@Art1stical

1 year ago

I think the key lies on the game's old title: Dasein. Now, this is also quite the theory, but I do find it consistent with what the game features. First of all, the game moves in a metaphorical layer, not necessarily an analogy layer, and certainly, not on a literal layer. While the game's technical prowess and artistic inspiration makes it beautiful to look at in a literal sense, the events in it and the way they are resolved is what pushes it into the metaphorical side of things. So, moving on. Dasein (pronounced DAH-zane) is a reaaaally complex philosophical postulate formulated by Martin Heidegger in the 20s. In short, Dasein is an absolute, incontrovertible state of existence that affects the world around it simply by virtue of existing. The absoluteness of Dasein means that, once you exist, that existence is absolute and undeniable, and permanent in the universe. You cannot be "deleted" from existence: even dying affects the world around you, and there's no way to subtract yourself from whatever actions you made in life, nor removing yourself from others' perceptions. Certainly, Dasein ramifies into a lot of other things, and that's why it's such a debated upon philosophical theory, but this will suffice for what I think Scorn is trying to say. Keep that there on the table. The other important concept to understand, is Kant's understanding of trascendence. We have to note that Heidegger was massively influenced by Kant, so it's no wonder we have to deal with him. In a VERY condensed way, Kant's notion of transcendence involves knowledge beyond experience (again, this is a very simplistic and reductionist way to look at it, but this is a youtube comment on a game, I'm not going to bore you all to death with this). This knowledge could be attained through mastery of Metaphysics, a field of knowledge proposed by Kant in which our conscience could expand beyond the trappings of our flesh and very limited senses. Heidegger had some issues with this at first, but he eventually would conciliate his views of Kant with his own work. Anyhoo, the idea Heidegger had about metaphysics, is that Dasein prevents us from attaining true transcendence, since the very act of existing will preclude of us from seeing ourselves as anything other than the consciences that spawned us. His way to conciliate this early vision was through the realm of imagination as a pseudo-transcendence, a way for mankind to know things before experiencing them. But that's a bit of a tangent. Okay. So. Back to the game. The way I see it, is... Well, evidently, SPOILERS AHEAD -- SPOILERS AHEAD. Now. As I was saying. The way I see it is that, effectively, your first character dies, and then you are born as the second one. Everything the video says is true in that regard. However, the creature that is supposedly your previous character, can be seen as the influence of the previous existence in your current one. Sure, you played a bit as that character, it "died", but your second character can't get rid of the fact that he existed, and that becomes literal when he latches to your back. You are carrying someone else's existence on your back, literally, and it's killing you, literally, because he refuses to die. The game goes on, under the halls of ruin and life taking over. While the meat growths have the appearance of being hostile and repulsive, very often we find the creatures will leave us alone by just running away a bit, and they often just walk around looking for the hole with which they can leave... and the do. Lots of them are just stuck to the meat tendrils, oblivious to your presence, and the huge being that just stares at you would imply that the growth isn't explicitly hostile. It's just life, surviving, doing what it can with what it has, and helpless to stop a more dedicated existence. It is also Dasein: it exists, and by existing, it's shaping the world around it. Even if you kill it, you cannot undo the damage it has wrought. You move on to the temple, dying. The temple is a way to transcend: you abandon your flesh, and your mind is elevated to another plane. You no longer reside on your previous body, you can now swap several. But still, the process in incomplete. You not only need help in doing it (which is also proven by how voluntarily the character enters the armature that will "kill" him), but you also need to preserve the shell where the last tether to your conscience still resides. But that's when the previous existence forces itself upon you. It won't let you transcend, and just as you, who did everything you had to to survive, it will do so as well. So, the first character finishes assimilating you, guaranteeing his survival, but in doing so, denying you, the second character, the so desired transcendence. You are incapable to abandon your world through the existence of someone else, and you are trapped in a flesh prison, just inches away from transcendence, a state you will never know since your body is earthbound, literally. Dasein, therefore, as a philosophical concept, is key to the metaphor Scorn presents. You can even say the Scorn title refers to both the emotion that the first character feels for the second one, seeing as he still has a chance a transcendence, a chance he lost, or the emotion you can feel for that first character, refusing to die despite his life being worthless, just a parasite in a doomed world. It is a quite chilling, impactful depiction of a philosophical concept, and everything I just wrote rides on just knowing the game originally was called Dasein. It can read as a lot of bullshit, and that's okay, but for me, that knowledge made everything click. I hope you enjoyed the wall of text, and I hope it makes you enjoy Scorn even more :D

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