We’ve been through a lot of survival games together. DayZ, Rust, 7 Days to Die, Alien: Isolation, Ark: Survival Evolved, Dying Light: Bad Blood, and of course the ever-popular Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), and Fortnite.
But, things are about to get a whole lot more interesting…
Enter SCUM: A game that promises to evolve the survival game genre with unprecedented focus on character customisation, control, and progression.
As the player, you’ll have to choose an avatar to represent you: pick your gender and race. This is just a visual choice, and won’t have any influence on your performance.
Clothing
At the start, all characters are dressed in the same orange prison jumpsuit. Players can change clothes as they find them. The clothes are not just visual, the complexity of the game begins right here. Certain clothes can offer some camouflaging which helps reduce your visibility. Secondly, clothes provide protection against weather conditions and extreme temperatures. Some options are better for protection from rain and therefore reduce the chance of illness. Wear warmer clothes in cold weather, etc.
Attributes
The four main attributes are: Strength (S), Constitution (C), Intelligence (I), and Dexterity (D). Each of these attributes range from 1 to 5. “3” represents an average value, while numbers above or below indicate above or below average respectively. You will have a fixed number of points to distribute between attributes. During the game, these attributes can be increased or decreased for a limited time or even permanently (if the player gets wounded, falls ill, is drugged). It’s much more demanding to change the attributes in the longer run. This usually happens if the player manages to survive long enough for the body to evolve to the next level.
Age
Age will also impact your attributes. For example, a young player will get a (D) boost, as they are generally quite agile. mid-twenties players start getting some (S) and losing their (D), early-thirties sees (D) dropping even more, but gaining on (C). Older characters will have more (I).
Strength Attribute (S)
- How much weight you can carry without being slowed down; if load capacity is exceeded, you will perform at a slower pace
- How fast you can move a heavy object. If object is too heavy for your character, you will not be able to move without help from another player
- How much damage you can inflict on opponents during melee combat
- More calories burned by your player daily
Constitution Attribute (C)
This refers to everything related to physical endurance and stamina.
- How many health points you have initially
- How well your body handles stress, pain, weather, shock, poisons, and physical damage
- Endurance: how long it takes until you get tired, and how long it takes to restore energy
- High (C) means calories are spent more efficiently, decreasing calorie consumption speed
Intelligence Attribute (I)
Refers to perception and capability of performing a task successfully.
- Improves chance of you hitting the aimed target
- Higher (I) adds additional skill slots
- Able to learn skills faster
Dexterity Attribute (D)
Refers to everything connected with the speed of movement and reaction in general.
- How fast you can move, walk, run, and sprint
- How fast you can perform everyday actions such as crafting, eating, reloading, etc.
- Improves your chance of performing complicated actions such as surgery, fixing electronics, etc.
What do these attributes mean?
Just buy it!
There are so many more levels to this game than what I’ve outlined above – in fact, that’s probably just the first few minutes of gameplay in the character creation menus. The gameplay adds in a lot more complexity, but in a meaningful and fun way that will start to make sense. Once you learn the ins and outs, it can start working at your advantage.
The game is meant to be a next-generation survival game – so it’s best to check if your PC will meet requirements for SCUM.
I can’t wait to see what becomes of this game, and what other games will do to rival this. It’s not exactly the first time we’ve seen some of this – remembering GTA San Andreas with the eating, exercising, etc.
If you are in the market for a new gaming PC suited to playing SCUM, look no further than our customisable Valkyrie gaming PC.