You can sign up to get a daily email of our articles, see the Mailing List page.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Scathe is definitely not the FPS experience I was expecting

By - | Views: 20,431

Scathe is a brand new FPS from Damage State and Kwalee that seemed interesting from some previews before release. I took a look and did not come away impressed. You could say I'm being scathing of this one. It does work out of the box on Linux desktop and Steam Deck but that's about where the good points end. Note: key provided by the publisher.

You are Scathe, a bright-white eyed enforcer forged by the "Divine Creator" tasked with travelling through a maze of demons. It's a very simplistic setup, and you can pretty much do-away with any kind of story intro here and lose nothing of value.

While it does have a nice idea it just felt weak and honestly, so many games have done it better. You do clearly get a feeling that it's a version of Doom left at the bottom of a bargain bin before pretty much everyone started shopping for games online. The biggest problem is that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. It's fast as hell like an arena shooter but offers up enemy AI that just runs at you in a line. Add to that the unlimited ammo and no reload of the first weapon and it's just not fun.

Seriously, the amount of times I've stood still and just held my finger down as enemies lined up to be killed — what's going on? There are some enemies that don't do that but they might just walk aimlessly, or spawn right in front of you and explode on you.

YouTube Thumbnail
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link

It's also supposed to be a bullet hell but it's far from it. For a bullet hell, it has a surprising lack of enemies that actually swarm you properly and fire plenty, which is often due to the very simplistic AI. Not only that but you are so fast you can just pretty much run past everything, add the dash ability to your normal speed and why even fire a bullet unless you absolutely get cornered (not very often at all). Honestly the only time I found it to be hell were the annoying shrieking bouncing balls that explode at you, but even those don't swarm in enough to be much of an issue.

This could have been a good game but it's just buried under boring gunplay, frustrating enemies and nothing to really make it stand out from other better shooters that are either cheaper or around the same price.

Available on Humble Store and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
10 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
2 comments

TheSHEEEP Sep 5, 2022
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Oof.
Well, they can't all be winners.
anewson Sep 5, 2022
looks like they were going for something in between Serious Sam and Doom but didn't stick the landing.

Also, agreed that unskippable cutscenes, especially intros, are a cardinal sin.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.