WTF even is SCUM?

Hang on, how many carbs does that chocolate have?

'Scum' can encompass a great many definitions. It could refer to the 2K execs who are trying to institute $70 games out of some bare-faced lie about static game prices despite they themselves being some of the worst aggressors in purposefully selling games piece-meal. It might be directed at the hoards of bottomfeeders who have spent the past few months scooping up the latest generation of consoles in order to mark it up on Ebay and rip-off others for murky/ unworthy reasons. (Oh, you're stepping on others to support your family? Sounds like your progeny is one the gene pool could do without, thanks.) Or else it might be the label attached to whomever it was that thought the turnbased card combat of the original 'Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories' would work in a real-time 3D setting. Spoilers: it doesn't. But what about 'SCUM'? You know, with the capital letters and all. Why, that almost looks like an Acronym. But if it is, I honestly don't know what it stands for, all I know is that SCUM is another dang Zombie survival game, but with enough oddities that I'm bringing it up before you today.

First I should specify, though it's likely you've deduced it already even from that spartan description, that this is an early access title. For the sake of being fair and charitable, I should probably say that anything I have to say about the game, positive or negative, is absolutely subject to change because these sorts of early access journeys can seriously go on for years before anything ultimately comes of it, that's just the nature of the game. In fact, it almost feels like every early access game in existence starts off as a zombie survival game before maturing or floundering; can we be sure that Subnautica didn't start life as a zombie survival? Absolutely not, and I'm callously deny any verifiable proof otherwise! That being said, there are certain quirks to this SCUM in particular which makes it stand out as 'not your typical survival sim', whilst making me downright indignant over the fact that I ain't never heard of this game until it stumbled onto my Steam recommendeds by random. (By the way Steam: really thought your algorithms worked cleaner than this, but thank you for your mishap anyway.)

Introduced in 2018, SCUM appears to be the second game from Gamepires, with the only other one I can see being this title called 'Gas Guzzlers' which seems to be an arcade racing game with gun powerups and a zombie DLC. (Huh, guess these guys have a bit of a type.) In that light, it almost seems like a regression to go from that slightly imaginative concept to a game so base that it seems like everyone has made one; but simply looking at what SCUM has to offer reveals that the team aren't creatively lacking, they merely channelled that creativity into the game itself. And that's certainly not something they undersell, claiming in the official description that SCUM is attempting to "Evolve the Multiplayer open world with unprecedented levels of character customisation, control and progression."... oh, I'm sorry; that was so dry it put me to sleep. What does all of that mean? Honestly I'm not even sure that they know, but I at least think I know where they're coming from when they talk about customisation.

SCUM has a character creator that is both incredibly innovative and disappointing. Disappointing if you want to finely craft the exact character that you want to play as, but this is an indie game so did you really think they'd be able to pull of that level of detail on a multiplayer setting? Innovative, however, if you really saw potential in that one way in which customisation affected stats in Brink and wished that game didn't bomb into oblivion so that single decent idea could be preserved. That's right, SCUM intelligently ties it's character creation into stat generation and I am all for it; that's the sort of stuff I'd love to see more off in the future! It isn't entirely realised, mind you (like most aspects in relation to this game) but it's far along enough to be comment worthy.

Adjusting your character's age will have a knock on effect to their raw dexterity shat, (typically lowering for the older that you get) making you less privy to skill points for concentration skills and fine co-ordination. Messing with their body type will give or remove from the strength stat, which covers damage, resistance, carry weight and pretty much everything you'd expect a stat like that to cover with the exception of constitution. And then finally, yes, there is the Penis size which affects the intelligence stat because of course it does. This game also covets the dubious honour of being the only game I know of to sell a DLC that increases the default genital size. (Thus freeing up an extra skill point or too that might have been spent on vanity.) It sure is a unique approach to character creation, if nothing else.

But it doesn't stop there, because SCUM actually prides itself on other systems which really do push the boundaries of what the majority of survival games are doing today. (Whether that's for better or for worse is really up to your own interpretation) The flagship for me, and really what crossed the line so much that I had to write about it, is the 'complex systems' tab which notes metabolism, inertia during movement (Not really sure why that's worth monitoring or what can be done about it) and the speed at which clothes are drying on your body. The Steam page justifies this with a snappy, 'The Devil is in the details'. But I'll be honest, that sounds like hilariously too many details. Are you telling me this is a zombie survival game in which I'm expected to keep track of my diet? And people said that Red Dead Redemption 2 had too much immersion. (And I should also note that the tab which features this information looks like a nightmare, it could really do with some uncluttering)

Unfortunately, for all of it's promise and ambition, SCUM does suffer from 'early access game syndrome' where right now most people are buying into the dream of a great game rather than that game itself. Even after 2 years that balancing is unfinished, the AI is still choppy, the map is overly large; there's just not really a lot of polish here. Which is to be expected, of course, in Early access, but given the scale of what they want to achieve, (remember; this is "unprecedented levels of- customisation, control and progression") one must wonder if they'll ever really make it in the end. And even if they do; will there be an audience to reward them for it? (Survival zombie games are kind of a dime'a'dozen. This one might have secured a little bit of a name for itself, but who knows if that's enough to keep this title alive?)

When I stumbled upon a game with as unappealing a name as SCUM, I really wasn't expecting to be impressed, but I was expecting the lukewarm recalibration of expectations after the fact. Vision is an important past of the creative process, and I have respect for anyone with the ambition, courage and ingenuity to map out frontiers that no one else has touched is a relatively broadly explored genre. However that always comes with the gamble of whether or not your own expectations can be met, and sometimes those expectations themselves can be what guides you astray. SCUM has vague tints to it's canvas of being a game on the verge of overpromising itself off a cliff, but I remain fascinated all the same, because what if it does someday become the greatest survival game on the market? Dang, this 'ambition' stuff sure is contagious...