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Scorn Patch Fixes Some Of The Game's Biggest Frustrations

More checkpoint reloading options and a revision to checkpoint placements should make Scorn less of a slog.

By Alessandro Barbosa on October 27, 2022 at 11:57AM PDT

The latest update for survival horror game Scorn is out now, addressing one of the game's most flawed aspects.

At launch, Scorn had a severely limited save system that only gave players the choice to reload their last autosaved checkpoint or restart the entire act. Checkpoints were also often poorly placed, either kicking in far too infrequently or at times where you were dangerously low on health or ammunition (or both), making progression frustratingly challenging.

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In Scorn's latest patch, which is out now on PC and en-route to Xbox, one of the highlights is a revision of both above aspects. The patch introduces a new option that lets you load a prior checkpoint, while the placement of checkpoints has also been revised. There are no specific details on whether that means there's more of them, or if they've just been more logically spaced out, but any improvement will be welcome for those still making their way through the biomechanical halls of this puzzle game.

The patch also addresses various bugs that could just as easily impact progression, including a nasty one where you could clip into an enemy after a glory kill. In some extreme cases (like one instance during our review process), this could also trigger a checkpoint, forcing a full act reload to fix things. Full patch notes can be found below.

Scorn's frustrating save system worked hand-in-hand with its poor combat to create an experience that was far more off-putting than engaging. In our 4/10 Scorn review, we wrote, "There's simply too much in Scorn that works to push you away from it rather than pull you deeper into it, making even its relatively brief adventure a difficult one to suggest you give your time to.

Scorn Patch 1.1.8.0 Notes

Fixed Bugs

A player can get stuck in the hurt machine
A player can get stuck in the collision after performing a glory kill
After killing the Boss in Act V, players are unable to pick up the dropped item
A player might die by falling through the floor at certain positions

Fixed Issues

German localization issues
Spanish localization issues
FOV issues on ultrawide screens
Position of the ammo/heal container when a player uses heal
Capsule blockers on a bridge
Act V loading issue
Crash when exiting the game
Occasional NPC freezes
Various collisions causing issues

Updates and Additions

Removed the Continue option after a player finishes the game
Removed the Load and the Quit game options from the death screen
Added safety check for a corrupted save slot
Added Load last checkpoint option
Added Act III-II hard save
Updated checkpoint positions
Updated list of the Kickstarter backers
Updated Credits
Updated FSR 2.0 label in the Options menu
Updated positions of certain assets

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Thoroughly enjoyed scorn. Ending was a bit jarring but overall pretty good 7/10.

Upvote • 2 years ago

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@gamerbum: Just finished it 2 nights ago. Act 5 I was like, finally some fresh air. Then it all went wrong. Really wrong.

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This is good. Smart move by the devs.
Especially if you're only one offering a certain type of experience,
go to the trouble of polishing it up, even if it's really out of your way.
It'll be a slow burner but will pay for itself many times over in the following years.
Sooner or later,
hundreds of thousands if not millions of gamers' curiosity will get the better of them,
and they won't be able to resist picking it up in a sale.

Upvote • 2 years ago

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Surprised to hear people are having issues with the save system. I had no problem with it, nor with where the checkpoints are placed.

If you die, you don't have much to repeat to solve a puzzle. I think the issue comes from dying while trying to figure out where the pieces of the puzzle are, which are scattered around relatively large areas. But once you know, you can get right to solving it from where you repsawn, given how the levels are designed.

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"Localization issues"

Wow. The game has no text or speech whatsoever besides the handful of strings in the menus.

This should've been my game, but I was getting extremely annoyed at Act 3-II or so. I felt no need to progress, the puzzles were not great and the sameish looking pathways didn't help with orienteering in a labyrinth, and the "gun" was very bad to handle. This game was the least accessible game I played in a long time. I really wanted to like this game, which makes it doubly annoying.

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@yugabe: I think the similar looking pathways were done on purpose, to disorient. All part of the disorienting feeling in the alien-looking universe.

And the fighting and weapons in this game are also slow on purpose, to force you to be strategic. This is not Doom or COD. You can't just run and shoot everything without any thought. I had no problem with the fighting because I accepted how slow it was, and the limitations of each weapon, and prepared and positioned myself accordingly for each enemy I encountered. It was actually pretty easy, once I learned to:

- select the right weapon for the right enemy

- always reload, and reload in a 'safe place'

- learn to position myself at the right distance for the enemy I am about to attack and when to back away

- know how many times I need to fire before reloading (especially with the first weapon you get) and time my shots accordingly

- move around strategically to avoid enemy attacks

It's all about working WITH the limitations of the character and weapons, not AGAINST them.

Also quite a lot of enemies can be avoided in this game if you just get out of their way and let them crawl back into their holes, quite literally.

All that said, I still suck at souls games.

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@sebb: I think I somehow missed one of the guns entirely and still beat it. I never had whatever the first gun you're supposed to get is... I only ever had the piston gun and then the shotgun(?) that takes 3 rounds. I saw smaller ammo but I never had the gun that used it. Avoiding's the way to go. You don't gain anything by killing things so it's a waste of time, health, and ammo to fight anything unless you have no choice.

2 • 2 years ago

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@jinzo9988: You missed the pistol. It wa sin Act 3 when you are freeing the cart. It is in a room left of where you get the first fuse after you power up that cart that goes up and down 3 levels.

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@jinzo9988: I see. I'd say each gun is used fairly equally throughout the game. But you can manage without the second gun with the smaller ammo, but I imagine it would be harder.

Because the second gun is mostly used for firing at the little two-legged enemies that shoot/spit at you. Without it, you can use the piston gun but you would have to get close each time and manage to hit them before they shoot you. Which can be tricky to time just right. With the gun you missed, it would have been quicker and easier to align two shots from afar to kill them.

The only annoyingly difficult fight I had in this game was with the boss at the end because after the first phase, it was not obvious where to shoot him. I kept firing at him, exhausting all my ammo supply. I had to look at a guide online to find out how to take him down. After that it was laughably easy actually.

I have to say they've built a really intriguing world for this game. I watched a video on youtube where someone goes through the artbook, which has a lot more detail that they did not have time to put into the game. Apparently they were going to build much larger areas, have more total areas that built on the lore of the world, and have a greater variety of enemies, but ran out of time.

The artbook also explains quite a few things that you see in the game and why the world is in the state it is in. For starters, it is not an alien world. You can search on youtube for 'a dive into scorn's artbook' and it should be the first result that comes up, a video by Phil Phlanigen.

I heard an interview with the devs on a podcast, a few days before the game released, in which they said they will not be making a sequel because it would take away from the uniqueness of the experience of the game.

Upvote • 2 years ago

Use your keyboard!

ESC

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