A genre switch from Compile Heart that fires blanks with every shot in Scar-Lead Salvation.
Compile Heart is best known for anime-inspired role-playing games like Hyperdimension Neptunia and Death End Re;Quest. Over the years, the company has built a reputation largely based on fan service, limited budgets, and uneven quality. When it was said that Scar-Lead Salvation would be a third-person shooter roguelike, people took notice.
Could this be a big step in a new direction for the studio, a welcome change from what it usually does? Too bad, no. For Scar-Lead Salvation to be different from Compile Heart, it has to deal with the same problems: design that is repetitive, not much depth, and a frustrating loop that feels more like punishment than progress.
Willow Martin, a lone woman, wakes up in a mysterious military facility. She seems to be alone, except for an AI voice that keeps talking to her. Since they can’t remember anything, the goal is to get away. The pair’s relationship is the only bright spot in the dark game halls.
It’s surprising how often and well Willow’s back-and-forths with the AI are written. The English dub brings life to what could have been a dull information dump. The dialogue is funny and has a passive-aggressive tone, like in “Portal”, but without the puzzles and charm. But, as interesting as these early conversations might be, the main story doesn’t go anywhere interesting. The buildup and mystery ultimately fail to lead to a satisfying ending.
As soon as you take control of Willow, Scar-Lead Salvation starts to feel like a machine. You’ll have to run, shoot, dash, and sometimes jump your way through endless levels with hallways that lead to small rooms full of robot enemies. Willow is very good at avoiding bullets and holding two weapons at once. She can switch between rifles, shotguns, and elemental-based weapons.
You can get better guns and buffs and get ready for the next wave of copy-pasted violence while you’re not on a mission or floor level. There are sometimes treasure chests, jump pads to higher ledges, and trinkets that raise your stats spread out, but they don’t give you much of a reason to check out every corner.
The game’s structure makes it hard to enjoy, even though the movement system is well-paced and the controls are responsive. It feels like each floor is the same as the last. The game is stretched out and full of filler, and the boss fights aren’t very interesting.
This is not a puzzle game; Scar-Lead Salvation is only about shooting things. Dodging projectiles, firing bullets, and blocking some attacks with Willow’s awkward melee strike are important parts of the battle. It tries to combine action and strategy, but all it does is make things boring.
The Onslaught Mode temporarily increases the amount of damage you do, but the enemies you’re fighting don’t need these kinds of boosts very often. They’re slow and don’t come up with new ideas. By the third floor, you’ll know all of their tricks.
On paper, the different types of guns sound good, with different elements and stats that can be upgraded. But there is too much loot and not enough meaningful difference. You’ll keep switching to slightly better weapons without ever getting used to them or making a plan around them.
The fact that it’s not hard is really bad. You don’t even have to fight every enemy to move forward; you can just run right past them, pick up their loot, and keep going. You only need to fight to get money for upgrades, but even that is pointless because new weapons drop so often that the ones you already have are useless.
Boss fights could have been a saving grace, but they’re just longer rounds of bullet sponges that don’t make a difference. There is no stress or learning curve; you just strafe something over and over until it falls over.
If you pick up a certain item, you’ll instantly come back to life. Death doesn’t feel like a punishment or a reason to live; it just feels like a glitch in your boredom.
It’s possible for a roguelike to loop. “Die,” “Restart a Chapter or Floor,” and “Bring Forward a Few Items That Will Boost Your Stats.” In real life, though, you probably won’t die unless you choose to. Because the game is so easy, there’s no need to grind at all. You never get the thrill of getting better or the stress of having to get through harder material. It turns into a treadmill with no slope, just running for the sake of running.
Scar-Lead Salvation looks like it’s in the “it’s fine” category. Each floor looks like a slightly shuffled copy of the last one; the environments are clean but not very interesting. Even though the robot enemies look good, you’ll get tired of them quickly. Willow herself stands out, with a clearly high-poly character model that’s meant to… draw attention to her features.
It’s clear that the costume break mechanic—in which her outfit gets worse as she takes damage—is meant to please fans, but it’s so slow and subtle that it’s more funny than romantic.
The audio in Scar-Lead Salvation is what really surprises me about it. The English voice acting is good, especially for Willow and the AI, and it can be funny at times. In the beginning, their chemistry is really fun, and the game should be praised for giving them so many chances to talk.
The music and sound effects are fine—basic sci-fi background noise and gunfire—but they’re not annoying, which makes them better than most of the rest of the experience.
Scar-Lead Salvation is a good idea for a game—a change of genre for Compile Heart that could have given their formula new life. The bad news is that it’s hidden by poor design, dull gameplay, and a lack of meaningful progression.
The dialogue and movement feel fine, but they can’t save you from the boredom of exploring the same dull rooms and fighting the same dull enemies. You’ll be left wondering why this game costs $60. By the time you reach the second boss, you’ll either be completely bored or trying to kill yourself to see what will happen. That’s right, it won’t.
Scar-Lead Salvation has some good ideas, but Compile Heart fails to deliver on them once more. It might have been saved by a smaller budget and clearer goals. Right now, this is just another forgettable album in their lineup that is getting worse and worse.
