Recent reviews by udoschmidt

The butter must flow

Absolutely Outstanding

Tiny bit rough around the edges, but the love the developers have for this simulator is evident throughout.
Highly recommended.

Regardless of the whole mess that Koch Media and Deep Silver pulled 4A Games into, I want to say that this game is absolutely amazing.

Wether you want to wait another year or give in and give your usage data to the chinese, you'll love this game.

P.S.: to 4A: The E-Type train in the NS Metro has the High Voltage and Battery Breaker on the wrong side of the control stand. (It should be on the left wall, not behind the driver's stand)

This game, in just the first hour of gameplay (in an early alpha state, mind you), already shows the absolute love and dedication put into it by its developers. The graphics are quite decent, bordering on picturesque and subjectively beautiful at times, the movement, camera and combat controls feel nice and firmly planted, while the smooth animations and quite pleasant soundscape lulls you into a sense of immersion and believability that I sometimes miss in survival games.

Now keep in mind that this is an early access release as of right now, and as experience has taught us, even the best of concepts, with the most dedicated of reasons can go down the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ for a variety of reasons, no matter how asinine.
But what I will say is that, personally, this game has given me hope that, somewhere out in the dark reaches of the game development world, there are still devs who will not just go for the lowest hanging fruit, slap an engine and some core mechanics on it and try and sell it to you as a complete survival experience.

Instead, Scum delivers you a survival experience that crosses the border into downright simulation territory, and pulls it off without feeling like a haphazard collection of features and character stats to look out for. You actually have to think about not just your immediate game plan, but actually plan out your "daily routine", if you will. Your character requires balanced nutrition, hydration and exercise to balance out your calorie intake.
Your character's bodily functions are simulated in rather impressive detail, and with just as impressive consequences should you choose to not take care of your needs.

Some people might think this kind of attention to detail and simulation a bit of a burden in an otherwise pretty and well made game. And there are of course these kinds of players who absolutely do not enjoy games with in-depth simulation mechanics like these.
But speaking as objectively as I can, regardless of wether you like your survival experience to be a hardcore, almost milsim-esque simulation or just a simple run and gun with comfort meters a la dayz, I think that the degree to which the devs have combined these mechanics into a neatly packed and decorated survival package is absolutely commendable. And if you take an honest look into your cold dead heart and spend an hour or two in this experience of a game, I think you might just agree with me here.

To wrap things up: I will say it for the nth time: this game is in early access, there is not a metric ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of things in the game yet, but that which already is gives one an appreciation for the dedication that the devs put into the game and lets one hope that the devs keep it up all the way to release.

Would I recommend this? Honestly, for 20 bucks it's already plenty impressive in its current state. If this keeps up the way it has, then this game is going places.

The game itself has a relatively solid framework, but it is hard to get into, which could at least partially be attributed to the community that actively discourages casual players to check out, much less enjoy this game.

Also +1 obligatory make Valve great again.