My initial impression of Scatter was that it looked cute and had an interesting name. I read the README file right away and discovered it was a horror game. Okay! It's inspired by Yume Nikki and a lot of other existential RM horror games. Body horror? I can get behind that in the proper context!

Mmm, I went into Scatter thinking these thoughts, but it didn't quite live up! Which is fine! The jam puts much duress on teams and sometimes things get muddled along the way, but uh, we may need to have a little talk here and it'll necessitate going through the story. But, before that, some quick gripes that aren't as serious:

The grammar and spelling needs a lot of work! It comes across to me like the creators aren't native English speakers so I tried to excuse it pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the game is pretty much ALL reading, so it really brought the game down. Also, I dig minimalist style, but being cooped up in a small box all game isn't super fun! I understand that was part of the point, although that doesn't necessarily make the decision wise. Okay, moving on to the important stuff now~

The main character of this game is transgender which is super awesome! Transgender inclusion is pretty lacking in video games, so it's great to see some more! However, there were some parts of Scatter that are problematic. The main issue is that the game ends with a romanticised suicide in which the protagonist claims they're going to be "the one who scatters". Instead, uh, they do more splattering than anything else. It's really the strangest decision. While I was playing through in the beginning I thought, "This is cool! A transgender character is what I want!" but then a macabre realization dawned on me that message of the game, even if unintentional, was a strange endorsement of suicide if you're not accepted as a transgender person. The worst part is that the game invested its whole into making me feel for this character then it... shows me a bloody pixel mess. Sorry, but that is not the best context for body horror. Not even close!

I will give the creators some points for the gore in the final scene. It seems to me that their intention was to show the grotesque reality of suicide. In my opinon though, this isn't enough! There's still the issue with the romanticized speech near the end and that the only solution the game presents is death. Considering the high suicide rates of transgendered people, this was a bit of a misstep.

I think my McBacon Jam buddy Atlas summed it up best, "the power that comes from dark stories is the idea of clinging onto hope when things seem hopeless". I just want the creators to consider the message they're sending if they end their game the way they have.
"Life's a bitch then you die"?

"This is the natural, inevitable end - give up hope" ?

While I’m sure the creators attempted to create Scatter with all of the love and empathy it deserved, it doesn’t come across this way! It seems like there’s a distinct lack of understanding of the subject and that the creators treat the suicide of their transgender protagonist like just another edgy plot point. >.<

I am confident the creators can do better and I can't wait to see them build on this review in a constructive way!