The world of Scorn is grotesque and brutal, a nightmare plucked from the tortured minds of developers who looked at too much H.R. Giger. I’ve never felt more physical disgust at a game t🀅han Scorn, and I’ve not even finished it yet. But there’s something that glistens bleakly beneath all the gore and muck: a palpable sense of innocence.
As lead features editor Jade K♛ing wroꩲte in her review, the🧸 only thing keeping you pushing forward in Scorn is your own morbid curiosity. There’s not a single wo♔rd of written or spoken dialogue, only screams, groans, and whimpers, but something pushes all of those who play onward regardless.
Scorn possesses an almost childlike sense of intri𝔉gue. There&rsqꦚuo;s none of the measured, distant, critical interaction of most puzzle games. You get stuck in - literally - and try to figure things out. No fear, no hesitation, just jam your fingers into those squelching holes, shove your arm into that pipe, and push those buttons. The only way to figure anything out is to try, watch, and learn. Just because this world is gross doesn’t make it inherently hostile, just fundamentally alien when compared to anything we’ve seen before.
Scorn’s obsession with almost religious eroticism and unflinching body horror also reminds me of growing up. Kids are filthy little perverts, but they’re also busy figuring out the world so we largely leave them to it. From eating their own boogers to wondering why boy bits go out and girl bits go in, it's all in the name of curiosity. Our parents tell us not to eat stuff off the floor and that our private parts are private, but Scorn’s world seems unburdened by societal expectations. Jam that weird tentacle in yourself, pick up that wriggling thing off the floor and lick it, put all the squishy parts together and see if something clicks. It’s the only way to learn and move forward.
Even the way your character is violently thrust into the world is emblematic of childbirth. Well, maybe not waking up and wrenching yourself free from your tentacled prison, but the moment after that flood of black goop leaves you in a chair attached to an umbilical cord. It signifies you’re new to this world, and you need to look at everythi๊ng with fresh eyes and a willingness to accept everything for what it is. Reject modernity, embrace flesh technology.
The puzzles are frustrating, and the game&🎃rsquo;s weakest element followed closely by its underbaked combat, but needing to embody childish innocence and curiosity to progress is fascinating. Like a toddler, you waddle up to something and stick your grubby fingers everywhere till it starts to make sense. The older I get, the more few and far between those eureka moments are because I’m so entrenched in cynicism.
With that childlike innocence and eventual understanding comes the revelation that not everything is good. Scorn is filled with creatures that are bursting with violence and hatred, not curiosity. Whereas you learn about the world and consider 𓆏it, the demons that inhabit it know nothing but animosity. When curiosity is replaced with fea🐽r, that’s all that’s left.
Even if Scorn is annoying and grotesque, I appreciate it for reminding me what it’s like to be 🐽thrust into a world that makes no sense. Being a kid is gross and terrifying, just like Scorn, and the innocence that sparks the curiosity to force us through it all is a hidden gem I wasn’t expecting to rediscover. Stay curious, remain innocent, don’t give in to the fear.