Overview – developed by Compile Heart, Idea Factory and Neilo, with publishing handled by Idea Factory Internationsal, Scar-Lead Salvation is a sci-fi third person shooter with roguelike elements. As the amnesiac Willow, fight through a deserted military facility, battling robots to try and uncover her past and find a way to escape alive. This game is currently available for Steam and PlayStation, with a link to each version of the game at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I got into the review, I would like to thank Idea Factory International for providing the copy of Scar-Lead Salvation that was used for this piece, via email and the Keymailer service. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review, starting with the story. I will be covering the core gameplay systems, as to prevent spoiling any of the secrets and surprises the game holds.
Story – Willow Martin awaken in an unknown space, with no memory of how she got there or who she is. She attempts to find a way out of the facility, but is surrounded by robots and everything fades to black. Waking up again, she encounters a military AI that becomes her only companion, aiding her during her journey. But unknown to Willow, she has become trapped in a loop where every time she dies, she will find herself back at the start.
Gameplay – Scar-Lead Salvation is a third person roguelike, where the player needs to move through multiple sections, made up of rooms connected via special portals. The objective of the game is to move through the different areas, battling robots and collecting loot. The different sections are set into Floors, with multiple making up each floor of the facility. There are two types of room that can be commonly found, split into combat and safe rooms.
Willow will have armor when she spawns into the facility, which will absorb some damage from enemies. This is shown as a twin cape, which will break in sections when too much damage is taken. If the armor is completely destroyed, the player will only be able to fully restore it at set points. After losing all her armor, Willow’s clothing will start to deteriorate as health is lost. This will be restored slightly when health is recovered during a run.
The main way to take out the different threats of the facility is through firearms, with the player starting each attempt of the game with a full auto rifle. Then as the player makes their way through the game, they will come across a range of weaponry. This arsenal starts off with weapons like a handgun and shotgun, then expanding into laser blasters and rocket launchers. Each of the weapons have their own unique stats, giving players plenty of options.
During encounters in the combat rooms, the player will be able to lock onto an enemy that is within the onscreen crosshair. This allows some flexibility when it comes to movement, as there are bullet hell elements to enemy attacks. To help with managing this, the player can use two special skills to mitigate as much damage as possible. The first is the Mirage Shift, which is a short range dash with brief invincibility, allowing willow to pass through attacks.
Alongside the dash, there is the Striker, a melee attack that can “parry” enemy fire clearing the bullets away. But there are some enemy attacks like Lasers, which cannot be stopped with the striker. If the player can get close, they will be able to hit enemies with the striker, dealing massive damage to the target. Each time an enemy is defeated, they will drop money called ELM that can be collected, which is added to the players total for the run.
Scattered throughout the floors of the facility are boxes, containing items that the player can pick up. There are several types of items that can be found, with the most common being weapons and ability buffs. Weapons that are found will often increase in level the further the player gets, allowing the player to strengthen their firearms. The ability items can increase health, defense, damage and more with duplicates increasing how effective they are.
The item boxes aren’t the only thing that players can find throughout the facility, there are special teleportation points that the player can find. Using these will send Willow to special rooms, separated from the main floor. Inside these spaces, the player will be able to access special shops, where elm can be exchanged for weapons, items and even one time use revival items. There is even a special challenge stage offering great rewards.
As the player defeats enemies, they will gain Exo Force filling up a meter at the bottom of the screen. This meter is segmented, and attached to the ability system. When the meter is filled up, Willow can enter a special state called Onslaught. In this powered up state, Willow is invincible and can deal more damage to enemies until the energy expires. If the player takes any damage, a segment of the meter will be depleted.
When the player reaches the end of a floor, they will find the teleporter to the next and a special power up box. Using this box, Willow will be able to increase the power of their armaments, spending ELM to add levels to the active weapon. This makes it important to collect as much ELM as possible early on, so players can strengthen their gear early on. Special one use upgrade stations can also be found in special rooms accessed from warps.
After clearing a set amount of floors within each section, a connection room will be reached. In these areas, there will be powerful boss opponents that Willow must face in deadly combat. During the boss encounters, the player will be bombarded with a variety of attacks, with the player needing to make full use of their skills. To take down the boss, the player will need to deplete enemy health, with multiple phases to these battles.
After defeating a boss for the first time, Willow will be granted a special power up increasing the number of abilities that they can hold. As the player gets deeper into the facility, new ability items and weapons will appear expanding the available options. The new ability items are tied to levels, with the respective items only appearing after set stages are reached. So level 1 items appear in the first section and then level 2 and so on.
As this is a roguelike, the player has only one life for the duration of a run, with the only way to survive fatal injury is by having a revival item. If the player dies, they will be returned to the starting point of the facility. From here, the player must go back into the facility to try again. Any ability items will be carried between runs, alongside permanent upgrades. Inside the starting area, the player will be able to recover lost health and armor.
If the player successfully clears the first and second section of the facility, they will be unlock warps to the other sections and be able to immediately go to them. This can be very helpful, as the pre boss room will have a teleporter to return to the start area. By using this, the player will be able to quickly return and restore their health and armor. The only downside to this is that it causes the player to backtrack, needing to travel to a boss again.
Due to the roguelike systems of this game, the layouts of the floors of each section will change. There is a pool of room layouts that can appear, but the order and placement of them will change with each attempt. When challenging the dangers of the facility, the player doesn’t always need to defeat all foes in a room. If the player chooses to, they can rush through rooms and avoid danger, but there will be the chance to miss warps and ELM.
Throughout the experience, as each section is reached, the enemies that appear will increase in power. This will elevate the dangers that players will face. There will also be deadly traps that can be appear, like laser grids that will have rewards behind them. The more runs that players make, the more players will learn the different rooms that appear. This practice will allow for players to get further during each attempt to escape the facility.
The last thing to mention is the library system, where the player will add new information during play. This system can be viewed in game and at the main menu, providing a refresher for players as well as providing exposition on the story. This is very useful as there is also the ability to view conversations between Willow and the AI, making it easy to catch up after taking a break from the game. Each time new information is collected it will be added to the library.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to cover the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – as Scar-Lead Salvation is available on both PC and Console, there will be controller support and mouse/keyboard on PC. The input layout for controllers is very easy to use, allowing for players to quickly and easily get into the action. Then there is the mouse/keyboard, which is a little awkward, but it can be more comfortable in terms of camera and movement. Both control methods can be remapped, providing the option to adjust inputs to fit unique play styles.
Difficulty – there is a fairly fluid difficulty curve for this release, as there are some areas that will be more challenging than others. This is combined with the random nature of weapon and ability drops, as well as the trap sections. It is possible to loop some areas, boosting weapons and abilities for later areas. The toughest part of the game is the boss battles, as they can easily kill the player if they are under levelled, or under prepared.
Presentation – Visually the game looks great, with a mix of sci-fi and anime aesthetics to them. The environments for each section are distinct, with plenty of variety to them. There is a limited use of color, which helps to build the atmosphere and add to the tension. All of the elements work well together, alongside cutscenes that give the events more depth when they occur. Sadly, there are some flaws with the overall presentation on PS4.
There is some unfortunate lag that occurred when playing through a base PlayStation 4, which caused lag and stuttering. This affected the gameplay significantly, making it almost impossible to play at times. The sound and music is good, with atmospheric instrumentals that improve the general experience. Last is the voice over, available in both English and Japanese, with both options performed very well and enhancing the narrative.
Final Thoughts – as an enjoyer of third person action games, anime style storytelling and challenging gameplay, Scar-Lead Salvation caught my attention. The premise is interesting, the narrative was engaging and the gameplay was a lot of fun. I had a great time for the majority of the experience, as the fast paced gun play, challenging action and boss battles all working together. The only downside to the experience were the performance issues on PS4.
It is a shame that the console version I played had these issues, as this is an excellent game that is a lot of fun to play. I do hope that the issues are addressed with an optimisation patch, which will improve these issues. The PC version worked flawlessly, which was tested on two different hardware builds. It is a little hard to recommend this game on base PS4 now, but on PC and the PS5 which are more powerful options, then I can say to check this out.
In the end, I give Scar-Lead Salvation a final score of 4/5. This is a challenging and enjoyable roguelike third person action game, offering a fun and enjoyable experience with a narrative that keeps players engaged, but sadly the base PS4 release is marred by some flaws. If you want to check this release out for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
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