But amid all this, there’s a rather interesting revelation about the developer allegedly working on Knights of the Old Republic – Remake. Totilo notes that it’s Mad Head Games, known for Scars Above, which is working “under/with” Saber Interactive. The latter has yet to officially confirm if this is the case.

A quick look at Mad Head’s website indicates an “unannounced AAA game” based on a “famous and beloved IP that fans will eagerly anticipate.” It’s also “by far the biggest project we have ever developed” and will “generate some serious hype.”

Obviously, that descriptor could apply to any number of potential projects. However, combined with Totilo’s report and the fact that it’s working with Saber Interactive on another project, this could very well be the remake.

Regardless, we may not have to wait long to find out. Insider Kurakasis recently reported that there would be a “big” Star Wars announcement soon, later alleging that its title ends with “The Old Republic.” Given the scale of the project and how beloved the IP is, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Knights of the Old Republic – Remake receive an update.

For starters, a number of studios that were operating under the Saber Interactive label will be part of Embracer Group’s divestment. That will include 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks, New World Interactive, Nimble Giant, Sandbox Strategies, Mad Head Games, Fractured Byte, and Digic. In total, Embracer says its divested assets include 38 ongoing game projects, as well as “certain proprietary engine technology and game tools relating to the divested companies.”

However, a number of studios that were previously operating under Saber are not being divested, and will continue to be owned by Embracer Group. This includes Tuxedo Labs (as well as the ongoing development of Teardown), Demiurge Studios, Beamdog, 34 Big Things, Tripwire Interactive, Snapshot Games, Shiver Entertainment, and Aspyr Media.

Embracer is also retaining control of ownership of 14 projects that were previously under Saber Interactive’s oversight, including two that are being worked on as joint projects with Saber itself.

These 14 projects include 4A Games’ next AAA project (which is presumably the next Metro game), a “previously announced AAA game based on a major license”, an unannounced AAA title that’s currently in the concept stage of production, a new AAA multiplayer shooter based on an IP owned by Embracer, a new AA game based on an Asmodee-owned IP, a new AA game by 34 Big Things based on an IP owned by Embracer, and the entire back catalog and all future upcoming projects by Aspyr Media, Tripwire Interactive (including Killing Floor 3), and Zen Studios.

It’s also been confirmed that Embracer and Saber’s deal includes an option for the latter to acquire Zen Studios and Metro developer 4A Games, though licensing and publishing rights for all existing and future Metro titles will be retained by Embracer Group’s PLAION.

Reports had previously indicated that development of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake would continue at Saber Interactive following the deal’s completion, though that has yet to be officially confirmed.

In Scars Above, players will step into the shoes of Dr. Kate Ward, who finds herself trapped and isolated on a hostile alien planet brimming with unknown, terrifying threats, from ancient mysteries to nightmarish alien monstrosities. Combining elements of the likes of Returnal, Soulslike games, and more, Scars Above promises a blistering action experience.

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 8/10, saying, “There is a lot to like in Scars Above. If you can get past the issues with the character models and animations, there is a really fun, unique sci-fi shooter with an interesting story to experience.” Read the full review through here.

Scars Above is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Other games that use Soulslike mechanics as the basis of their gameplay tend to lack some kind of spark or personality. They are functionally fine, but often feel uninspired, lacking any kind of identity outside of their mechanics and setting. Scars Above manages to avoid these pitfalls and separate itself from similar games in a number of ways. Specifically, it doesn’t rely on its Soulslike mechanics to keep players engaged, and it expands on those expected gameplay elements with some unexpected mechanics that give it a unique personality.

These surprises can likely be attributed to the game’s developer, Mad Head Games. The Serbian studio was founded in 2011, and its legacy prior to its acquisition by Saber Interactive in 2020 consisted of primarily hidden object/point-and-click narrative games. Scars Above is Mad Head’s first big third-person action game, but their legacy shines through in a few interesting ways. Most notably is the sense of tactility present in almost every interaction.

"Scars Above is Mad Head’s first big third-person action game, but their legacy shines through in a few interesting ways. Most notably is the sense of tactility present in almost every interaction."

In the game’s intro, you are tasked with retrieving a laser welder from a case in order to craft an important tool. Instead of walking up to the case and pressing a button to add the welder to your inventory, you need to click on each latch to unlock it, then the lid to open the case, and finally the welder itself to pick it up. Then, you use a 3D printer to print another part, take everything to another desk, and complete a series of mini-games to put the pieces together and calibrate them into a tool that becomes essential to your survival a few minutes later. This process of putting things together, opening containers, and being engaged with processes that most other games would gloss over was a standout feature for me.

I wasn’t expecting this level of interactivity from a third-person shooter right off the bat, but it makes sense coming from a game studio that created point-and-click games for a decade. The many sequences like this one serve to establish the sense of tactile science that carries the entire game. It also thankfully makes Scars Above feel unique, which is an important thing to demonstrate when everything leading up to its launch has looked so familiar.

A female scientist protagonist, roguelike elements, third-person shooting mechanics, and a sci-fi setting with a healthy dose of cosmic horror. There’s no getting around it, Scars Above looked like it was going to be a Returnal knockoff from the jump. Thankfully, it feels less like a knockoff and more like it was heavily inspired by Housemarque’s sci-fi shooter in action. There are still a few things that made me squint my eyes in suspicion a little bit, including some eerily similar environmental design and the intro sequence right before the title card. That short part plays exactly like a Returnal restart cutscene, complete with a zoom-in to the protagonist’s eyes intercut with distressing visions.

"There’s no getting around it, Scars Above looked like it was going to be a Returnal knockoff from the jump. Thankfully, it feels less like a knockoff and more like it was heavily inspired by Housemarque’s sci-fi shooter in action."

What Scars Above unfortunately didn’t inherit from Returnal is its stellar production value. The environments and enemies are impressively detailed, but the human character models are pretty lifeless and uncanny looking, with terrible facial animations and lip-syncing. In fact, just about every animation in the game used by both the human characters and the alien creatures you encounter feel off, with a level of jank that feels like a game from the early 2010s. It’s a little unfortunate, but this is Mad Head’s first game in this style. It’s a big jump for an indie studio to go from hidden object games to a game of this scale, and the jank eventually becomes part of its charm. The rest of the game also makes up for its presentation shortcomings quite a bit.

Once players gain control of protagonist Dr. Kate Ward following the crash of her team’s spaceship, the action picks up pretty quickly. You regain the “tool” you built in the intro, now a powerful gun that can fire rounds imbued with different elements to take advantage of enemy weaknesses and to solve puzzles, and your bag of tricks is expanded in short order. Instead of scrounging for supply items scattered around the surface of the planet, you pick up recipes for useful items that can then be crafted on the fly with a resource called fiber, and you gain abilities from fallen boss characters like a temporary shield that runs off of your suit’s battery.

Within the first hour, Kate feels exponentially more powerful and equipped to handle the dangers of this alien planet, but not solely because of the new gadgets and craftables that get picked up. A big focus of Scars Above is taking the time to scan and learn about the various processes of the strange planet, and harnessing them for yourself. In this game, knowledge is power.

Some of these scanning sequences are similar to Returnal where you just hold a button and the scanning is done for you, but there are many instances where you are presented with something in a more traditional point-and-click manner, and need to manually poke and prod around to scan important parts and see how they work. Kate will sometimes use the information gained from these scans to craft a new upgrade or element for her weapon. These slower sequences are implemented very well, they make it clear that Kate is first and foremost a scientist, and they stop Scars Above from feeling too one-note or generic. But you won’t spend the entire game scanning and crafting.

"What Scars Above unfortunately didn’t inherit from Returnal is its stellar production value. The environments and enemies are impressively detailed, but the human character models are pretty lifeless and uncanny looking, with terrible facial animations and lip-syncing."

The game outlines early on that Dr. Kate Ward has some shooting experience in her past, but she is not a soldier. Because of this, combat in Scars Above is just as much about smart use of gadgets and supplies as it is about careful aiming and strategic dodging, which creates a pretty engaging experience. The various alien enemies and monstrosities you face hit hard, and more often than not I only barely survived combat encounters. For me, Scars Above really nails the feeling of desperation as a regular person forced to fight for their life, but it isn’t gruelingly difficult. Even extra difficult combat sections were much easier on the second try after learning the enemy layout and planning your approach better.

In terms of performance, I only had a single issue with Scars Above. This review covers the PS5 version of the game, and the frame rate seems to hold pretty steady even when things get hectic. I didn’t notice any serious frame drops or stutters. I did, however, have the game completely crash in the intro sequence. It gave me a bad feeling so I was braced for more lost progress due to semi-frequent crashes, but I only ever saw that one.

There is a lot to like in Scars Above. If you can get past the issues with the character models and animations, there is a really fun, unique sci-fi shooter with an interesting story to experience.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Scars Above will see players playing as Dr Kate Ward, a member of a response team created by the powers that be on Earth after a colossal alien structure known as the Metahedron in Earth’s orbit. An investigation of the structure sees Kate and her team being transported to a mysterious and hospitable alien planet- and as you might imagine, your goal now is to reunite with members of your squad and return home. To do that, Kate will need to unravel the mysteries of the planet itself.

Scars Above will task players with scanning plants, objects, and animals in the environments, and the data you gather from those scans can be used to craft a variety of alien weapons with unique powers and abilities. As you might expect, you’ll also be running into a variety of deadly monsters and alien creatures as well, each of whom will also come with their own unique weaknesses and attacks, prompting players to make smart use of their toolset and abilities to overcome challenges.

Check out the overview trailer below for more details.

Scars Above launches on February 28 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Scars Above will see players stepping into the shoes of Kate Ward, who finds herself on an alien planet full of mysteries, horrifying enemies, and more. There’s very clear Returnal vibes to the game, and that’s on full display in this new trailer, as it has been in the past. While it’s not looking the sharpest where visual fidelity is concerned, it does look promising. Check out the trailer below.

A release date has also been confirmed for Scars Above. Previously set to launch sometime in 2022, the game has been slightly pushed back and will now release on February 28, 2023. It will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

The new trailer for Scars Above gives us a glimpse at a little bit of gameplay, but its primary focus is still the story.

Scars Above‘s story revolves around an alien structure that appears in Earth’s orbit, setting everything else into motion. When a team tries to investigate the structure, dubbed The Metahedron, the investigation team is carried away to a new world where they must now fight for survival while trying to find a way back home.

Originally announced in June 2021, Scars Above is a sci-fi action-adventure game. Players take on the role of Kate Ward, a scientist astronaut who finds herself trapped on a hostile alien planet.

Alongside the original announcement, Scars Above has also had its gameplay showcased. However, since then, the game seems to have gone through quite a few changes, especially in its visuals.

The trailer showcases a bunch of environments that players will get to explore in their quest to unearth the myriad mysteries buried deep within the alien planet. There’s also some light puzzle-solving, as well as combat encounters that players will need to overcome, and it looks to be shaping up well. A lot of inspiration has clearly been drawn from Housemarque’s Returnal, but Scars Above could definitely use a fair bit of polish in its primitive gameplay systems. That said, this is pre-alpha footage, so it’s still in the early stages of development.

Koch Media revealed its latest publication label, Prime Matter, during its showcase at the Summer Game Fest. A bunch of games including the likes of Payday 3 are currently in development at the numerous studios working with the publisher.

Scars Above is releasing in 2022 for PC and consoles. 

An extensive gameplay demonstration of the game has also been revealed. From alien environments to combat, from exploration to brief snippets of story, from weapons to crafting, plenty of the game is shown off. “Generic but interesting” seems like a good way to describe Scars Above, based on what’s been shown of it so far. Check out the gameplay reveal below, courtesy of GameSpot.

Scars Above will be launching some time in 2022 for PC and consoles. A specific release date hasn’t yet been confirmed. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more details on the game in the coming months.

THQ Nordic parent company have been expanding rapidly and aggressively for a while now, and that expansion seems to be showing no signs of slowing down. The company recently announced that it has acquired a slate of new studios- 13 in total, of which 11 are game development studios, one is a PR firm, and one is a QA-focused software outsourcing company.

Polish developer Flying Wild Hog – who are currently working on Shadow Warrior 3 and have also partnered with Focus Home Interactive for an upcoming project – is one of the studios that have been acquired. Phoenix Point developer Snapshot Games, Operencia: The Stolen Sun developer Zen Studios, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated developer Purple Lamp Studios, and Quantum League developer Nimble Giant Entertainment have also joined the fold.

The other studios that Embracer have acquired are 34BigThings, Coffee Stain North, A Thinking Ape Entertainment, Mad Head Games, IUGO Mobile Entertainment, and Silent Games. Meanwhile, Embracer have also brought PR firm Sandbox Strategies and quality assurance-focused software outsourcing company Quantic Lab into the fold.

Where earlier this year Embracer Group collectively had 118 games in development, 69 of which were unannounced at the time, that number has now gone up to a whopping 135 games.