Scorn Act 2: How to complete the second puzzle

The alien technology at play continues to get more complicated in Act 2.

Guide by Kelsey Raynor Guides Writer

Updated on Nov. 9, 2022

Scorn is a horror game for the eyes. Inspired by the likes of H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński, the overall experience of Scorn is very visceral, extraterrestrial, and unnerving. That said, there are plenty of puzzles you’ll find yourself focusing on more than the fantastic art and sound design here.

Check out our video summary of Scorn here.

At the beginning of Act 2 in Scorn, you’ll find yourself banished to a desolate landscape. Before long, however, you’ll be back inside the grandiose building that was once in the distance, dealing with more alien technology and weird creatures. Endlessly spinning things in a bid to solve puzzles and continue your strange journey.

As you’d expect, figuring out each piece in the huge puzzle that is Scorn can be grueling. With that said, in this guide we’ve walked you through Act 2 of Scorn. As ever, please note that there may be spoilers down below.

How do I complete Act 2 of Scorn?
Scorn Act 2 Part 1 Walkthrough
Scorn Act 2 Part 2 Walkthrough

How do I complete Act 2 of Scorn?

Act 2, like Act 1, is delivered in two parts. So, we’ll guide you through it in two separate sections.

Scorn Act 2 Part 1 Walkthrough

As you wake up in this deserted area full of alien carcasses and purple sand, the open space feels rather disconcerting. Follow the path ahead, and look out for tall gates like the one shown below. After a lot of walking, and two of these, you’ll approach a large building.

The player faces an archway that resembles a spine in Act 2 of Scorn — Walk through a couple of these archways, and you'll find your way with ease.

Run around to the back of the building to find its entrance and make your way through this tunnel.

The player faces the entrance to a building in Act 2 of Scorn — I don't think we're going to find an escape route inside this alien building, but head inside.

This is the end of Act 2 Part 1 of Scorn. Part 2 is where all the obtuse puzzle-solving and strange goings-on happens.

Scorn Act 2 Part 2 Walkthrough

When you exit the tunnel, there’ll be another tunnel to your left. This one is much more claustrophobic, and when you reach the end, something or someone kindly destroys a bone window that would’ve blocked your way. Interact with it and go inside.

Head left, and you’ll find another room to venture into, but there is a creature (scarily similar looking to Alien’s Facehuggers) up ahead. As you approach, it’ll crawl away.

Now, continue through and keep left. Ignore the first exit, as you’ll come here later. Take the second exit, and to the left there’ll be a corpse holding the item needed for the pillar beside him. Interact with him to take the item, and then interact with the pillar directly next to him.

The player interacts with a pillar that has a puzzle in Act 2 of Scorn — The humanoid corpse will be to the left of this pillar, and you'll need to interact with him first before trying out this puzzle.

This pillar requires some guesswork, but you’ll be able to turn it and then interact with it again until a pole comes out of the item. Turn the item around until the pole is in the topmost spot, interact with it again, and you’ll then be ejected from the pillar.

Now, go back on yourself and into the first room from earlier that we purposefully ignored. The room is hard to miss because of the red illuminated alien structure inside. Use your new tool on the smaller, metal item to the right; this will make the gate to your left drop.

The player looks at a machine, made up of a shell-like item and metal item, in Act 2 of Scorn — That tool you just collected from the corpse? It belongs in the small, grey machine on the right. You won't get to use it fully until a little later, though.

When you’re finished interacting with the small metal item, go over to where the gate just dropped and there’ll be a narrow pillar that you can interact with. This will cause the elevator to descend. You can then get on the elevator and interact with the next pillar to go back up.

The player looks at the level for the elevator in Act 2 of Scorn — Yet another lever to smash your fingers into.

Head into the following tunnel, and you’ll catch a glimpse of your Facehugger friend from earlier. Take a right, and you’ll eventually come out by a weird contraption that looks like a button. Interact with it, and you’ll see that there are three paths you can essentially take from here; take the leftmost route and traverse along the tunnel again.

The player faces a button contraption in Act 2 of Scorn — Not only does this alien civilisation have puzzles galore, but they've got buttons and secret paths, too.

When you emerge, there is another pillar down the corridor to the right that’ll require your tool. You’ll need to continually use the tool and turn it until the pole slots into the first circle, then the second circle, and so forth. Refer to the below image to actually understand what the hell I’m talking about.

The player finishes the puzzle at a pillar in Act 2 of Scorn — You'll wind up doing this puzzle four times, with increasing difficult every time.

When you’re done aligning the circles, turn the pole to the top of the pillar and interact once more to be ejected. Now, turn around and head straight forward until you reach another pillar with a corpse attached to it. You can’t use this yet, but remember the location.

Return to the tunnel with the button contraption, and go through the leftmost tunnel again. When you exit, you’ll be facing a huge mechanical vent. Go right through the tunnel, and then left through a much narrower tunnel again. Once you emerge, keep left and approach the three valves that you can interact with.

The player looks at where three valves once were powering a mechanical vent, somehow, in Act 2 of Scorn — I don't know what was inside those valves, but it looks gross.

Interact with them one by one and pull them off, and this will stop the large mechanical fan. Once again, return to the tunnel with the button contraption inside. On your way, your Facehugger friend will get really friendly, and you’ll somehow end up with a weapon again.

Make your way to the beginning of the tunnel where the huge mechanical vent was; you’ll now be able to access a new area beyond the vent. Past the vent, go into the tunnel on the left, keep left, and when you emerge, there’ll be another pillar (on the left, of course) that requires your tool and some turning again.

To your right, there’ll be an elevator for you to use.

The player enters the elevator shaft in Act 2 of Scorn — This elevator is really easy to miss, so be sure you don't run past it.

When the elevator spits you out at the next room, you’ll find a phallic pillar that you can shove your arm into, much like the one from the prologue. Do this, and then interact with the other pillar at the end of the room using your weapon.

The player puts their weapon in an eligible pillar in Act 2 of Scorn — Now you finally have a melee weapon again, you can activate new pillars using it!

Now, you’re essentially back where you started. What we want to do is return to the two-handed pillar that had the corpse attached to it from earlier. From here, go back to the room illuminated with red light and take the lift. Then, follow the rooms round until you reach the tunnel with the button contraption inside again, and access the left-most tunnel.

Make your way through the tunnel, and at the cross-roads, the two-handed pillar with the corpse is on the left. Interact with the pillar. One of the tunnels you’ll be able to see is blocked with bodies, so move the pipe so that it is in line with that tunnel, and then activate it to have the bodies… um… disposed of creatively, I guess.

A jet of acid is positioned underneath a tunnel of corpses in Act 2 of Scorn — You'll want the pipes, which come from the center orb, to lead up to the tunnel with the bodies blocking it.

Once that’s done, make your way back to the tunnel that led you here and find the button; you’ll obviously want to head into the tunnel that has since been unblocked, which in this instance, is straight ahead.

You’ll then arrive at the fourth and final pillar that requires you to stick your tool in and turn some dials. Complete this, and then it’s time to return to the ‘red room’ full of ‘flowerbuds’ (that I suspect are probably ‘alienbuds’ in this case).

Now, in this room there are two devices you can interact with right beside each other. The smaller, metal-looking contraption that we used your earlier needs your tool - the one that has been inside various pillars - slotting inside again.

This will see all four alienbuds lower, and two new pillars that you can use will appear. Use the pillar closest to your first, and another puzzle requiring you to mess around slotting things in the correct place appears. This time, you need the white markers on the tool to somehow match up with the red markers on the pillar.

That said, this is much like the ‘egg’ puzzle from Act 1, albeit easier; a little trial and error, and you’ll solve it.

A puzzle can be seen, which requires various slots to be aligned with each other in Act 2 of Scorn — This one looks intimidating, but as far as Scorn puzzles go, this is perhaps the easiest one to solve.

With the puzzle complete, an alienbud opens. You can now approach and use the pillar beside it to equip another tool. When another disheveled creature emerges from the alienbud, you can ignore him; he’s sadly going to die there and then.

Leave the red room and go left towards the next door, then interact with the panel here to then use your new tool to open it.

The player faces a door in Act 2 of Scorn — That shiny new tool of yours is now a key for these big, grand doors.

Continue on and follow the path around until you encounter another door. Interact with it again, using your shiny new tool to give you access to yet another new area. There’ll then be another elevator for you to take.

Exiting the elevator, use the machine in front of you. This machine will stab that crab item you retrieved earlier, and that crab item can actually be used to restore your HP; everytime you bring your healing crab to one of these strange machines, it'll have a few heals recharged.

With that done, go through the tunnel to the left of the machine. Once again, there’ll be another door to go through, which will spit you out where Act 1 was based.

Take a right, which will send you through yet another tunnel, and up to another door you can unlock. You will then end up in a very grandiose lift shaft. Interact with the pillar here to descend. This marks the end of Act 2 of Scorn.

If you're continuing your journey in the abyss that is Scorn, take a look at our walkthrough of Act 3.