Scars Aboveis a third-person shooter focused on Dr. Kate Ward and her desperate struggle for survival in a hostile alien world. The game calls for more than just technical proficiency, asking you to scan, craft, and puzzle-solve your way through its alien landscapes.
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If you’re having a blast with Scars Above, and are interested in games that can scratch a similar itch, you’re in luck; the game takes inspiration from a veritable buffet of sources, each of which you’re able to see in its DNA. Despite similarities, though, these progenitors are different enough from the progeny to offer something new in addition to what you already enjoy.
10Mass Effect
Just looking atMass Effectand Scars Above side by side, it’s easy to see the similarities– the third-person shooter gameplay, focus on science fiction, and use of problem-solving that doesn’t involve bullets penetrating skulls are all things that the two have in common. Further, if you’re enjoying the depth of Scars Above’s story, you’ll likely appreciate the rich plot of the Mass Effect series.
Where the two really differ is in the ways that characters play a role in their gameplay– where Scars Above asks you to solve environmental puzzles, Mass Effect is more interested in seeing you solve puzzles in the form of people. Mass Effect has its fair share of literal puzzles, of course, but it’s primarily the dialogue that asks you to see the world as more than just a shooting gallery.
9Destiny 2
If it’s the visually complex alien world that draws you to Scars Above,Destiny 2may be what you’re looking for. Where a decent amount of science fiction enjoys spending the majority of the time inside grey corridors, both Destiny and Scars Above craft interesting-looking landscapes that you can traipse through as you challenge the various threats that come your way.
Destiny’s big divergence from the core gameplay of Scars Above is its greater focus on combat– you’re still fighting aliens, but you’re going to be facing problems in more head-on ways. Regardless, the former’s UI design is likely to remind you of the latter’s, being simultaneously sleek and informative as numbers burst out of your enemies and small white diamonds hover over items critical to your quest.
If you love the desolate tone, weakpoint-based combat, and deformed horrors of Scars Above,Dead Spacecan provide an electrifying experience to fill that void. Every alien that attempts to tear at your heels has a weakpoint waiting to be exploited, begging you to be smart about the ways that you approach enemies.
Related:Games To Play If You Like Dead Space
Dead Space is a significantly more horror-oriented title than Scars Above, though– enemies pop out at you unexpectedly, and often hide as corpses to lull you into a false sense of security. Where Scars Above is likely to make you jump more than a few times,this game might just get you to scream.
7Prey
Preyspeaks to both the aesthetic and mystery that makes Scars Above an interesting game– as Morgan Yu, you’re left completely in the dark as to the situation you’ve been put in, waking up with amnesia after being abducted to a sprawling and infected space station. Even more, Prey is chock-full of environmentalpuzzles that will tickle your brainif you enjoy those of Scars Above.
This game isn’t quite as settled on the wild survival elements that leave Kate vulnerable in her adventure, instead opting to put the player into a human environment invaded by aliens– consequentially, there are fewer environmental hazards and a greater focus on the ways that enemies exist in the space (such as turning into coffee cups and trash cans as to catch you off guard).
6Rise Of The Tomb Raider
While Laura Croft isn’t going to be fighting on an alien planet any time soon,Rise of the Tomb Raiderpresents a strong female protagonist sure to please if you enjoy Scars Above’s lead character– both are resourceful women who use their skills and tools to take down enemies, survive hostile environments, and explore hard to reach areas.
Rise of the Tomb Raider focuses a lot more on the movement of Laura Croft, who, unlike Kate Ward, is supposed to be agile and capable in combat– you’re going to be doing more climbing and shimmying than Kate would be able to do on her best day, and often you’ll be using stealth to get an advantage in combat.
5Lost Planet 3
The Lost Planet series is a definite must-play if you can’t get enough of the core premise that Scars Above offers, being the original hostile alien planet exploration game. The snow-covered planet that these games take place on is a constant threat to your health, chock-full of environmental hazards and alien creatures who want you dead.
The mech gameplay is an aspect that stands out in this series, marking its greater combat focus in comparison to Scars Above. Even so, you’re likely to recognize the one-room boss battles against giant aliens– the weakpoint-targeting, dodge-rolling gameplay looks one-for-one across the board.
4Alien: Isolation
If it’s textbook disempowerment that you’re looking for,Alien: Isolationdoes well to mirror Scars Above’s dedication to making its character more brains than brawn. Like Kate, Amanda Ripley is a woman in STEM who just wants answers– she usesall the resources at her disposal to craft itemsthat allow her to take advantage of her enemies and keep just out of the Alien’s reach.
Related:Games To Play If You Love Alien Isolation
Stealth is far more prominent in this game than combat, due to the immense threat that the Alien poses throughout the campaign– you’re more likely to kill humans than actually damage the Alien as you explore Sevastopol.
3Remnant From The Ashes
If you’re more interested in furtherexploring the soulslikesthat inspire Scars Above, thenRemnant From The Ashesis the perfect first step towards the more melee-focused games in the category. Remnant remains a third-person shooter at heart, but sufficiently ups the ante by requiring more dodging and technical ability from you as you play.
The struggle of Remnant: From The Ashes is that it loses a lot of the accessibility that Scars Above is able to provide due to its closer resemblance to the typical soulslike, demanding an itchy trigger finger to take care of higher health enemies, and having no difficulty settings. If that doesn’t pose an issue for you, though, Remnant provides a great challenge that can lead you to other Soulsborne titles.
2Atomic Heart
Atomic Heartis the game for you if you enjoy exploring Scars Above’s environments and observing the aftermath of the fallen civilization that occupied them. While the former’s civilization is still intact, the environments speak to the entropy that its society is undergoing during the course of the story, while still being visually stunning as it’s explored.
This game also encourages thoughtful approaches to combat through the Polymer Glove (a technological equivalent toBioshock’sPlasmids) and enemy weaknesses that can be leveraged with environmental damage. With the tools given, you’ll mix and match effects to shred through enemies with ease.
1Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderisn’t quite as cerebral as Scars Above, but the use of force abilities allows you to take advantage of your enemies' weaknesses as you bring a laser blade to a series of gunfights. It has also similarly been inspired by the Soulsborne series of games without fully committing to stamina management, focusing purely on the interplay between dodging, blocking, and attacking.
The big draw is that Fallen Order is completely melee-focused– where Kate is relatively slow with the benefit of dealing with enemies from a distance, Cal Kestis is given greater mobility at the cost of being vulnerable at range.
