It would be really easy for me to not recommend this and just move on, but that wouldn't be fair…
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Since I went into this with no real expectations, it managed to exceed that on some level. But what it didn't do was actually make me like it. What it succeeds at is creating an atmosphere. Graphically it's interesting and detailed. The sound design is adequately creepy and has depth. The physical elements of the world itself are well put together. If all you're looking for is to walk through a biomechanical museum of horrors, then just stop reading here and go buy the game. But if you're expecting more than that…

What it doesn't do is offer any real context or sense of accomplishment.

You wake up in a slithering world of "gross" and start sticking your hands into things, just to see what's going to get stuck on you or slither out of something controlled by whatever orifices you're interacting with. You walk through large set pieces trying to find interaction points and then engage monolithic scale puzzle elements to unlock more puzzle interaction points to make progress deeper into the moist hole of a cavern you're crawling through.

The entire experience is just a squishy nightmare of disjointed horror scenes leading to… well, that's the problem. It doesn't really lead to anything but more squishy nightmare scenes.

Personally it's not even about being scary or gross; I'm desensitized to these things which is why I don't get much out of it. I can appreciate it for the art design as a set piece. But was I supposed to be scared? Grossed out? Was I supposed to feel something by looking at these things? I need an emotional or story connection before that process can even begin and this is just the aesthetic without the meaning behind it.

It's more like the theory of a horror game without bothering to do the work of making anything in it to be actually afraid of. Why are we here? Who even is the character you're playing? Where are we going? What's the point? I'm all for a good mystery, but this isn't even offering the mystery. It's more like the developers made a big room full of scary corners, told you "hey look over there" and then just ran away without bothering to give you a pay off.

Even the difficulty doesn't come from the game being hard, it comes from the pure trial and error of exploring the world to find things that are clickable in a world full of non interactive slime. So you don't even get any real sense of accomplishment from solving things, more like relief at not having to walk in circles anymore before clicking on the next interaction. The minimal combat comes later in the game and also isn't terribly hard, more like a broader meta puzzle due to lack of ammo to cause you some urgency to move on.

Maybe in the real world if someone walked up to you and handed you the ripped off arm of an animal and walked away, you could feel actual fear of what they might do next. But when it happens in the safety of your own home, inside a video game; I'm sorry, I need more context than that before it has meaning. In the real world you might fear this potential murderer or monster of a man who just handed you body parts. In a video game you're left asking yourself, what do I do with it? Is it a puzzle piece? Do I have to fight this guy? Where is the game play from this arm? Oh, it was just a visual gag?

The context of being in a game fully removes any fear unless you actually give the player dimension and story and a reason to care. You have to get to know the character and what's going on. Nah, this just gives you stuff you're supposed to be grossed out by and then walks you to the next set piece.

From the very first puzzle, you're pushing a screaming thing around in a cart while it cries in pain and then bashing it out of its shell while it cries in pain, so that you can make it follow you around while it cries in pain. What is it? Who is it? Am I supposed to be stopping its pain or causing more? What's the puzzle? What's the mystery? What's the freaking point?

It's not that I want it handed to the player without earning it; it's that it should exist at some point in the presentation just to feed the pay off, but then there isn't one.

I could go on talking in circles, but that's much of what the game does. It just has you walking in circles. Someone spent a lot of time making detailed and interesting caverns to walk through and filtered it through some atmospheric noise. But beyond the large meaningless puzzle set pieces it's an exercise in futility.

If this game was your Halloween night out, imagine you got all dressed up in a nice costume and then no one bothered to give you any candy. You just walked around your neighborhood while everyone avoided you and slammed their door in your face. And the puzzles were just a maze so you can find your way home disappointed.

Playing this game makes me feel like I went out for Halloween and came back without any candy.

If you want another view point, may I recommend watching this:
https://youtu.be/wColvVDuZBU?si=pvfKODgRWXZgoJZJ
Or I'll summarize it here: "“Scorn is what happens when your design document is a picture of HR Giger with a bunch of arrows pointing to it and no idea where to go from there." ~ Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw” (paraphrased)
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Bottom line: Scorn is a "disgusting" gore tour walking simulator with large interactive set pieces as puzzles but no story and no…

This is nuts. I think this is clearly not for everyone... I saw it as a kind of modern first-person transposition of the weird, outlandish late 80s/early 90s point-and-click adventure games taking place in utterly alien and bizarre worlds. But there's also a slight "shooter" (TERM USED VERY LOOSELY) side to it.

Beyond that, it's... as you'd expect from this description above... a lot of running around, trying to avoid enemies, and occasionally solving puzzles. I'm not gonna lie, a significant portion of it was more frustrating than interesting. Especially when you get effectively stuck with one hit point but you've got to make a lot more progress towards the next invisible checkpoint. I saw that lots of people describe the combat as "clunky" and janky... but it's not as bad as I thought it'd end up being after taking a short peek at other players' opinions. It's not great... but also not that bad...?

There's a ton of interesting environmental and visual storytelling taking place, especially in the last chapter. The last half-hour of the game is insane and had me pick my jaw up from the floor. The world and its story just have me yearning for more. I would love to see the developers have another go at it.

Now, do I think it's worth the launch price of 40€?

I backed the game on Kickstarter several years ago, so I got to experience it for a mere 13€. I feel like I got WAY more than my money's worth. But I can see how Scorn would be a hard sell to some people at the full price. If you really love H.R. Giger, bizarre alien worlds, absolutely gorgeous 3D artwork, and don't mind the game being a bit more frustrating than it should... I think you should go for it.

Can be confusing for those without sense of direction, but its all part of the game. Don't give up at the beginning, but instead try to take the time to learn and solve the puzzles. Overall great game with ominous ending and stunning visuals.