Scars Above
In 2022, Prime Matter and Mad Head Games plan to release Scars Above, a new sci-fi game that combines elements of survival, exploration and puzzles. As part of the Koch Media showcase, the development team revealed further details about the project. A first look at Scars Above's gameplay was also shared. The shooter is currently in production for PC and unspecified consoles.Recommended editorial content Here you will find external content from [PLATFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. In the story, players accompany the astronaut and astrobiologist Kate Ward, who is suddenly teleported to an alien planet by an alien object. The circumstances there are anything but advantageous and are even described as hostile to life. Kate Ward's goal is not only to find her missing teammates, but also to explore the planet's hostile intentions. In a playful way, Scars Above is partly reminiscent of Returnal, which was released exclusively for PS5 a few weeks ago. Further details are available in the broadcast from Koch Media, which we have included for you as a YouTube video above.
In addition to the unveiling of Scars Above, other Prime Matter projects were also presented. This included new information on Payday 3 or a new look at Dolmen, which will also be available for PC and console next year. You can find the trailer at the end of the message. You can find more information about the other events around E3 2021 on our topic page for the event.
Scars Above, Revealed at Koch Media Show, Looks Like Tomb Raider in Space
Koch Media held a media conference today, ahead of E3’s kick-off this weekend, to reveal more details about its new game publishing company, Prime Matter, and describe which games they’re working on. The only game that came with any gameplay footage to show was Scars Above, a trippy sci-fi horror game that the developers describe as “Alice in Wonderland” meets “Alien.”
We got an extended look at the gameplay and the story of the game from the footage shown. The main character, Kate, is a member of a space recon team who’s stranded on a very nasty alien planet. She must battle her way through some very aggressive fauna and find her team. I can see the influence of both the aforementioned Alice and Alien, but the third-person perspective and Kate’s ponytail make it look like sci-fi Tomb Raider.
The Koch Media event, one of the E3-adjacent events that are running ahead of the event’s official start this weekend, was, for the most part, nothing to write home about. While the host kept repeating that the company’s new publishing arm, Prime Matter, had 12 games in development, most of them were too early in development to show. The only thing we got from Payday 3 was a single piece of concept art, for example. Scars Above stood out just for having an extensive gameplay trailer.
Funnily enough, I recognize developer Mad Head Games as being the studio behind some of my favorite casual puzzler games. Good to see they’re getting a chance to break into the AAA space. We got a solid seven minutes of gameplay from the trailer, which is more than just about anything else we could say from the show. There were a couple of interesting trailers — the most notable besides Scars Above being Dolmen, another sci-fi horror game (I’m seeing a pattern here).