affected by the gruesome, detailed depictions of violence and gore? At what point is violence in the horror genre too much? With so much violence and chaos in the world on a daily basis, can extending that violence to entertainment as a whole lead to desensitization and aid in forming unhealthy relationships with violence? Why or why not?
As Scorn has its own spin on the artistic works of H.R. Giger, what other games (or other entertainment mediums) have clear influences from (or homages to) celebrated artists? How does classical art make its way into newer forms of art such as video games? What are the long-term and short-term impacts of these collaborations?
Game Details
- Platforms : Xbox Series X/S , Windows
- Pricing structure : Paid ($39.99)
- Available online? : Available online
- Publisher : Kepler Interactive
- Release date : October 14, 2022
- Genre : Survival Horror
- Topics : Adventures , Fantasy , STEM
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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