The Biomechanical Nightmare of 'Scorn'

Discover the secrets of a nightmarish realm of biomechanical terrors. An exploration of the dark, haunting worldbuilding in Ebb Software’s 2022 horror game Scorn.
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Scorn depicts a biomechanical nightmare. Yet under the foreboding surface, the world of Scorn is a masterpiece of haunting and poignant worldbuilding, bringing to life a fascinating ecosystem of decay. While the game is ambiguous by design, in this video we’ll explain the story and explore the hidden themes.

So, for this entry into the Archive, we’ll embark on an expedition across this disturbing realm, comparing environmental details with clues from the artbook to uncover the shocking secrets behind the terrors on screen.

Now, let’s awaken to the nightmare of Scorn…

0:00 The World of Scorn
1:02 The Genesis Wall
2:34 The Graveyard
4:16 The Assembly
7:53 The Dark Garden
9:29 The Heart
12:36 The Crater
14:20 The City of Polis
18:44 The Meaning of the Madness

Copyright Disclaimer: Under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. All video/image content is edited under fair use rights for reasons of commentary.

I do not own the images, music, or footage used in this video. All rights and credit goes to the original owners.

♫ Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio:
Mysterious Green Fluid, Sanity Unravels, Haddonfield Horror, Alone in the Dark, Dusk, The Witch, The Vanishing, Tenebrae, The Guardian

Floating Cities
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

#CuriousArchive #Scorn #Worldbuilding

[hubertrozalski]

The family of Zdzisław Beksiński had a sad life. He was weirdo, psychologicaly scarred by the second world war, his son, Tomasz, was a great radio presenter, who brought Western music closer to average Poles, but had bipolar disorder (probably) and commited suicide, his wife died of aortic aneurysm and Zdzisław himself was murdered by two boys who used to help him maintain his flat.

[someguy]

I think DJ Peach Cobbler said it best.

Scorn is a game where you get to experience the abject horror of being a sentient cow on its way to slaughter. Machines beyond your ability to understand line your path. You can't comprehend of what or why any of the horrors you see are. All you know is that they simply happen, outside of your control or input.

[housewilma]

my biggest gripe is the few story elements the art book mentioned are entirly skipped in the game.
aka the fact the alien baby things are actually another sapient inteligent species who builds and maintains the organic tech.
or the fact the ascension process creates these entities called shells which we never get to see despite being the end goal of this civilization.

[lakobause]

To me it's implied this world used to be much more orderly and civilized before suffering a catastrophic decline. The civilization here probably had a system or equipment for safely removing humanoids from the Genesis wall, but that's been out of use for a long time, hence the heaps of dead bodies. They also seemed to be obsessed with transferring consciousness, as demonstrated by the ending, which also explains why your character always has glowing white pupils. Presumably some sort of infection took over this place's organic technology, choking off much of the machinery and creating the tumor-like monsters you fight.

[personaverygrata]

while rather imperfect as a game, scorn is easily the most visually inspired I've seen in these last couple years. the artistic direction is stellar, the atmosphere is incredible, the score is visceral.
at the end of the day, reading most comments, hearing most people complains, the gameplay should have been something closer to "penumbra", a stealth based exploration game filled with lore to uncover and puzzle to solve. And it could have been a bit longer, like by a third at least.
not everyone will like it, but it's a sight for sure

[monostar]

I'm from the country the developers are from and let me tell you it's a poor, underdeveloped country so i was shocked that they managed to even get this game out, and it looks gorgeous. It's a feat to get it made and published already but i know that if they had a bigger budget that this story and game requires, they would've fulfilled the game's true potential. There's so much in Scorn that deserves to be explored.

[shogun]

I desperately hope we see more of Scorn, there is so, so much unused material that could be used. The game practically screams missed opportunities.

[language_arts_final]

The entirety of Scorn reminds me of a book called 'All Tomorrows', and the 'morphing' of humans by aliens is an incredible parallel. The deities even look similar to the Qu from the book.

[wendylacey]

Scorn’s setting is the very definition of a “Living Hell”.

[SirToaster]

To be clear, the monster is called the Crater Queen, in the book it's explained that the Crater queen was a product of over experimentation and they often kept it and all other creatures in the crater so they don't destroy everything.

[jennareynolds]

I think "Polis" is a reference to the work of Greg Egan, particularly Diaspora, where a polis is a supercomputer which runs the uploaded minds of its inhabitants, including the uploaded minds as well as new minds, "born" within the model. The abandoned biomechanical halls show what was required to reach this ultimate synthesis, and what they left behind.

[onoonononoonoono]

I really like how the peach cobbler described scorn:
Its like u are a cow or any other animal we farm. You get born with no idea where u are what u are or why u are, you are just in a machine of which purpose you dont understand till you eventually die

[loroleibusser]

I loved playing the game without understanding pretty much anything and creating my own narrative while I experienced scorn. I understand where others are coming from when they say theyre dissapointed in games end product, but I think having elements be obscure and not expanded upon on the game adds a ton to the environmental storytelling. While the narrative feels incomplete that missing piece lets my mind go wild with potential. I do wish they included the cut areas in the game so then we could have a meatier scorn game.

[sethleoric]

One of things i love about Scorn is how everything (apparentally) is completely "human" probably no aliens involved, humanity just figured out how to turn itself into a bio-mechanical nightmare.

Everyone just decided to copy the movie "Martyrs"

[eldritch_moth]

I’ve commented this before, but I really think you guys should do a video on rain world. It’s a game with a complex ecosystem and an organic tech aesthetic. It’s perfect for the kind of content you’ve been making.

[ItsYaBoiV]

The devs created an amazing tribute to Beksinski and Giger without directly copying their creations. I hope they continue creating games in this world they've built.

[thedoruk]

The Greatest Shock to me is that Realizing that the setting actually takes place on Earth!

[klvsyk]

When i finished Scorn i said to myself: "Whoa, now this is environment i would love to hear Curious Archive describe" and here it is. Scorn is beautiful, and tragic story. I love that game and it's sad that some people hate on it just because they approach it like it's normal FPS "RUN AND SHOOT" type of game.

[BoisegangGaming]

(~~Nobody comment, we're at the funny number~~)

(damnit someone messed it up, how dare)

I recall hearing an interpretation that Scorn is an allegory for pregnancy gone wrong. Childbirth and pregnancy is often culturally considered something beautiful, but Scorn uses horror elements to show just how disgusting it can be without blaming it on anyone.

[Djaybird]

My jaw hit the floor the moment i came across the giant monarch creature thing. The visuals in this game are on another level entirely. Great video!