Scars Above is an enjoyable, slightly soulsy Metroidvania, with some great environmental puzzles, decent monster designs, and a lot of neat ideas that don’t always land. However, thanks to a compelling narrative and engaging combat it’s well worth the weekend it will take for you to finish it.
You take on the role of Kate Ward, part of a team of astronauts known as SCARS. After the Metahedron, a gigantic cosmic anomaly begins to orbit the earth, The SCARS are sent to investigate. However, as their ship approaches the mysterious object they are transported to an alien planet millions of light years away from Earth. Awakening on the surface of this strange new world, with a serious case of amnesia, their ship aflame and the crew missing, Kate embarks on a quest to figure out what the hell just happened.
At first glance you could be fooled for thinking Scars Above is merely a cut-price Returns, however, I am happy to say that , amnesiac astronaut aside, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
What Scars Above, a self professed AA game, lacks in budget, it more than makes up for in scope; presenting players with a weird and wonderful world to explore, that has some genuinely great vistas at times, and a main cast that gives convincing performances, especially Erin Yvette, who pretty much carries the whole game on her shoulders as Kate.
However, the thing that makes Scars stand out is the surprisingly robust and fun combat. Armed with a selection of upgradeable elemental weapons and gadgets Kate constructs with her handy portable 3D printer. You are tasked with taking out all manner of alien monstrosities as Kate attempts to find her missing crew mates and escape the inhospitable planet.
What makes it fun though is how each weapon interacts with both enemies and the environment. Bog monsters can feel the sting of your electric assault rifle called Vera, as the water around them crackles doing extra damage, ice monsters melt as you fire molten grenades at them, armour melts as you blast at it with your acidic shotgun, and enemies freeze as you lob ice at them.
Figuring out what is effective against each monster, and combining elemental attacks to devastating effect, is a lot of fun, while the soulsy dodging, stamina management and checkpointing keep fights tense but fair. Although, not half as tough as your average Souls game.
Kate also has a bevvy of Gadgets she can use to help turn the tide of battle even further in her favour. These range from a really effective shield to a time-distorting grenade.
You can also replenish health, ammo and batteries ( that power your gadgets) by using Fibre. Found all over the map, this single resource which can be used at any time removes the annoyance of having to farm for specific power-ups. Instead, you can get just what you need at any time, so long as you have enough fibre.
Much like a Souls game, Scars Above’s boss battles are its highlight, with you facing off against all sorts of weird and wonderful entities, like a giant mutated stag, a huge rock-chucking alien gorilla, and many more besides. Although they all rely on the age-old strategy of attacking the glowy bit, each boss is relentless and hits like a truck, and there’s also still the question of which one of your elementally charged shooters is going to do the most damage before they inevitably crush you into a fine paste.
The one part of Scars Above I’m of two minds about is its XP system. In the game, XP is gained by either picking up orbs tucked away in the environment or by scanning enemies and other notable entities a la Metroid Prime. Thematically this is a great idea, as Kate is first and foremost a scientist and knowledge equals power is a core theme of Scars Above’s narrative and encourages exploration as finding XP orbs and upgrades for your weapons makes progress easier. However, the problem is that it makes combat outside of the boss fights completely pointless as you only gain XP from the first enemy you scan. There’s none gained through combat. So most of the time it’s actually in your best interests to avoid fighting if you can. Undermining the game’s strongest, element – It’s combat.
This is furthered by the fact that it’s pretty easy to unlock every skill on Kate’s two skill trees long before you’ve even reached the final act. Now, I would rather end a game with everything unlocked and XP to spare than have a system where you miss one collectable and are hamstrung for the rest of the game because you decided to go down the left path instead of the right. Or missed something hiding in the long grass, but I think Scars Above’s progression skews a little on the easy side.
On the whole, though, Scars Above is a fun adventure that feels greater than the sum of its parts. With a compelling narrative, engaging combat, great monster designs and a unique, if flawed, approach to character progression. If you’re looking for a third-person action-adventure that is more Metorid than Vania to tide you over for a lazy weekend, Scars Above is one trip well-worth taking.