Scars Above Reviews
If you are okay with spending $39.99 for roughly a 6 to 8-hour sci-fi experience then I think Scars Above would be worth your time and money. However, if it was more than $39.99 then absolutely not, but thankfully that isn’t the case here. Scars Above is a decent game for its price point, but it isn’t your next big-budget sci-fi blockbuster.
Overall, Scars Above just can’t rise above its AA roots. This translates to some cut-rate animations, character models, and environments. The game’s primary weapon is good enough, as is the story and combat. But just being adequate is a tough sell. It’s hard to imagine Scars Above moving to the front of the Soulslike line.
Despite a tedious beginning and many generic traits, Scars Above comes alive near the end with decent third-person shooting set in an intriguing alien world that is oddly familiar in more ways than one.
There is some promise in Scars Above. The game presents solid foundations to build upon, and the fact that this is the maiden title from Mad Head Games is an achievement on its own. On the visual side, the game is a looker and performed admirably on PC. However it is hard to overlook its game design and technical shortcomings. While its use of repeated sci-fi tropes doesn’t do it any favors. Perhaps Scars Above will be the necessary learning experience that will likely enhance the studio’s future projects.
A good example of a game that would have needed a thorough review to go out and reduce its true quality. Some ingredients are fine, but the set is below what you would expect from a "space" adventure like this. It's not terrible, but it's forgettable, unfortunately.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
There's not a lot of negative things I have to say about Mad Head Games' Scars Above, but I don't have a lot of positive things to say either. It's an aggressively average experience brought down by performance issues and lack of important accessibility features. Even where color is present, this game drowns in dullness.
Here is a game that falls short of its potential, but still won't make patient gamers unhappy. If its general sloppiness and various bugs don't get on your nerves too much, fans of the genre can give it a chance.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Despite all its interesting ideas, Scars Above fails to overcome its flaws and remains a mediocre experience, and with a vague ending, we can hope that the next installment, if any, can address all the shortcomings and fulfill its potential.
Review in Persian | Read full review
As a TPS with soulsike elements and a sci-fi setting, Scars Above fails to be a worthy heir to Returnal due to several limitations that make the game very different to shine, especially from a technical point of view.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Scars Above can at times come across as fairly generic, it’s still however a decent enough sci-fi mystery and I think at the right value point you can have an enjoyable time working through it.
Scars Above is pretty much forgettable and that's a real shame, because some of its intriguing ideas had no chance to shine in the game structure and its mechanics.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Scars Above offers a space adventure that mixes several genres with an asymmetric result that does not work as well as it should.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I hope Mad Head Games gets another chance to build upon these ideas in a future sequel. But for now, as it stands, Scars Above is still a perfectly serviceable and surprisingly challenging shooter primed to indulge Sci-Fi fans.
It's just a shame really that, in its efforts to be a solid action-adventure, none of its ideas were explored any deeper as we'd have loved to have seen the team swing for the fences in one area or another to produce something truly standout.
Scars Above offers a rather condensed third-person shooter adventure. While I was surprised at how quickly I breezed through the game, considering the other titles it was borrowing ideas from, it was still an interesting journey. I wouldn’t say there’s anything refreshing about the game, but there’s enough there for those wanting a jaunt through an alien world.
The inspired environments and tactical element behind the gunplay are certainly appreciable but they fail to overcome the boundaries of sufficiency to Scars Above.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While Scars Above has a predictable story, it’s nevertheless an engaging, interesting sci-fi title that would have benefited as a shooter/exploration hybrid rather than the Soulslike it wants to be. Your expierience will definitely vary, though if you’re intrigued by its premise at all, don’t be afraid to drop down to its lowest difficulty in order to try to experience it.
Scars Above is an average third-person action-adventure shooter that doesn't try anything new, despite being set in such an interesting sci-fi world, that invites unique ideas and concepts.
A decent but not amazing game with few surprises.
Scars Above's premise and storyline are the best parts but poorly balanced combat and lack of extra content make this sci-fi tale one that is over far too quickly to be memorable.