Contempt: Specs
Platforms: Xbox Series X | S, PC
price: $40
Release date: 14 October 2022
Type: Horror / Adventure
Scorn’s bloody, cheerful and disgusting show has fed you right from the start. On the surface, the developers chose to grab attention with the shock factor. But beneath the game’s bloody facade lies a terrifying existential story told through simplification, symbolism, and environmental storytelling.
In fact, the scorn relies so heavily on those things that it is almost a futile exercise to try to fully understand what is going on. Combine that level of obfuscation, a grueling combat system, and overall unforgiving gameplay, and you’ve got a game that would have been a masterpiece, but falls short. When you see Scorn’s ability to greatness, her faults become more and more apparent.
As you’ll see in this Scorn review, the game balances a lasting and overwhelming sense of anxiety and fear with enjoyable gameplay, though frustration creeps in later in the experience.
Disrespect review: gameplay and mechanics
Scorn is a first-person horror/adventure game, packed with quirky visuals, intense fighting situations, and most importantly, puzzles. Each verb contains puzzles that must be solved in order to progress, although what you are progressing towards is not clear, even at the end.
You’ll spend most of your time “snooping” with these puzzles, which may look like Russian nested dolls at some points. Some of the answers are incredibly vague, and can take a long time to solve, even for experienced puzzle game players.
For the fight, you get four weapons: a jackhammer-like tool for engagement, a pistol, a shotgun and a grenade launcher. Ammo is extremely scarce, which means I had to plan my encounters with absolute perfection. And even then, I had to count on getting close when I couldn’t find an ammo station.
The protagonist moves slowly, even while switching weapons and reloading, which adds higher stakes to the fight. Walking unprepared, with the wrong weapon in hand, could cost you your life. However, the Scorn does provide some avenues of escape, which sometimes give you the opportunity to heal, reload or switch your weapons.
The fight can be better admittedly. For example, a heavy cocking system saves undue pressure. You have to stand still and keep your finger down on the aim button until your net shrinks. The size of the reticle affects your accuracy, and you certainly don’t want to waste ammo.
The scorn’s constant sense of doom also affects the chances of recovery, which, like ammo, are limited. You’ll need to find health stations scattered throughout the events, because you’ll take damage from both the battles and the story scenes. Even then, you’ll want to approach every nook and cranny with caution. The game often throws multiple enemies at you in later stages, most of them don’t fall easily.
Disdain offers no hints, no tutorials, no dialogue, and only a handful of short scenes. The game at least provides a map of the pause menu controls, as well as a small popup when you interact with the objects. Otherwise, you’re on your own to figure out most of the mechanics, and that’s part of the fun.
Disdain review: story and setting
The story of contempt is vague, to say the least. In the first act, you fall into a ditch, with a huge door blocking your way out. However, the door controls require two people to operate, and you’re on your own. Things get a lot weirder from there. The game never explains why you are trapped in a biomechanical inferno, even as you progress further into its terrifying depths – and then, you reach the Sky Palace.
Without dialogue or any way to learn the lore, it is left to you to interpret Skorn’s story and its meaning to yourself. And here, I always thought FromSoftware’s titles were vague.
You play as an unnamed hero in an unknown wasteland: a human infected with a parasite is slowly beginning to devour you. I suppose the goal is to remove said parasite, but how the protagonist knows to do that is never explained. Moreover, this is not clear, but it seems that the character in the first chapter is not the same as the one you play from the second chapter onwards. Contempt, of course, does not tell you this categorically.
The contempt lingers until the end – which takes about five to eight hours to arrive – and my play is left with a profound lack of satisfaction.
This is the problem of contempt. You tend to be very mysterious, and give you nothing to work with. In games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring, storytelling works, because you get enough information to come to your own conclusions. Contempt is devoid of any such thing, and leaves you no answers to your burning questions. Why are you in this hell? What are these polyps? Why do enemies attack you? What is the creature in the fourth chapter? What is the point of the end?
I love stories that are shrouded in mystery, especially ones that do most of their telling through the environment. But good environmental storytelling requires a starting point, and disdain fails in this regard.
Disdain review: visuals and sound
Disdain looks great, with stunning visuals that instantly draw you into its terrifying world. I played the game on PC and never had any problems. In fact, with the game’s technical design, the sarcasm probably looked good on my screen. The restless world asks me to take frequent breaks.
Disdain pays for its display, which is important in a game that relies heavily on environmental storytelling. The world itself speaks to you, as if it were its own person. However, what you say comes down to your interpretation.
The game’s sound design matches the visuals, with frightening silence, egregious crushing noises from enemies and flesh growing, and loud gunshots from every weapon. While Scorn’s visuals draw you in, the game’s sound keeps you grounded in the noisy atmosphere. Even after I finished my play session, I found myself really restless for a few more moments while my brain was adjusting to reality.
Contempt review: Judgment
Scorning is an experience I will likely never forget, and sometimes it’s all you can ask for in a game. While the combat can be disappointing and the story totally meaningless, I’d recommend picking this horror/adventure title – if you have the guts for it.
For $40, the Scorn feels a little on the pricey side, but I’d still recommend it to horror fans. And even if you’re not like me, you might find sarcasm an enjoyable experience. I definitely did.
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