Scorn

Xbox Series X (Kepler Interactive)

Set in an organic otherworld – no, not a hipster vegan restaurant – Scorn is an excursion into the bowels of a dead civilisation. In this alien world, the corridors are innards, the walls are sinews, bone and muscle, and the machinery is fashioned like body parts.

This icky, gooey, landscape owes a big debt to H.R. Giger and the Alien movies. Like a pub crawl in Essex, the architecture creates an impending sense of doom as you lurch from one hellish cavern to the next. The gameplay mostly consists of fiendish puzzles – rearrange the environment to open doors and proceed to the next chapter.

Combat is disappointing due to your character plodding around like a traffic warden when he/she is being attacked by violent haggises. Strafing speed borders on rigor mortis and there’s literally nowhere to hide. The weapons (essentially modified legs of ham) are straight from a David Cronenberg body horror movie. This first-person puzzle game is unrelentingly grim: strictly for Goths and carnivores.

6/10