Scar-Lead Salvation Reviews
Is roguelike Scar-Lead Salvation going to make an impact and take its place in the genre?
More akin to playing through a proof of concept than a finished game, Scar-Lead Salvation fails to live up to the pitch of being an anime Returnal.
For a game that is clearly inspired by Returnal, we seem to have really missed the forest for the trees here. But points for trying, especially from a set of studios that haven't played in this space before. I’d love to see another shot, no pun intended.
In the end, the game fails to deliver that essential, just one more run thrill that defines the genre.
Scar-Lead Salvation is a solid experience with great gunplay. It can have some failings with the longer hallways or the risky narrative storytelling, but overall a fun time.
Fun roguelite third-person sci-fi shooter on PS5
A bland, repetitive roguelike that had the potential to be something far greater. Scar-Lead Salvation is disappointing in almost every aspect.
There’s absolutely room for an anime Returnal, and the base mechanics are there. Scar-Lead Salvation does play well. It is so achingly close to a good game. It’s just crushed by trying to spread that quality across a very, very long gauntlet.
Its repetitive nature holds Scar-Lead Salvation back from being good but it's still enjoyable enough to play whenever you want to wind down. 🤖
Scar-Lead Salvation is the perfect example of how NOT to treat the theme of time loops. The narrative turns out to be flat and unstimulating, failing to express the potential of this expedient. The gunplay is repetitive and poorly calibrated, weighing down the shooting phases. The environments lack originality, with rooms that are all the same. The enemies, then, are anonymous and constantly repeat themselves, varying only in color and the weapon they use. The bosses try to break this monotony in some way, but the path to follow to reach them turns out to be tedious, in addition to the fact that they are three in total. Scar-Lead Salvation tries to replicate Returnal, failing miserably.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Scar-Lead Salvation has some good ideas, but Compile Heart fails to deliver on them once more. It might have been saved by a smaller budget and clearer goals. Right now, this is just another forgettable album in their lineup that is getting worse and worse.
Despite an exciting trailer, Scar-lead Salvation is a huge miss for Compile Heart, despite a good premise. You are touring the same boring levels, enemies, and the few guns and passives you pick up don't shake up the repetitive nature of what Scar-lead Salvation is. While the breakable armor could have been an outlet for some impressive fan service, much in the same way it helped Steller Blade, here, it is such a miss that it is laughable.
Scar-Lead Salvation had the potential to be a really good game. Its core gameplay is fun, the first patch greatly improved the difficulty and bosses, both the character dialogue and story are interesting, the anime aesthetics are visually pleasing, and there are some fun customization options to play with! In theory this game should have everything going for it; however, it is greatly held back by extremely repetitive gameplay.
So where does that leave Scar‑Lead Salvation? It’s a retro-flavored experiment with genuine flashes of fun but drags them down with repetitiveness and narrative fluff. You feel like an old-school shooter in a modern shell—fun when it works, frustrating when it doesn’t. There’s competence and charm here, but not enough depth or polish to sustain it. You’ll enjoy the nostalgia, the immediate gunplay thrills, and the occasional boss crescendo—but you’ll walk away wishing there was more variety, pacing, and story payoff to back it up.
The best thing I can say about Scar-Lead Salvation is that it is a competent Returnal clone with some decent controls. Sadly, it is bogged down by a cheap presentation and obscenely repetitive gameplay loop, even for a roguelike. I kept playing it to see if something interesting would eventually happen, but nope. It was a neverending barrage of repetitive rooms, simple combat, a ton of expository dialogue, and the occasional jiggle physics. If anything, it actually made me want to play Returnal instead.
Scar-Lead Salvation feels unfinished, with a weak story, dull enemies, and generic environments. While movement and combat have appeal, shallow roguelike elements make its price hard to justify.
Scar-Lead Salvation falters with something that could have been great and delivers a very weak experience. Although it is a game with quite competent controls, the whole thing is compromised by the lack of creativity with enemies, story and levels, which are based on an eternal loop that leaves even the protagonist tired.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review