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With Ebb Software’s Scorn now available on PC and Xbox — just in time for the Halloween season upon us — it’s a perfect time to chat about the game’s art style.
One of the highlights of the title is that blend of bio-mechanical and dystopian surrealism. The same blend that legendary artists HR Giger or Zdzisław Beksiński specialized in with their respective art.
Giger and Beksiński’s influence runs deep, particularly in gaming. With the arrival of Scorn, it’s a great reminder of how their art transcends and enhances the feel of gaming, even when some of these titles are decades old.
Let’s dial back the clock before we plug into Scorn…
Okay, this is a no-brainer. We’ve talked about Cyberdreams’ psychological horror game (and its sequel) in various lists over the years. But really, you can’t help but keep coming back to it. What other game had access to almost all of Giger’s artwork during development to create the visuals of the parallel universe that protagonist Mike Dawson discovers after having an alien embryo shot into his head? Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, the results are typical Giger: disturbing and beautiful at the same time.
If there was ever a series of games that exemplified Giger’s more mainstream work in Alien, you didn’t have to look very far with the Contra series. Granted, the later games in the series strayed away from the biomechanical monstrosities found in the original three, and the games themselves totally didn’t devote themselves to the concept until the later levels. But dang it, it’s blatantly obvious where Konami got their ideas. And we’re all the more happier for it.
The most recent game on the list is one of the examples of a developer using the works by Beksiński to craft its nightmarish world. Indeed, Beksiński was quoted as saying that he wished to paint as if he were “photographing dreams”. And taking a look at what he conjured up with his fascination of fantasy, death and decay, it’s easy to see why Bloober Team chose to use Beksiński for the broken and hostile spirit realm that Marianne travels to in the game.
Axiom Verge took the idea of Metroid and added some Giger-inspired pixel art to it, providing a fantastical visual experience that wasn’t quite as disturbing as you’d expect, but nonetheless beautifully otherworldly and alien. It’s almost shocking that among the sequel’s drastic changes, developer Thomas Happ left the stylings of the first game for a more “normal” visual look to the alien world. But when you think about it, that just makes the first game’s experience that much more memorable.
While its sequel Devil’s Crush is seen as the superior game, the visuals of Alien Crush have Giger’s influence all over them. Right from the title screen, you can see that familiar biomechanical look in the title font. Jumping into the game, the table is filled with even more Alien references. It’s along the same lines as Contra where things are tweaked just enough to have their own take, but it’s unmistakable where the artists got their inspiration.
Scorn isn’t the only game to meld both Giger and Beksiński’s stylings into one, as OhNoo Studio’s 2015 effort proves. The developers outright mention Dark Seed as a reference. Tormentum’s visuals take Beksiński’s dreamlike, nightmarish stylings to heart, with just enough of Giger intertwined to make it all stand out even more. Best of all, the sequel that’s slated to come out this year features even more of this dark fantasy art.
Admittedly, Movie Games Lunarium’s 2017 title features more Lovecraftian imagery and overtones to it, not to mention the heavy focus on sexuality. But there’s enough Giger and Beksiński in the grotesque imagery to make it the best of all three worlds. If you’d prefer not to have so much debauchery in your gaming, you can always spring for the M Edition on Steam, which focuses more on the horror and less on the hanky-panky.
Based on an unreleased, private tabletop RPG, E.Y.E.‘s visuals call back to Beksiński’s dystopian fantasy tendencies in his art, and blends them with cyberpunk aesthetics. While the game itself is a mixed bag (partly due to the suspect translation from French), the “Deus Ex meets gothic” mashup will certainly appeal to some.
Scorn is out now on the Xbox Series and PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG, as well as via Xbox Game Pass. Pick up a copy today here.
Writer/Artist/Gamer from the Great White North. I try not to be boring.
Demo for ‘Silent Hill’ and ‘Condemned’-Inspired ‘Psychosis’ Available Today [Trailer]
‘Dying Light 2’ Gets a Halloween Makeover With “All Hallow’s Eve” Event [Trailer]
‘Infernax’ Adds New Playable Character “The Stranger” for Its Halloween Update [Trailer]
If all this talk of the recent Silent Hill announcements has you itching to get into a new Survival Horror game, you might want to give developer Aaron Gilbert’s Psychosis: Teaser a look. Inspired by Silent Hill and Condemned: Criminal Origins, the demo is now available via itch.io.
Described as invoking “the nostalgic spirit of horror games”, Psychosis: Teaser is a retro-styled first-person horror experience that sees you bored doing overtime at work at your small office in the rural Pacific Northwest. That quickly changes once you receive a mysterious phone call that urges you to “come quickly, they’re all gone.”
Disturbed, you get in your car, and suddenly you’re standing in the dimly lit foyer of someone’s home. The place is empty, like everyone just got up and left. There’s an awful stench in the air but you can’t make out what it is. All you can hear is the sound of the wind and tree branches crashing against the side of the house, and a faint ticking noise.
Suddenly you feel an icy cold presence shoot through your body as your vision fades and your body washes with fear. You’re paralysed lying on the reeking, damp ground; through half-open eyes you see a tall figure wielding a harsh blade standing over you. The being opens its mouth as if to speak and all that comes out is the blood-curdling screeching of metal on metal.
“I grew up playing PlayStation games with all their wobbly goodness – the Spyro trilogy and Crash Team Racing were my absolute favourites,” explains Aaron. “With Psychosis, I wanted to take that PS1 vibe and kick it up a notch with modern lighting and post-processing to get a truly unique horror experience, a hybrid of old and new, made possible with Unreal Engine. Outside of games, the beautiful, somber forests of my home state of Washington were also a constant influence.”
The hour-long demo represents a shortened chapter of what Psychosis will be when it’s eventually released to Steam. There’s a “name your own price” point, but if you pay $5 or more, you’ll receive a Steam key for the full game when it’s released. Paying $9 or more also grants you the original soundtrack for the teaser by Richard Savery, which you can preview here.
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