PC Preview Build Provided by Prime Matter
Prime Matter and Mad Head Games are looking forward to dropping a new space-based action game called Scars Above and it will take players to a strange planet. With the official release date just a couple of months away, they released a short demo for players to try out on Steam. Fortunately, I was offered a chance to dive a bit deeper than the demo and go a few chapters into the bulk of the game. After experiencing what seemed to be a quarter of the finished title, I have to say that this game has some serious potential that seems to be in need of a bit of polishing before launch.
Gameplay
The game is a third-person action shooter title. The weapon you use is actually fairly unique as each of the different ammo types is elemental-based. Your first, and what turned out to be my main go-to choice, is the electric shot. This is closely followed by a fire-based shot. With these two options alone, you will come across various situations where one or the other would be more effective.
Essentially, the creatures you encounter take a certain amount of damage in accordance with their weakness and their environment. For instance, a lot of the first chapter will have enemies in a waterbed which means your electric shot will do more damage than if they were on land. This same rule of wetness-equals-electric-weakness applies even if the environment is raining. However, you may see red or blue bubbles in different areas. These have to be shot with the proper element to make them explode and they make for great environment-based traps.
These same bubbles can be seen on a lot of the different enemies when it comes to the much larger ones. There are some repeat enemies that appear to be a mini-boss upon the first encounter, but once you find out there is worse out there, it isn’t surprising to see the other ones again. Boss fights, big or small, are different in the sense that they have a direct weak spot that is usually guarded by a stance or attack. However, if you can manage to hit the weak spot with the right elemental weapon, you will score some major damage! Don’t worry though, the third element you end up finding is a huge help for this.
Gaining ammo for your weapons is actually environmentally found as there are plantlife that can be converted to into the ammo you need. After the first time you do it, you simply collect it like you would pick up an ammo magazine in any other game. In fact, when you find new items and attachments, you get this little scene with a crafting table putting it together for you, regardless of where you are. I’m not sure how we have a crafting table at every moment in the game, but at least when I find useful items I can just start using them.
Some of these useful items include a health refill, an ammo refill, and more. As you collect goods in the game, you will come across both fiber and battery. It cost fiber to do the bottom part of the wheel items, such as health refill, and it cost battery to do the top part of the wheel items, such as a shield. Both of these aspects also have a cooldown after their use, but once you gather a few useful items and have three different weapon elements, the game’s difficulty starts to be more manageable.
Other than the combat, you will be able to find recordings and investigate certain objects with your scanner. Doing both of these things will bring you a bit of lore. Plus, the first time you kill a new enemy, you can scan their body for both information and a bit of knowledge. Knowledge is another aspect you will find around the game and it is picked up in the form of percentages. Every time you reach 100% knowledge, you gain an ability point that can be used for one of the many abilities on the ability tree. They are separated into tiers and each tier has items that cost a little more points to obtain but to unlock higher tiers you have to grab a few lower tiers. It’s a good thing that the lowest tier only requires one ability point for each ability and they are all pretty useful.
Expectations
Honestly, it might make it a little bit harder, but the lack of continuity of having a crafting desk just used every time I find a new item is a bit silly. I would rather have some reality to this aspect, even if it is finding a crafting table every so often to get it down. In the beginning chapters, you go around finding different parts of the ship, so why not just have random crafting tables around in designated locations? At least that way the crafting aspect can be an actual task rather than how it currently is which feels like a waste of time. On the player’s side of things, the effort is the same as if I just happen to find the item or piece on my own and just picked it up.
This is a very challenging game in the beginning and then after I landed a few different weapon elements, I found myself just doing carnage as I proceeded. The balance of the middle, possibly even later, half of the game seems like it may be off. I hope to find harder enemies that make the bulk of the game as challenging as the beginning.
They did a great job shrouding the lore in a lot of mystery. I can’t wait to dive into that and see what is going on. What happened to my crew? Why didn’t it happen to me? Was there a gap in time lost for my character? Where even am I?
Verdict
Scars Above definitely has the potential to be a strong start to the 2023 year! There is a lot to look forward to for this game, but at the same time, there were a handful of bugs that they are going to need to clean up before launching the game. Luckily, most of the bugs I found happened after the first chapter, so the demo is likely not affected by them. That said, if a third-person shooter title that takes place on a strange planet seems like your thing, then be sure to give the demo a try!
Scars Above is set to launch on February 28, 2023, for PC via Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Interested players can play the free demo on Steam today!
