Scarf (2021)

A narrative adventure that succeeds in a truly remarkable feat: inserting good and not repetitive environmental puzzles into the adventure while keeping the experience simple and approachable. A simple but solid game, not too long and not too short, that only fails in not being able to best tell its story. SCARF remains a product that will make you spend 4-5 pleasant hours, and it's enough.

Scarf doesn't try to reinvent anything, but its pace, its art direction and its world are calming, welcoming and entertaining.

Scarf tries to win attention with its creative puzzles and attractive fairy-tale art style. It indeed does have those qualities, but if I were to describe this platformer with just two words, I’d say it is simple and charming.

Scarf is a very beautiful proposal at an artistic and audiovisual level in general, but its conception as a videogame is below the level it reaches in the aforementioned levels. Its development is committed to be reflective and emotional, but that should not be in dispute when it comes to offering a greater challenge in the puzzles.

While it’s not pushing the genre any further forward, Scarf is a perfectly pleasant way to spend 6 hours of your life. As a non-combative puzzle platformer, it lacks originality. Thankfully, a clever two sided narrative carries the game as it tells both sides of a tale and positions the player in the centre. Just make sure you play this game with a guide so you don’t have to replay whole levels again.

As a platformer, Scarf doesn’t particularly break new ground, and veterans of the genre will hardly pause for thought when solving its puzzles. That makes it liable to be written off as ‘just another platformer‘, which is a real shame. A full playthrough of the game can be comfortably achieved in one sitting, and the valuable message that lies at the heart of its narrative is more than worth taking the time. Scarf isn’t designed to challenge or frustrate, but provides the player with the satisfaction of puzzle-solving and a gently introspective allegorical tale.

A simple, yet enjoyable puzzle platformer, Scarf is a beautiful title that plays around with the tried and true tale of the hero defeating evil.

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.

Between its wonderful universe and its well-thought-out puzzles, the game has many qualities, but also some flaws that weigh heavily in the balance.

SCARF is a lovely 3D puzzle-platformer with a pleasing blend of genre elements, though the further you get, the more it starts to fray at the seams.

Jump, swing and solve puzzles. Scarf is a standard puzzle platform game. A fine game, but it doesn't really warm you up. It is a worthy start for a small game studio, but there are still working points.