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Scum Save

A term used to describe the act of saving your game repeatedly, typically before a tough mission, or before performing some action with a low success rate. Analogous to throwing as many darts as necessary until you hit the target, it allows the player to achieve a "perfect run", using as few resources as possible, with no repercussions for failure, since you can simply reload the save if you aren't satisfied with the outcome.

Tends to be associated with Bethesda games in particular, as they allow saving whenever the player chooses, though examples can be found in many other titles, especially the Dark Souls franchise on PC, where many players make saves through 3rd party applications or by hand, right before a major boss fight, in order to waste as little time returning to the boss gate and to conserve items such as one time heals or one use damage and defense buffs.
"Did you beat that super tough mission yesterday?"

"Yeah, but I had to Scum Save my way through every fight. I was just too under-leveled to go through it for real."
by TetsuchiYamashiro March 8, 2020
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Save Scum

When a player constantly reloads saves for a desired outcome.
Oof, I accidentally killed Lae'zel, I should probably save scum back to when she was alive!
by Caleb Wolf September 5, 2023
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