Recent reviews by Cowpox

As a backer of Scorn I can see where others are coming from in regards to length and cut content. The decision to merge what was going to be split into two halves was probably when content was deemed too time consuming at the new graphical quality bar and cut. The gameplay is functional but simplistic and doesn't go far beyond what was shown in early trailers.

Despite this, and a contentious ending, it is a monumental success in creating a game in the artistic styles of Beksiński and Giger. Not since Dark Seed (1992) have I seen this attempted and never this well! If you are at least somewhat interested in the style alone, I would recommend giving it a try.

While the presentation is second to none, the gameplay is rather clunky but thankfully simple enough to never get too frustrating. The puzzles are mostly basic and once understood are quick to finish, with two exceptions. These exceptions rely on shuffling objects around in-order to shuffle other objects around. While enjoyable to manipulate due to the detailed animations, if you are looking for deep puzzle this isn't for you.

Combat is sporadic and in fitting with early survival horror games is more of a puzzle itself, balancing resources, positioning and timing. Simple mechanics, again, made satisfying with polished animation, sound and effects. Occasionally the original pitch of interacting with an living ecosystem shines through in the form of having to read the intent of unknown alien entities and weighing the chance of avoiding vs striking. This is unfortunately somewhat rare in the final game until near the end.

I won't write must about the presentation as you only have to scroll up the Steam page to see screenshot and video examples of how grotesquely beautiful the game is. What I will say is that after the first act (which is arguably the least interesting visually) the quality is consistent and almost every corner had me pausing to admire either the minute detail or the massive scale.

The story has some twists that are easy to miss if not paying attention but mostly takes a back seat to the environments which paint a twisted picture of a complicated civilisation past. It bears the brunt of storytelling due to the lack of dialog but what is there tells you a good amount. What isn't there is more of a problem as I felt that not everything meshes together by the end. You'll encounter interesting facilities that indicate some function of the society while others are just incredibly aesthetically pleasing elevators. Later discoveries may conflict with what you thought you knew, only to leave those past discoveries as loose ends never to be referenced again. I would chalk that up to the short length as every area is crammed full of detail.

All in all I would label this under "flawed masterpiece"

Key points:
• Focus is narrative, puzzles, and simulation
• 3-4 hours to complete the story
• Has a sandbox mode that allows you to create your own ecosystem and play god
• Beautiful aesthetic. Visuals, audio and AI perfectly marry to create a deeply moving experience
• Allows for smooth movement and teleport, works well with room scale but doesn’t require it (can be played seated)
• Almost everything is tied to the physics system which is capped to 60fps, this can cause double images when running a headset at a higher FPS (mostly noticeable when close up but not enough of an issue to ruin the experience)

Paper Beast greatly succeeds in what it sets out to do. It’s a narrative driven physics puzzle game with no dialog where your understanding of this strange world and its rules are built by observing and interacting with a grabby laser pointer. You’ll interact with water and sand physics, the beasts themselves, and plants/objects. This is all you need to know in terms of gameplay without ruining the surprises.

Paper Beast’s big trick is the world you’re presented with a very obviously unreal (numbers litter the landscape and many creatures lack space for organs) but the way everything interacts has you completely immersing yourself. The art direction is superb and while certain sequences can take their time the experience is like nothing else.

Cannot recommend enough unless you are looking for an action game.