Developer – Uprising Studios

Publisher – HandyGames

Platforms – Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Reviewed) and PC

Review copy given by publisher

You might have heard the saying “not all heroes wear capes.” Well it’s true, because some of them actually wear scarves! Indie developer Uprising Studios debut project Scarf puts you in the shoes of an unnamed hero embarking on a journey to reunite a dragon-turned-scarf with its mother. This 3D puzzle platformer was actually released back on PC back in 2021, but has finally made its way onto PlayStation 4 and 5 after over a year and a half! While it’s true that Scarf is a short and sweet experience that doesn’t break any new grounds, it undoubtedly leaves you wanting more long after the credits roll.

Even though the premise of Scarf is quite clear, the overall narrative remains obscure and mostly seems like an afterthought, especially with how abrupt the ending is. Aside from the scarf and its mother having some sort of dark sinister past revolving around evil entities that tore their world apart, I couldn’t tell you anything more about the plot even after playing through the entire game myself. There are, however, optional dark orbs scattered throughout gorgeous and scenic levels that provide more snippets of lore and background. The opaque storytelling style may mesh well with some, but it certainly didn’t with me.

As with any other platformer, the majority of gameplay here revolves around jumping, dashing, and whatnot across various environmental obstacles. You start off with simply a meager jump, but soon gain a variety of skills as you regain your scarf dragon’s lost powers. These are sprinkled in at a good pace and include your scarf transforming into wings to glide and double jump, and a string to use as a slingshot. Unfortunately there isn’t anything here you haven’t already seen in other games of the same genre.

There is obviously a level of precision required to progress from platform to platform, but the game is more than lenient with its checkpoints. Scarf is not a hard game per se, and the experience itself can even be meditative at times, but the gameplay itself seems to showcase the game’s impressive visuals over the actual mechanics. A minor gripe, though, is that you move extremely slowly and some of the levels are quite spacious, resulting in an egregious amount of running from point A to point B.

The other half of the game revolves around solving rudimentary puzzles. Again, these riddles aren’t too difficult to overcome, but some of them do require some critical thinking before diving straight in. Without spoiling too much, expect to move blocks into correct positions, push levers to open gates, and carry special orbs that allow you to explore underwater portions as if you were parting the Red Sea. While Scarf is mostly a linear experience, it does feature hidden collectibles to find and retrieve for those completionists. Be sure to look in every nook and cranny!

If the attractive art direction and ambient soundtrack are what piqued your curiosity to begin with, then you’re in for a treat! Scarf’s visual and aural aspects are its high points, featuring absolutely luscious 3D environments, and atmospheric music that you won’t believe were made by a small team of developers. The game’s aesthetics and attention to detail are simply unparalleled, and I couldn’t help but stop and stare at all the stunning scenery across the game’s 3 different locales: ocean, desert, and forest. The top notch visual presentation is only complemented by the game’s immersive musical score of melodic piano and woodwind instruments.

Although the game seemed to suffer from performance issues during its initial PC launch, I’m happy to say that Scarf performs flawlessly on the PlayStation 5. Load times are near instantaneous and I ran into no bugs, frame drops, or stutters. It would have been nice to see some DualSense controller features being utilized, but I’ll cut the game some slack given its small development team and budget. There aren’t any difficulty options or accessibility features aside from a color blind mode.

What’s equally enticing about Scarf is its more than humble price. You can snag it for only $9.99 on PlayStation 5 and only $7.99 if you are a subscriber of PlayStation Plus. If you prefer to play on PC via Steam instead, then you’ll be delighted to hear that it’s on sale for an even friendlier price of $4.94 as part of the Steam Summer Sale. An average player can expect to get around 3 to 4 hours of play time, depending on how skilled you are at puzzle platformers. Those looking to snag the platinum will surely double that playtime as there are 2 different endings to achieve.

Scarf is an enjoyable albeit short 3D puzzle platformer with tons of heart. It’s the perfect game for those who want to get their feet wet in the genre or just want to get through something in one sitting. If you can look past the game’s lack of depth, challenge, and innovation in addition to its unsatisfying ending, then I guarantee there’s a fantastically beautiful world here for you to explore.