Short but sweet, Scarf is an intriguing, enjoyable little game for most of its runtime.
Get on Steam
Get on Xbox Games Store"Scarf is a single-player, open world mystery adventure game with an interesting plot and delightful graphics. As the player, you'll explore beautiful 3D landscapes with the help of your partner, a dragon-shaped scarf, unlocking new abilities and uncovering the truth behind your story. The game invites you to reflect on the meaning of being a hero and fulfilling your destiny."
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
Epic Games
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- Gorgeous visuals and art style that create a relaxing atmosphere.
- Engaging narrative with multiple endings and interesting collectibles.
- Simple puzzles and mechanics that are easy to grasp, making it accessible for casual players.
- Slow character movement and pacing that can detract from the overall experience.
- Lack of replayability due to the need to restart levels to collect missed items, losing all progress.
- Performance issues and bugs, particularly on certain platforms, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences.
- story25 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 32 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The game's story is a mixed bag, featuring a beautifully crafted setting and intriguing narrative elements, including multiple endings and collectibles that enhance the experience. While some players appreciate the dark undertones and artistic storytelling, others criticize the plot for being simplistic and lacking depth, with some feeling that the execution falls short of its ambitious themes. Overall, the game offers a visually stunning backdrop for its narrative, but opinions vary on the effectiveness and engagement of the story itself.
“With good narration and multiple endings, the game is quite intriguing, providing the player with a great story to follow.”
“Despite the game's innocent appearance, the story is surprisingly dark, with eldritch elements and hints of Lovecraftian horror creeping into the gameplay.”
“Its three worlds are packed with exploration, platforming, some puzzling, and a nice story that starts in one way but then evolves into a different truth.”
“There isn't much story either...”
“The controls are stiff, the puzzles feel like dull, mindless chores, and the story - which is clearly trying oh so hard to be very deep with its solemn narration - is nothing but vapid drivel and a waste of your time.”
“Now don't go expecting a game with a lavish story and lovable characters, this is just a simple game that you play just to enjoy the beauty of your surroundings and the fun abilities of your scarf!”
- graphics24 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are widely praised for their gorgeous, cartoony art style and vibrant colors, creating a relaxing and atmospheric experience. However, performance issues such as poor frame rates and audio crackling detract from the overall enjoyment, with some players noting that the game struggles to run smoothly even on lower settings. Despite these technical shortcomings, the visuals and aesthetic design are considered a highlight, making it a visually appealing title worth exploring.
“This game is very light on mechanics both in terms of platforming and puzzles, but that really works in its advantage as it allows you to better soak in the absolutely gorgeous graphics and entrancing soundtrack.”
“It's a feast for sore eyes, and a carefully crafted work of art that focuses on lighting and colors rather than graphic fidelity.”
“The visuals and art style are gorgeous, and if you can get a discount for it, you should try it!”
“The performance is very poor, with problems like audio crackling and terrible, stuttering fps even on low graphical settings.”
“I don't even think it's just a graphics issue either - it almost feels like this game doesn't have the good grace to only render what's on-screen at any given time, because some specific rooms caused the biggest fps drops (down to single-digits in the desert and forest at times!) and checking my memory as the game was running I saw absurd, unreasonable numbers.”
“It kept maxing out VRAM and 100% pinged my graphics card (RTX 2060) yet still could not consistently maintain 60 fps at 1080p.”
- gameplay15 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of light mechanics and a focus on exploration, allowing players to appreciate the game's stunning visuals and soundtrack. While some find the mechanics simplistic, with limited jumping variations, others appreciate the variety and creativity in puzzles and level design that keep the experience engaging. Overall, the gameplay offers a chill and relaxing atmosphere, making it suitable for those seeking a more laid-back gaming experience.
“This game is very light on mechanics both in terms of platforming and puzzles, but that really works in its advantage as it allows you to better soak in the absolutely gorgeous graphics and entrancing soundtrack.”
“Despite being short, Scarf offers a great variety of mechanics and situations, staying interesting and fresh throughout the whole adventure.”
“The platforming mechanics are solid, and the scarf/dragon is used to turn some traditional platforming features into a companion.”
“The game looks good enough, I guess, but for me personally, the gameplay is missing.”
“It's rather unpolished all things considered; most animations and character movements aside, and the mechanics never get more complicated than five variants of jumping (jump, double jump, glide, grapple, etc.) used to cross increasingly longer gaps.”
“Despite the game's innocent appearance, the story is surprisingly dark, with eldritch elements and hints of Lovecraftian horror creeping into the gameplay.”
- optimization12 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is severely lacking, with users reporting poor performance characterized by audio crackling and stuttering frame rates, often dropping below 20 fps even on low settings. Many players find the performance issues detract significantly from the overall experience, leading to a consensus that the game is not worth recommending due to its technical shortcomings.
“Enjoyable little platformer for a few sessions of fun, even though it was poorly optimized for the later levels.”
“The performance is very poor, with problems like audio crackling and terrible, stuttering fps even on low graphical settings.”
“Performance: terrible optimization, frame rate is often sub 20 fps even on 1080p resolution low settings on an AMD Ryzen 3700 with NVIDIA RTX 3070, with temperatures reaching 87 degrees Celsius.”
“The worse thing about this game though is the terrible performance.”
- music8 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and atmospheric quality, enhancing the overall experience alongside the stunning graphics. Players find the soundtrack to be entrancing and fitting, contributing significantly to the game's charm, despite some minor criticisms regarding its integration with gameplay.
“This game is very light on mechanics both in terms of platforming and puzzles, but that really works in its advantage as it allows you to better soak in the absolutely gorgeous graphics and entrancing soundtrack.”
“One magical little game ♥ great music and art style.”
“Beautiful music and ambience.”
“The music and puzzles have high potential, but there is one major flaw at the end.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by its beautiful graphics and smooth, cartoony art style, complemented by an ambient soundtrack that enhances the exploration of its interesting worlds. While some players appreciate the atmospheric experience, particularly in specific levels like the forest, others feel it lacks originality compared to existing atmospheric puzzle platformers.
“It's that kind of atmospheric experience with light puzzle action where you can't really die but get to explore interesting worlds.”
“But the graphics are nice with a smooth cartoony style, and the soundtrack is ambient and atmospheric.”
“Gorgeous atmosphere, art style, and visuals.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is widely regarded as lacking in replayability, with players noting that it does not offer enough incentive to revisit, despite a warning about this before re-entering. Many feel that improvements, such as saving progress, could have enhanced the experience, but ultimately, it fails to provide sufficient value for repeated playthroughs.
“The game offers a variety of choices that significantly change the outcome, making each playthrough feel fresh and engaging.”
“With multiple endings and different character paths, the replayability is high, encouraging players to explore every option.”
“The dynamic world and evolving storylines ensure that no two playthroughs are the same, keeping players coming back for more.”
“The game is not remotely replayable and definitely not good enough to warrant that.”
“There's a warning telling you so before re-entering, and that's fine, but saving what you already found would have been much, much better for replayability.”
“In my opinion, the game just doesn't have the replay value to warrant that, and it's not worth it to me to go back and get those last two achievements.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a strong emotional connection to the game's environments, particularly the desert level, which evokes feelings of longing and refreshment at the sight of water. Despite the immersive atmosphere, the inability to interact with these elements, such as swimming, leaves a sense of disappointment.
“The desert level really made me feel like I was in an oasis temple in the middle of an arid hot desert. Every time I saw a body of water, I just felt like taking a dip in it, like refreshing in the cool, nice pool.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and unenjoyable, often feeling that it lacks clever design and fluid movement, which detracts from the overall experience.
“Even with the performance issues aside, which definitely impacted my enjoyment of the game, the core gameplay is not good enough to recommend. It's just very tedious to play without being particularly clever or feeling satisfying to move around in.”
“The grinding in this game feels endless and unfulfilling, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“I found the repetitive tasks to be a chore rather than an enjoyable part of the game, which really detracted from the overall experience.”
Critic Reviews
Scarf Review
Scarf doesn’t brave new platforming territory, but platforming newbies will appreciate its forgiving nature, and it tells an interesting and often dark story in an engaging way.
70%Scarf (PC) REVIEW – Worth Wrapping Up In
Scarf is a beautiful puzzle-platformer that packs a lot of meaning in a small package, but only to those willing to explore all of its gorgeous locales.
75%Scarf review
Scarf offers a short and sweet platforming experience. It's perfectly enjoyable to play, but you'll likely be left wanting more when the credits roll.
70%
