Scarf is the latest game from the Spanish indie developer behind Gris and RiME, and what the two games have in common is their unique art style with otherworldly storytelling that puts you in your mind about what happened in a particular world. You play as a character who meets a red dragon on the beach, feeding him with a strange glowing ball reveals the story of his origin – he arrived in your world after some “Bad people” – looked the same as the main character – cut him mother on a thread, and then used these threads to cross dimensions, and travel to other worlds and that’s all. The dragon begins to trust you and you will be tasked with tracking down the stolen parts of his mother so he can return to his world and meet her again.
Scarf is a single-player 3D puzzle and platformer adventure game in which you travel through beautiful and varied worlds. You play as a little guy named Hayk, along with your friend, the dragon-shaped scarf, helps the scarf return home, following the souls that have been stolen.
Your scarf can be transformed into a variety of items to help you on your adventure. It also adapts to each of the 3 worlds, changing the mechanics and skills you need to work with while in a particular world. Explore your surroundings, solve puzzles and navigate the world as you learn new abilities of your scarf, jump, slide or swing over it, discovering the secrets of these new worlds and delving deeper into what happened in history …
Scarf is surprisingly unsurprising for most of its four-hour run. There are no enemies in the game to talk about, but it makes it clear that these are “bad people”. The game is essentially a platformer to explore, our character, Hayk, was originally only blessed with running and single jump, but soon a new acquaintance will increase his set of abilities, adding grab, double jump, and glide to it.
Talking about issues: for some unknown reason I had framerate issues and played with PS4 and PS5 controllers and sometimes the game was too sensitive to control, but this is not a big problem to get used to.
The jumps seem a little too smooth for my taste and will make you fall several times until you get used to it. The walking / running speed is also a bit slow and sometimes the animation just breaks in some places.
The scarf also allows you to replay the levels, and when you replay the level you are playing, it’s your first time or the second time you start without abilities, and the cutscenes will play over and over again and cannot be skipped. This makes playing in the same area rather boring. And yes, if we talk about cutscenes, as soon as you enter the location, the developers will tell you – “go there, turn the lever there, and then this door will open and you can go through”.
As for me, this should not be at all.
Scarf certainly delights in the combination of a storyline and a very beautiful environment, which is just enough to immerse the player in a four-hour campaign. But due to the banal and uniform gameplay, this is not enough to stand out in the genre or even become noticeable.
But regardless of his problems, the Scarf is for those who want leisurely and fantastically distracted from worldly problems, and just run around and enjoy the views.
As with many previous adventure games, the game’s design dates back to 2012’s critically acclaimed Journey. In Scarf, as in The Journey, the player takes on the role of a nomad exploring the ancient world.
As I said earlier, there are virtually no enemy threats in this game. Instead, the game focuses on platformer and puzzle elements. The game often requires you to scour a wide, open area looking for small pieces of scarf that can be placed on a monument in the main area in order to achieve your goal, which is to bring your son back to his mother.
From there, you’ll solve simple puzzles like moving blocks, flipping switches, feeding animals, and even scaring off crows.
One feature that stood out especially was the water ball grip, which allows you to walk under the water by creating an air vacuum around you. And I can’t say what I’ve seen before in games.
The length of the scarf will vеry depending on how lost you are in your exploration. In theory, you can complete the game in a few tries, the difficulty is generally quite low, making this game suitable for players of all skill levels. Even if you’re not a fan of platformers, there are often checkpoints in the game if you do fall and they are very close (right on every platform). You don’t need quick reflexes to enjoy it, just a little patience.
Our PC review of Scarf was completed thanks to a code provided by PR.
