Scathe Review (PC)

The weirdest weapons in Hell are bouncing iron balls that follow me around the level, trying very hard to crush my avatar. They die quickly but their movement is chaotic enough that they are hard to hit and focus on them often makes it easier for other enemies to shoot at me and catch me unaware. So, I let one demonic ball bounce behind me, finish off a machine gunner with a few hits to the head, and then back paddle furiously through the level until I get the bouncer in my sights. It manages to nick a little health, but I finally take it down, just in time to focus on the Hell turret that’s now shooting at me.

Scathe is developed by Damage State Ltd and published by Kwalee. I played via Steam on the PC and the game can also be bought on the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series x and S, and older consoles made by Microsoft and Sony. The title aims to deliver a pretty classic first-person shooter experience with some unique twists.

Players take on the role of Scathe, who has some aspects of the classic golem narrative for his backstory. The Divine Creator aims to attack his evil counterpart, Sacrilegious, with the protagonist as the tip of the spear. To prove his power and capabilities, Scathe needs to explore a Hell-bound maze and deal with a wide variety of enemies and challenges. In each area, he needs to find runes to unlock new avenues of advance, and six hellstones are required to get out of the maze. The emphasis of the experience is not on storytelling, but I enjoyed the way the two godly powers critique or praise the player’s performance.

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The game will be instantly familiar to anyone who has already enjoyed a first-person shooter. Scathe moves pretty fast and can employ a dash that also takes out enemies in his path to traverse space even quicker. Movement options are complemented by a jump that is, unfortunately, a little imprecise. They are enough to keep the attentive player out of the enemies’ paths and lines of fire. Speed and environmental awareness are key to emerging un-scathed.

Players will rely mainly on their weapons to hit back hard. The starting machine gun, with its grenade alternate fire, is very efficient, but there are plenty of other implements of destruction to find along the way. Scathe also gets access to powerful spells, fueled by the death of enemies. It’s a solid arsenal that’s much needed to engage with the demons of the maze.

The fast ones are the most threatening, either in mostly human or ball form, that move fast and close with the player. Deal with them first, while making a mental note of where ranged opponents are firing from. I tend to then deal with flying demons, who are fairly weak but can attack from surprising positions. After each engagement, make sure to explore the area for runes, health, and potential secrets.

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I like the moment-to-moment action and the structure of the game. It rewards fast reactions and good tactical sense. But the difficulty can ramp up very quickly and some deaths feel a little unfair. The lives system is a good idea but often it drops players back into the middle of a big fight, with no way to make it out alive. Bosses add another layer of challenge.

Scathe is also very generous when it comes to multiplayer, delivering full crossplay between all the platforms it launches on, which is still too rare in the modern gaming space. The game allows players to work in groups of up to four players to tackle its demonic challenges, with support for drop in and out at any time during a session.

Scathe is a decent to good-looking shooter, with some impressive Hell-themed touches. There’s demonic writing on the walls and the enemies are easy to recognize and target, even if they lack some personality. The biggest issue is the repetitive and mostly drab nature of the environments. I like the sound design, which includes some truly hair-raising demonic whispering (which gets louder when the player is on low health) and a soundtrack that stays in the background but boosts the atmosphere.

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The Good

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