*SPOILER WARNING*
While at first glance Scarf appears to be a game aimed at young children, it is rather bleak and often macabre, with players being told a story that includes some rather disturbing imagery, such as a child watching their mother being turned to shreds while she shrieked in agony, and eventually finding out they (the player) is helping the villain actively persecute a race of humanoid Nomads who are trying to escape from slavery.
Supporting the enslavement of an entire race aside, one of the narrative’s darkest moments involves the player discovering that they have been an active participant in the capture, murder and harvesting of Nomad infants to feed the evil entity known as Mother, and by following the story as it is written, players will end up finding themselves the puppet and slave of Mother, forced to server as her enforcer as she continues to enslave and murder the freedom-seeking nomads.
Fortunately for players who collect enough lore snippets (referred to as Inks), there is a good ending available, which gives the player the option to resist the evil entity and free the nomads, despite being unable to save the nomad children who have already died as the result of the player’s action.
Like many souls-like games, the narrative of Scarf is hidden throughout the world, and the average player will have no idea they are actually helping the bad guys until it is too late to do anything about it.
Image credit Scarf - Published by HandyGames and developed by Uprising Studios.
While Scarf’s narrative is rather dark, it’s not so dark that it deserves the negative attention it has received from conspiracy theorists, with various conspiracy theorists posting rather disturbing acquisitions, such as accusing the developers of supporting paedophilia due to the stylised A in the key art loosely resembling a symbol used by paedophiles.
Keyart aside, Scarf has curiously attracted the attention of various anti-vaxxers who accuse the developers of having a pro-vaccine agenda and supporting some sort of Orwellian New World Order, which makes about as little sense as can be expected, considering some anti-vaxxers believe that up to four billion people have died because of the vaccine, despite having no explanation as to why no one would notice up to half of the worlds population dying over the span of just two years.
I suspect the narratives focus on harvesting Nomad children attracted the attention of Qanon supporters, who are proponents of a similar conspiracy theory that involves “Jewish Hollywood Elites” harvesting adrenaline from abused children to retain their youth.
Image credit Scarf - Published by HandyGames and developed by Uprising Studios.
While this may be a positive for some, I personally found that the lack of direction in regards to puzzles was more frustrating than challenging, and while the puzzles are very doable, young children and gamers who are easily frustrated will feel annoyed at having so little indication of how to solve some of the more obscure puzzles.
This frustration is made worse due to Scarf suffering from multiple unaddressed bugs that can render certain puzzles impossible to complete. This often results in players being forced to restart the game from the beginning because the character is essentially soft-locked in an inescapable area.
Image credit Scarf - Published by HandyGames and developed by Uprising Studios.
Having played Scarf on multiple platforms, I must admit that it doesn’t feel right on any of them, and while the developers have done a good job of making multiple traversal abilities, the way the main character moves lacks weight, which is not only offputting visually, makes platforming far more challenging (and frustrating) than the developers originally envisioned.
While I understand that the developers are aiming for a bright and whimsical aesthetic, it is rather bright on even high-quality displays and more than once; I found myself having to look away from the screen due to my eyes feeling tired while exploring areas that are bathed in sunlight.
Image credit Scarf - Published by HandyGames and developed by Uprising Studios.
Scarf is rather short at just 6 hours for a completionist playthrough; however, this is a fair amount of content considering its very low price point of $9.99 on console and $14.99 on PC.
Scarf is one of just a few titles to cost less on consoles than on PC, with the reverse usually being true if there is any price disparity.
Scarf is a adventure video game developed by Uprising Studios and published by HandyGames, it was released on 23 December 2021 and retails for $9.99-$14.99.
Scarf is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
On average Scarf takes between 4.5 and 6.5 hours to complete.
Estimated completion times are derived from various sources and may vary based on the skill level of each player.
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Scarf is rated PEGI 7+ and contains no mature content.
Scarf is a beautiful game; however, its childlike aesthetic hides a dark undertone that may make it unsuitable for young children or sensitive individuals due to its rather bleak subject matter, which touches upon topics such as slavery and infanticide, albeit in a very stylised manner.
