Scars Above Review: Oddly Satisfying

Scars Above is a challenging third-person shooter that takes inspiration from the likes of Returnal, Dark Souls, and Resident Evil. 

It has a very satisfying combat, that is fueled by cleverly designed boss battles. However, between these fun, chaotic moments is an underwhelming story that holds Scars Above from being a truly memorable experience.

Scars Above Story

In Scars Above, you play as Dr. Kate Ward, a young scientist who's a member of the SCAR team sent to investigate an alien object called a Metahedron.

One thing leads to another, and Kate finds herself stranded on an alien planet brimming with terrifying creatures. As she navigates these treacherous and uncharted lands, Kate finds most of her fellow SCAR members infected by alien substances and also unravels a larger conspiracy that threatens the future of humankind. 

Scars Above's story plays mostly by the sci-fi tropes established by big AAA games in the past. It begins in a very Returnal fashion, with the enthusiast Kate traversing and making notes of every alien artifact she stumbles upon on her way, and in a very Resident Evil fashion with an action-packed gigantic boss encounter that is a threat to all of mankind. 

It's easy to miss out on Scars Above save-the-world-from-an-alien-threat kind of plot because the dialogues and deliveries are so bland. I was so uninterested in this story halfway through that I was ready to skip every cutscene. 

Long story short, if you were hoping for an intricate narrative full of twists and turns and commendable character developments, you won't find it here. 

Scars Above Visuals & Performance

Scars Above feature some gorgeous environments, and you will often come across incredibly beautiful vistas. The handful of biomes that you explore is also quite distinct, visually and structurally. From rain-soaked forests to underground caverns, Scars Above features regions that you would pretty much find in any Sci-fi game of this sort. 

While it starts off linear, there are some expansive maze-like interconnected environments in the latter half of the story where it's easy to get lost. These are easily my favorite locations to navigate in the game.

Scars Above is a fairly polished game for the most part, at least on the PS5. Some enemies seem to drop FPS at times, and there are occasional dips here and there but nothing groundbreaking. I did, however, experienced two crashes early on in the game and ended up losing a bit of progress in both instances. 

Scars Above Gameplay

The combat of Scars Above is easily its best part. Kate only has one weapon at her disposal, VERA, a rifle with four elemental damage types -  ice, electric, fire, and poison. There is also the melee rod-like object, which you will mostly use for clearing obstacles in the path.

The gunplay is weighty, and every shot feels satisfying. Combating enemies in Scars Above is mainly about shooting them with the elemental damage type they are weak to. 
The game provides some interesting scenarios where you can freeze an enemy by melting the ice beneath the surface using fire damage or using electricity damage on wet enemies to electrocute them and deal bonus damage.
 While most enemies have these small pores on their bodies that reveal their elemental weakness, some enemies hide their weak parts, and you have to experiment between all four damage types to find their weaknesses.

One boss, in particular, got me scratching my head because I couldn't initially figure out ways to deal damage. Once I did, however, it became an easy but satisfying encounter. I wish there were more such moments in the game that was more about figuring out the enemy's weakness and then dealing damage accordingly rather than blindly shooting the enemy's already visible weak spot. 

There are three difficulty options in the game, and whether you play it at the easiest tier or the hardest, Scars Above is an incredibly challenging experience throughout.
Thankfully, aside from the trusty old rifle, you also get a handful of gadgets, each uniquely helpful in the game. These include Protective Barriers that absorb enemy attacks, Gravity Traps that trap enemies into a time well and slow them down. Every single one of these gadgets is satisfying to use. 

Like SoulsBorne games, there are checkpoints in Scars Above, where you can save the game and refill your health. The enemy also respawns every time you interact with these pillar checkpoints.

Backtracking is an integral part of Soulsborne games and roguelike titles though, in Scars Above, it's unnecessary, not to mention unreasonable at times. If you die, you have to kill all the enemies in the area again to enter the next location. You can't simply breeze past them like in Soulslike titles.

Going back and killing enemies is pointless in Scars Above since this isn't an RPG, and you don't level up to become powerful. It also doesn't help that Kate walks painfully slow, even while sprinting. This makes backtracking all the more infuriating in this game.

You do, however, make progress, and the two separate skill lines, Engineering and Xenobiology, ensure that your offensive and defensive abilities become continuously potent. While the Engineering skill line focuses on amplifying the effects of your weapon and gadgets, the Xenobiology improves your health and regeneration effects.
The skills in both the skill lines are effective and I was often conflicted between choosing what to upgrade.