Scarf is the perfect game for players who fondly remember titles like Spyro, Journey, and Abzu but want to be able to finish a game in its entirety in one sitting. Its emotionally driven storyline is short, sweet, and to the point with aesthetics that enchant from beginning to end. If you’re looking for something with a fresh yet familiar feel to sink your teeth into without committing too much time and money, it’s honestly hard to top Scarf.
Even as the final moments occurred, which also felt like it came out of nowhere, it didn't feel like the player was a hero. Given the wonderful mechanics, design, personality, and narrative intentions of Scarf, the confusing storytelling is unfortunate but, thankfully, doesn't make the game any less enjoyable. While it's never fun to push story to the sidelines, doing so will let players get lost in Scarf's beautiful worlds and have an absolute blast during its short but sweet playtime.
Scarf tries to win attention with its creative puzzles and attractive fairy-tale art style. It indeed does have those qualities, but if I were to describe this platformer with just two words, I’d say it is simple and charming.
SCARF is a singer without a voice and a dancer without legs. There were tons of things that could have been great within it, but none of them were capitalised on, and it felt like there weren’t enough resources spent on where it mattered.
A lovely game. The more you play It the more you fall in love with It. Beautiful graphics that show an amazing ando lively world. A great soundtrack that makes you want to keep on listening more. This game made my day and helped me realize there're still developers that love their games and not only our money
Aims for the heights of the likes of Journey, but falls short. There's just something missing. A lack of charm. It just makes it into a mindless and rather boring experience. With basic platforming and basic puzzles and with little to no payoff in the end. "What it means to be a hero" apparently means just walking around, doing some puzzles, and getting a final cutscene.
I'd be remiss to mention that this game does NOT run well. You'll be lucky to get 45fps at the best of times regardless of your settings and hardware. Not to mention that it will NOT run comfortably on the Deck, with Valve stating "No graphical configuration runs well", which I can confirm.
Beautiful and with some enjoyable puzzles, but overall boring, felt more like a chore. There are loads of better 3D puzzle platformers. With better puzzles, better story. And that hide and seek mini-game at the end? Oh boy, that left a sour taste in my mouth.
Scarf is a puzzle/3D platforming, narrative driven game,
Not much of a storyline as such other than the taglines of "what it means to be a hero". The game's main gimmick is that your scarf is a living creature, when you first start it kinda looks like a dragon, then you collect an orb and make friends with it and it turns into a regular scarf that goes around your neck. Once you have merged with the scarf, you quickly learn that it is the child, and that the mother scarf, creature thingy, was ripped apart by bad souls, who then used her threads to make portals. Baby scarf tried searching for their mother to no avail. Finally, by merging with your character, the story can be told.
You are then off and running, on a search to trap the souls who have created their own worlds.
Look I was pretty confused too, so can we get past the nonsensical storyline?
Each area has its own unique qualities, and as you play you will learn new scarf-based abilities, and you will discover the secrets of each area while solving puzzles, jumping to different parts, gliding and so on. Very generic stuff.
The Good
The game is quite pretty, everything looks and sounds fine.
The Bad
This is a short game, about 2 hours at most. The controls are clunky, and unfortunately a lot of the gameplay is quite tedious. At times it feels more like a walking simulator as opposed to a proper puzzle/platformer. And the fact you will complete it in one sitting and then have no need or want to play it again seems like not the best way to spend £12.
Overall
The game is not all bad, I just don't think any single element of the game is particularly good.
It has value more as walking simulator, something to pass the time instead of something to challenge.
I score Scarf on PC a 5/10. Could have been so much more.
SummaryWhat does it mean to be a hero? To fulfil your destiny? Or to rebel against it? Scarf is an exciting adventure that blends the lyricism of a walking simulator with a 3D platform game to offer an allegorical journey through three beautiful worlds. The Meadow, the Desert, and the Mountain are places filled with mystery. Will you discover t...