Space vacuum, inhospitable planet, disturbing creatures and many questions to solve. The classic sci-fi cocktail we always take the bait with, so look back Scars Above They are more than justified. The first project of Mad Head Games he wants tension to reign by exploring a planet light years from our beloved sun.
The developer wanted to make a full-fledged presentation of his work in Belgrade. The capital of Serbia has hosted a presentation event where we have been able to get our hands on the first hours of the game and take the pulse of the adventure of Dr. Kate Ward.
Beyond the stars
What makes you drag your huge spaceship beyond the comfort of your home? An unknown power source that needs to be investigated, or at least that’s the SCAR team goal, a group of scientists and engineers who are monitoring an alien structure. Metahedron is the name given to the device that is in the Earth’s orbit, impassive.
Everything seems to be normal in the group’s routine, until a wave of energy completely covers the station and we are transferred to a totally unexplored planet; For humanity, at least. Now, while we control Ward, our task will be to find out what happened to the rest of the SCARs. At the same time, we will face all the dangers of a scenario full of remains of an extinct civilization.
The first bars of Scars Above they go to the neck, without wasting time, and putting on the table the main elements that constitute the trip. Kate is an engineer and as such she is able to create all sorts of gadgets that they throw him a cable on his journey. The most characteristic is VERA, a sort of rifle that the last thing it is intended for is to deal with creatures from the underworld.
Far from taking it directly from a warehouse, here you have to carry out the process of putting the pieces together so that everything works perfectly. Remember the Marvel’s Spider-Man minigames to upgrade gadgets? The same idea flows in the construction of VERA and its variants, having to complete different processes to be effective.
And it better be if we want to have a chance against the bestiary of creatures that are placed before us. From alien spiders to huge armored beasts to undefinable deformities that arise from the depths of a swamp, the truth is that facing each one of them is different. In this sense, we were told about the process of creating these beings by Dimitrije Cvetkovi’c, sound director of Mad Head Games.
“We started from the basic premise of what we wanted to achieve and the basic goal was to have creatures that looked strange, that had some kind of resemblance to the creatures that you would find on Earth, but give them some kind of distortion, either in their proportions, such as to make them too big, like a very large spider-like creature, or give them some sort of distorted feature like a very large jaw or very large arms to make them feel alien and creepy.
We can attack melee with an electric baton, although the real chicha is found in VERA. And it is that we basically come across an FPS with a skill tree to draw on, either from the branch of xenobiology or engineering. With the first we will obtain new ways of fighting related to creatures, while with the second we will be nourished by Kate’s own knowledge.
The weapon can change the type of ammunition it fires to take advantage of the particularities of the setting. For example, if we find an enemy in the middle of the water, the most effective thing will be to launch bursts of electric shots. This will produce the wet combo, dealing a virtually deadly shock to everything around. The rain will wet the monsters, so the same situation occurs to apply the wet combo. In turn, we can use the ice ammunition to create a path over a poisonous lake.
Other beings have colored bags at specific points on their bodies, having to modify the bullets to the corresponding color. So no combat is exactly the same and even the enemies will learn from our behavior pattern. God damn the final boss who covered his head after insistently shooting that area. Situations have to be turned around and this task includes possibility to scan each bodyregister their structures and thus have a clear scheme of weaknesses and strengths.
The best thing is that we don’t even have to enter the menu to consult the record created, but Ward is in charge of reciting aloud what we have discovered. In addition, there are times when you have to search harder in the bodies and places, as if we activated the detective mode of the Batman Akham. It should be noted that the demo we played is perfectly translated and dubbed into Spanish. However, we will take the occasional slap that we do not want.
Scars Above has decided to introduce the element of resistance to its gameplay, which limits us from running indefinitely and prevents us from rolling like a From Software game. It is precisely this dodge system that is a weak point, since It is quite inaccurate in movements and throwing Ward at too right angles. Consequently, it is better to run on many occasions.
It is not the only reference to the Souls that we will find. Some mysterious pillars are scattered throughout the scenarios and after activating them we will restore our resources, although the monsters will also be restarted. Obviously, every time we die we will return there irretrievably.
Although we always have the objective to carry out on the screen, it would not have hurt to have a map to cling to. Some sections of Scars Above are very similar, dominated by a clear visual personality, but I have to admit that I have gotten lost at various times about what direction I should take. A sensation that increased when the stages opened up even more.
Observing the referents
What are you trying to tell us? Scars Above? Of course it seems that there is a story behind it and this was confirmed to me on several occasions by Cvetkovi’c. Defined as “a linear narrative experience”, the title “focuses on the experience of this character, the protagonist, and what happens to her and the world she inhabits”. In the process of creating her universe, the Serbian developer has taken references from great classics of science fiction, both classic and modern.
“We were inspired by a lot of science fiction, the Alien franchise, and then a couple more recent movies like Annihilation, Arrival, movies that are generally about humans coming into contact with the unknown, with an alien world and How do they deal with that encounter and how do they deal with it, how do they get over it”
Due to this, we have a large number of objects, audios and architectural elements to learn more about the past of the planet and the civilization that once reigned. In the same way we do not have any type of replayability, although well we can get lost for 10-15 hours in the title. Regarding the sound section, “we tried to use the music to always underline what the protagonist feels. We also wanted the music to express how alien this world is to her, so that’s why we used a lot of sounds that sound strange, unknown… .”
And that’s the intention Scars Above, which also feeds on the occasional gore moment, with corpses and remains that are not exactly very pleasant. In the absence of possible DLC of which there are no plans -not even a release on Nintendo Switch-, Dr. Ward awaits us in a few months. Under the umbrella of an AA production, the work has promising intentions, although it lacks the distinctive touch, the one that really differentiates it from all the games from which it collects different virtues.
- Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One y PC
- multiplayer: No
- developer: Mad Head Games
- Company: Prime Matter
- Launch: February 27, 2023
