R.E.P.O. | Monster guide: Upscream

The Upscream is a Level 2 monster in R.E.P.O. that moves on all fours at medium speed, its torso barely visible as it scurries across the floor. It looks almost comical until it opens its mouth and sends you flying into the nearest wall, pit, or worse, another monster.

Behavior

When the Upscream spots a player it closes the distance and, once in range, lets out a scream that flings the target backwards, stuns them for two seconds, and deals 10 physics damage. During the scream the targeted player's view is locked onto it. It can do this up to three times before retreating. It detects players by line of sight, proximity, and touch, and it will attack crouching players too. It can also climb onto furniture like tables and chairs, so hiding on top of objects does not guarantee safety. Notably, if a player hides under low furniture, the Upscream can go above that spot to damage them, though if the player moves from their original position after being spotted it will lose track.

Hidden usefulness

The Upscream's fling can be turned against the environment. If you position yourself with your back to a wall when it screams, the knockback will bounce it into the wall and deal collision damage to it. You can also equip a melee weapon at the exact moment it grabs you, which deals damage and stuns it, stopping the launch entirely.

Weaknesses

At only 50 HP the Upscream is fragile. It can be stunned by any Valuable regardless of size, and once stunned its strength breakpoint drops to zero, meaning anyone can pick it up. Its biggest weakness is that its danger scales almost entirely with the environment around it: in open rooms with solid walls it is manageable, but near pits or other monsters it becomes genuinely lethal.

Strategy

• Back yourself into a solid wall before it screams so the knockback throws it into the wall instead of launching you across the room.
• Never linger in rooms with pits or open drops when an Upscream is present on the level.
• If multiple Upscreams are active, coordinate with your team immediately. Two or more can stunlock a player in a loop until they die.
• If it chases you, try to angle the fling so you land away from other monsters rather than into them.
• Jumping and tumbling over the Upscream has a chance to break its line of sight and remove its aggro.
• If caught near an extraction point or the pocket C.A.R.T., the padded surface absorbs physics damage from the fling.
• Cornering yourself tightly and crouching as low as possible can cause the Upscream to immobilize you without actually launching you, avoiding the physics damage.

How to kill

With only 50 HP, the Upscream dies quickly once you commit. Hit it with any Valuable to stun it, its stunned strength breakpoint drops to zero so you can immediately pick it up and throw it against a wall or into a hazard. If you prefer weapons, a melee weapon works well: equip it at the exact moment it grabs you to stun it mid-attack, which also cancels the launch, then follow up with another hit to finish it off. Ranged weapons work just as cleanly at a safe distance. The key is landing that first stun before it gets a scream off, once it is stunned the kill is straightforward.