The SCP Basis is a powerful factor. For those who may not know, it’s mainly a fan-created wiki of kinds that tracks unusual, weird and (usually) harmful beings, arising with whole tales by means of itemizing how these beings are contained, and a imprecise description that provides simply sufficient to mild up a reader’s creativeness, however by no means sufficient to provide the reader a transparent image of what precisely it’s they could be studying about. As such, the SCP Basis web site has develop into an exquisite supply of not solely creepy horror tales, but additionally of inspiration for horror video games.
Previously, we’ve largely seen video games adapting the fiction of the SCP Basis by means of extra generic horror mechanics. These titles are inclined to function one or two of the long-lasting creatures from the SCP web site, with SCP-173 being an particularly in style topic because it tends to make for an appropriately spooky expertise with the factor chasing you’ll be able to solely achieve this if it’s not being noticed. SCP: Fragmented Minds, nonetheless, manages to carve out its personal identification from the ocean of SCP variations by leaning extra closely into the concept of being an motion recreation.
Make no mistake, nonetheless, SCP: Fragmented Minds nonetheless has aspirations of being a horror title. Actually, very similar to its predecessors, you received’t discover a lot in the way in which of fight right here both. You do, nonetheless, get methods to combat again towards a number of the unknown creatures that you just’ll discover roaming round as you discover a Mars outpost after some kind of cataclysm occurred. However earlier than we get forward of ourselves, let’s first perceive the setup.
“SCP: Fragmented Minds nonetheless has aspirations of being a horror title.”
You might be Agent Kovich, a member of the SCP Basis’s safety workforce, at the moment setting out in your first posting to Mars Website-113. Whereas the needs of the positioning aren’t fairly clear but, you do know that you just’ll should take care of some stage of fight, because you had been put by means of a fairly rigorous coaching regime. Apart from that, nonetheless, this mission to Mars looks as if a comparatively cozy gig. Little are you aware that issues are about to go horribly mistaken.
A sequence of subterranean earthquakes have managed to mess up Mars Website-113 fairly a bit, and by the point you’re awoken in your cryopod, the entire Martian settlement is seemingly abandoned. Slowly exploring by means of some wreckage and even the floor of Mars in the end leads you into discovering one different survivor, who’s then in a position to allow you to get deeper into the SCP facility to try to reconnect along with your workforce. All in all, the story and common setup of SCP: Fragmented Minds is comparatively easy and acts fairly nicely as an excuse to throw you into the thick of it.
The one actual criticism I’ve with the sport is that the beginning is only a bit too gradual. Whereas the final visuals and environment are fairly good within the recreation’s opening hour, issues begin getting a bit boring when all you’re doing is strolling round and looking for the way in which ahead. There’s actually zero stress till you get round an hour into the sport. Positive, there are some tutorials you get within the opening minutes, the pacing basically might be dealt with significantly better than what we in the end acquired. Good factor it’s nonetheless an Early Entry title.
“The one actual criticism I’ve with the sport is that the beginning is only a bit too gradual.”
The identical pacing points additionally apply to the gameplay. For a recreation with aspirations of being an motion horror title fairly than a stealth horror one, you don’t even get entry to a weapon till you’re a few hours in. By then, you’ve confronted loads of cases of SCP-3199 that you just’ve needed to sneak your approach round, and even once you lastly do get a weapon to try to combat them off, you’re going to have the ability to, at most, tackle one by one. This doesn’t even really feel like a case of forcing you to preserve your assets as a lot because it seems like poor pacing.
Talking of which, there isn’t actually a lot in the way in which of enemy selection in SCP: Fragmented Minds. You’re largely going to be sneaking round or preventing off numerous cases of SCP-3199. Whereas this does imply that you just get to expertise creatures in an SCP title that aren’t simply what you’ve seen earlier than, the dearth of nearly another form of enemy to combat towards does extra hurt than good to the final sense of poor pacing all through the sport. This is a matter that, as soon as once more, seems to be like it is going to get mounted down the road because the title will get extra chapters by means of future updates.
One key space the place SCP: Fragmented Minds completely excels is in its visuals. Mars Website-113 has been superbly realised, with nearly each darkish crevice, nook and cranny being rife with the potential for hidden terrors lurking round. The environment can be top-notch, with a variety of work being completed by the sport’s glorious use of lighting and volumetric fog results to ramp up the strain. Being an Early Entry title, nonetheless, does carry with it some clear technical points. For example, I usually discovered myself needing to close down and restart the complete recreation as a result of it will refuse to load a room behind a locked door. I additionally had a variety of hassle grabbing footage for the sport, with fixed crashes taking place every time I began recording gameplay.
“There isn’t actually a lot in the way in which of enemy selection in SCP: Fragmented Minds.”
Whether or not these points are intrinsic to the sport, or if it was a difficulty associated particularly to my {hardware} setup is at the moment unknown. Usually talking, SCP: Fragmented Minds positively has its justifiable share of points, be it the poor pacing or technical issues. Other than that, nonetheless, the sport feels prefer it’s a stable basis for what might sooner or later be a superb motion horror title. The environment is great, and the truth that the title might be making use of a number of the lesser-known beings from the SCP wiki signifies that we’re in for some splendidly bizarre and distinctive encounters in future updates.
Because it at the moment stands, nonetheless, SCP: Fragmented Minds is a troublesome recreation to suggest. The pacing points alone signifies that you’re going to be spending the overwhelming majority of your time with the sport simply working round and hiding from goofy wanting creatures. The roadmap, nonetheless, makes me assume that there’s a lot of promise within the recreation’s future, and multiplayer is an particularly fascinating function to regulate down the road.
This recreation was reviewed on PC.
