Scarf is a 3D Adventure game, where protagonist Hyke must use his polymorphic scarf to explore a magical environment, solve mysterious puzzles and overcome difficult challenges. Hyke’s scarf morphs into different objects which will help to progress the adventure. Hyke was born in an unknown place, surrounded by other souls. All of them will start a path through the World with the main goal being to meld with it and become part of nature. "Mixing walking simulator and 3D platformers, Scarf is an atmospheric and emotional journey about what it means to be a hero. Travel to three beautiful crafted worlds and discover your true destiny."
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I was surprised that it is a Spanish game, I didn't expect it.
It is a very chill game with simple puzzles and enjoyable and friendly platforming.
It can be easily completed at 100% (I have missed a few things, but because I have not done much research and many of them are hidden)
It is quite linear and in the artistic section it is very beautiful. I also like the relationship of the scarf as if it were a dragon, I found it very cute.
It's short but enjoyable
It is a very chill game with simple puzzles and enjoyable and friendly platforming.
It can be easily completed at 100% (I have missed a few things, but because I have not done much research and many of them are hidden)
It is quite linear and in the artistic section it is very beautiful. I also like the relationship of the scarf as if it were a dragon, I found it very cute.
It's short but enjoyable
Scarf is somewhat unpolished and very unoptimized (in particular, sections involving manipulating water caused the frame rate to plummet on my PC, which significantly exceeded the recommended system requirements). It also commits that cardinal game design sin of only having a single continuously overwritten autosave and not allowing you to return to the hub or restart the level if something breaks (nothing did on my playthrough, but I felt compelled to periodically backup the save folder just in case).
But if you can tolerate its rough edges, Scarf rewards you with pleasing art direction, forgiving puzzle-platforming and a melancholy tone. The climactic twist is so heavily foreshadowed that it's hard to believe it was ever intended to be a surprise; instead, it makes the diminutive hero's displays of joy and affection feel decidedly bittersweet. The story also doesn't overstay its welcome; these days I'm increasingly appreciative of games that say all they have to in the span of one sitting.
But if you can tolerate its rough edges, Scarf rewards you with pleasing art direction, forgiving puzzle-platforming and a melancholy tone. The climactic twist is so heavily foreshadowed that it's hard to believe it was ever intended to be a surprise; instead, it makes the diminutive hero's displays of joy and affection feel decidedly bittersweet. The story also doesn't overstay its welcome; these days I'm increasingly appreciative of games that say all they have to in the span of one sitting.
This game is magical and a feast to the mind with how beautiful it looks and sounds. I loved exploring, solving puzzles and collecting things. I'm giving this a negative on principle. This game is left in a buggy state that can be game breaking if you're not careful. Here are my main cons:
1. There are sections in the game where your save can become useless and you have to start from the very beginning. I experienced one of those instances in the desert where I returned to a previous area to collect something I missed. The door didn't open on the way out and the game only has one save. There is also no option to return to the hub. You have to finish the level first. I was fortunate enough to be aware of the problems based on the impressions of others. So I've made multiple save backups to be on the safe side.
2. It's ridiculous that the game doesn't allow you to return to your hub whenever you feel like it. If you miss any collectible, you have to return to a level and finish the level in its entirety. There are 3 levels total but each one is huge and takes a long time to finish. This unnecessarily wastes your time.
3. The trophies for collecting all drawings and toys are bugged. Even though I collected everything, I didn't get them. Some did when you look at the stats. So I'm not sure what I did wrong.
4. The game is very badly optimized. I have a 4070 ti, i5-13400f and 32gb ram. My 1440p monitor allows 165fps and I was worried it would be too much on the highest settings. I put the game on 120 fps just to be on the safe side, there were still many instances where the GPU would need 100%. There have been brief moments where the fps dropped to 100 or there were stutters when parts of the areas were loading. I had a pretty smooth experience for the most part but I'm not sure about older hardware.
This game is worth playing if you are aware of its problems and come prepared. Make sure you back up your saves. It might also be better to have a guide for all the collectibles if you know yourself to be impatient and don't like repeating long levels for them. If you prefer finding the collectibles on your own, at least the first time, then try not to backtrack while you're in the levels. It's better to finish the levels and then do them again.
This game could have been so much better if the devs patched it at least once. They never did. They mentioned they would fix the bugs for a while around release, then things went real quiet after that. Those kind of devs/publishers are not worth supporting. Hence the negative review.
1. There are sections in the game where your save can become useless and you have to start from the very beginning. I experienced one of those instances in the desert where I returned to a previous area to collect something I missed. The door didn't open on the way out and the game only has one save. There is also no option to return to the hub. You have to finish the level first. I was fortunate enough to be aware of the problems based on the impressions of others. So I've made multiple save backups to be on the safe side.
2. It's ridiculous that the game doesn't allow you to return to your hub whenever you feel like it. If you miss any collectible, you have to return to a level and finish the level in its entirety. There are 3 levels total but each one is huge and takes a long time to finish. This unnecessarily wastes your time.
3. The trophies for collecting all drawings and toys are bugged. Even though I collected everything, I didn't get them. Some did when you look at the stats. So I'm not sure what I did wrong.
4. The game is very badly optimized. I have a 4070 ti, i5-13400f and 32gb ram. My 1440p monitor allows 165fps and I was worried it would be too much on the highest settings. I put the game on 120 fps just to be on the safe side, there were still many instances where the GPU would need 100%. There have been brief moments where the fps dropped to 100 or there were stutters when parts of the areas were loading. I had a pretty smooth experience for the most part but I'm not sure about older hardware.
This game is worth playing if you are aware of its problems and come prepared. Make sure you back up your saves. It might also be better to have a guide for all the collectibles if you know yourself to be impatient and don't like repeating long levels for them. If you prefer finding the collectibles on your own, at least the first time, then try not to backtrack while you're in the levels. It's better to finish the levels and then do them again.
This game could have been so much better if the devs patched it at least once. They never did. They mentioned they would fix the bugs for a while around release, then things went real quiet after that. Those kind of devs/publishers are not worth supporting. Hence the negative review.
If you can get past the poor optimization, bugs, and general jank (there's a very brief but mandatory stealth sequence late in the game that's so badly designed that it almost made me quit the game in frustration)... this is actually a pretty fun combat-free 3D platformer with a focus on reasonably satisfying exploration and puzzles. I'd definitely wait for a sale, though, and I'd also recommend OMNO over this one, as it's another recent indie 3D platformer that's attempting very similar things to Scarf with its gameplay, atmosphere, and even art direction, but with significantly more polished execution.
The story is also very questionably told and involves a "twist" that isn't actually a twist at all, since any potential impact has already been thoroughly spoiled by both optional collectibles and mandatory cutscenes. still, the focus here is more on gameplay than storytelling (this isn't Journey, though that was clearly an inspiration), so the weak story doesn't hurt the game as much as it otherwise might have.
The story is also very questionably told and involves a "twist" that isn't actually a twist at all, since any potential impact has already been thoroughly spoiled by both optional collectibles and mandatory cutscenes. still, the focus here is more on gameplay than storytelling (this isn't Journey, though that was clearly an inspiration), so the weak story doesn't hurt the game as much as it otherwise might have.
Scarf é um game de plataforma que apresenta uma aventura divertida e curta. Assim sendo, o título consegue cativar com os protagonistas, ambientação e trilha sonora. Entretanto, o jogo deixa a desejar no aspecto da narrativa e dos puzzles, sendo que estes aspectos poderiam ter sido melhor aprofundados.
Por fim, o título entrega um game de plataforma curto, porém cativante. Entretanto, os players que estiverem procurando uma obra com profundidade narrativa e de personagens podem se decepcionar.
Por fim, o título entrega um game de plataforma curto, porém cativante. Entretanto, os players que estiverem procurando uma obra com profundidade narrativa e de personagens podem se decepcionar.
How many damn times are indie developers going to remake Journey before they realize that following an exact formula down to the core ingredients will never capture the magic of the original?
I don't mean to sound overly cynical here, but that's exactly what was going through my head ten minutes into SCARF and continuously throughout the next three hours until the end. Note that this doesn't mean that SCARF isn't trying to do something different, but I wouldn't call any of those differences effective in any meaningful way. There are some simplified puzzles that you can more or less solve just by placing objects into the nearest available slot or flipping each level once. There's a section of hide and seek with an NPC for some reason, but it doesn't have to exist, invalidated due to both story/worldbuilding purposes and also mechanically because the NPC would somehow keep spotting me behind logs and walls for some reason. And there's a "good" and a "bad" ending but you can see the twist leading to the bad ending and what you have to do for the good ending a mile away. It also doesn't help that even though it's possible to collect everything you need for the good ending 2/3rds of the way in and have the twist revealed to you, you nevertheless have to play along and continue the rest of the story (as well as seemingly doing harm to others despite the gravity of your actions/motives behind your story being very blatantly exposed at this point); I suppose the show must go on, but does it even matter at this point?
Other than everything mentioned above, SCARF is exactly what you would expect from a typical Journey-like. There's heavy focus on atmosphere and lush & stylized minimalist visuals, with plenty of ambient environmental noise and the occasional sweeping orchestral track when the game deems it necessary to lift you up or play up the mood. You traverse through three mostly linear levels to progress the plot as you set out to discover more about the world around you and yourself with your trusty animated SCARF, collecting various trinkets along the way that provide additional wordless lore. The platforming is fine but rudimentary (and in my opinion, a bit slow); double jump, glide, and a rope swing are all abilities unlocked as you go along, but none of these feel that revolutionary in expanding the fluidity of your movement options. And there's a story that's supposed to be emotional and philosophical, but I've seen this trite song & dance so many times prior and better told; there's some "deep" narration regarding free will and control, creation and destruction, the cycle of life and death, I get it, I've tasted this flavor before in more immersive tones.
Ultimately I think this comes down to a lack of respect for fine detail and originality; Journey understands how to mold a story and build immersion with the simplest of details and expand upon well-tuned fundamentals, knowing exactly how to capture a player's attention while embedding memorable moments time and time again in a way that only video games can. SCARF and all the other Journey-likes have sometimes come close, but never truly get there because they're missing that crucial element of both being themselves and the finer details of what made Journey so memorable; it really felt like I was just being funneled along a predestined future like a train on rails, making the planned stops along the way with little player agency involved. I'll definitely expand upon this in future reviews of Journey-likes (as well as my yearly replay of the original), since I want to better understand myself everything that's involved.
My main takeaway from SCARF is this: the best works of art are unafraid to wear their influences on their sleeve, but ultimately succeed because they are trying to be themselves, and not something else that already exists. Ironic that this lesson was imparted from yet another copycat (competent, but nevertheless still a copycat) of a classic indie style that tries a bit too hard to express themes of rebellion and individuality.
I don't mean to sound overly cynical here, but that's exactly what was going through my head ten minutes into SCARF and continuously throughout the next three hours until the end. Note that this doesn't mean that SCARF isn't trying to do something different, but I wouldn't call any of those differences effective in any meaningful way. There are some simplified puzzles that you can more or less solve just by placing objects into the nearest available slot or flipping each level once. There's a section of hide and seek with an NPC for some reason, but it doesn't have to exist, invalidated due to both story/worldbuilding purposes and also mechanically because the NPC would somehow keep spotting me behind logs and walls for some reason. And there's a "good" and a "bad" ending but you can see the twist leading to the bad ending and what you have to do for the good ending a mile away. It also doesn't help that even though it's possible to collect everything you need for the good ending 2/3rds of the way in and have the twist revealed to you, you nevertheless have to play along and continue the rest of the story (as well as seemingly doing harm to others despite the gravity of your actions/motives behind your story being very blatantly exposed at this point); I suppose the show must go on, but does it even matter at this point?
Other than everything mentioned above, SCARF is exactly what you would expect from a typical Journey-like. There's heavy focus on atmosphere and lush & stylized minimalist visuals, with plenty of ambient environmental noise and the occasional sweeping orchestral track when the game deems it necessary to lift you up or play up the mood. You traverse through three mostly linear levels to progress the plot as you set out to discover more about the world around you and yourself with your trusty animated SCARF, collecting various trinkets along the way that provide additional wordless lore. The platforming is fine but rudimentary (and in my opinion, a bit slow); double jump, glide, and a rope swing are all abilities unlocked as you go along, but none of these feel that revolutionary in expanding the fluidity of your movement options. And there's a story that's supposed to be emotional and philosophical, but I've seen this trite song & dance so many times prior and better told; there's some "deep" narration regarding free will and control, creation and destruction, the cycle of life and death, I get it, I've tasted this flavor before in more immersive tones.
Ultimately I think this comes down to a lack of respect for fine detail and originality; Journey understands how to mold a story and build immersion with the simplest of details and expand upon well-tuned fundamentals, knowing exactly how to capture a player's attention while embedding memorable moments time and time again in a way that only video games can. SCARF and all the other Journey-likes have sometimes come close, but never truly get there because they're missing that crucial element of both being themselves and the finer details of what made Journey so memorable; it really felt like I was just being funneled along a predestined future like a train on rails, making the planned stops along the way with little player agency involved. I'll definitely expand upon this in future reviews of Journey-likes (as well as my yearly replay of the original), since I want to better understand myself everything that's involved.
My main takeaway from SCARF is this: the best works of art are unafraid to wear their influences on their sleeve, but ultimately succeed because they are trying to be themselves, and not something else that already exists. Ironic that this lesson was imparted from yet another copycat (competent, but nevertheless still a copycat) of a classic indie style that tries a bit too hard to express themes of rebellion and individuality.