Scarlet Deer Inn

I randomly stumbled upon the game whilst scrolling the net, and when I heard about the premise, I was immediately sold. Hand made embroidery for all characters? Honestly its innovation is genius. Each character has their own type of embroidery as a text box, and they have put an astounding level of detail in that regard. Peasants / kids of peasants have simple embroidery, whilst kids and old people have dirty ones. Soldiers have a monotone dark grey with light grey accent. Fitting. Royalty have rich colours like purple and crimson, with yellow accents, whilst normal folk have the typical tan colour with red/blue accents. Some might have a purple embroidery, with each profession having a different type of embroidery. The music and world were a pleasure to traverse all throughout, vibrant in colour and detail. Albeit the gameplay is on the simpler and easier side, I don't see much of an issue, you're clearly here to follow the story and enjoy this gorgeous artstyle and music. However I do have to note that the final boss battle is a tad bit underwhelming, and the final conversation with the beekeeper feels a bit out of place, like "what did he just say to me? how and why? you wot m8?" and the game ends there and then. It does feels rushed in that aspect. On gameplay, it is noteworthy that you CAN and SHOULD pet the duck, honk honk I will definately be purchasing the soundtrack just to support the studio. I hope this game finds great success with more people coming to appreciate its beauty.

A good game with an excellent, even unique, art design. It's short, and honestly could've been even shorter, but the developers decided to add a bit of filler to stretch the playtime. I get why they did it — the playthrough would've been around 2 hours, and that would've led to bad-faith players refunding it. Still, I think it could've been handled more elegantly — for example, by trying to reveal who this "witch" actually is, sort of deepening the lore. Gameplay is probably the weakest part of the game — it's not a walking simulator, sure, but it doesn't quite reach modern platformer standards either. The short runtime saves it here, though — at 3 hours, it doesn't really overstay its welcome. The music is great, the story is simple but engaging enough. It's a shame the game seems to be selling poorly. I wasn't planning to buy it because of my huge backlog, but I decided to support the developers anyway. I'd like to see more games with some kind of unique element, instead of the constant Unreal Engine 5 neuroslop. Hope it still turns a profit somehow.

CZ: Hra sice patří k kratším zážitkům, ale užila jsem si ji na maximum. Okouzlila kresba, skvělý soundtrack a chytlavý příběh, který hru spolehlivě táhne dopředu. Hlavní roli hraje právě vyprávění. Puzzly patří k těm jednodušším a až na dvě trochu matoucí pasáže jsem nikde nezasekla. Kdyby byla hra o něco delší, vůbec bych se nezlobila – místy je totiž cítit, že vývojáři měli v plánu o něco více obsahu. I tak jde ale o skvělý počin. Jen tak dál, Attu Games! ENG: Game lenght might be on the shorter side, but I enjoyed every moment. The art style, fantastic soundtrack, and engaging story kept me hooked from start to finish. Narrative is definitely the main star here. The puzzles are on the simpler side and aside from two slightly confusing sections, playthrough was smooth sailing. I would’ve loved a bit more playtime, as you can occasionally feel that the devs originally envisioned more content. Overall a lovely experience. Keep up the great work, Attu Games!

The embroidered character art drew me in but the story and music is what really made me stay. I have a hard time getting into games but man was I enjoying this one. The story is engaging, although gameplay was was a bit daunting when you have those sidequests soon after the big reveal, things pick up a pretty good pace with the gameplay afterwards. The use of music during certain gameplay scenes and story moments really get you into it and I found myself waiting for the next one just cuz i found them so creative even though gameplaywise its very simple platforming. I'd say that's what this game does best, it uses simple mechanics but enhances them with its visual and musical styles. Though I do have a bias for folk music XD (I believe that's what it is? though i could be wrong since im not Czech). Speaking of Czech, I get the feeling that most (if not all) the supernatural elements are drawn or inspired by Czech folk tales. Mostly because the game never goes in depth or asks questions about them, they just present them to the characters (and the player) and expects you to go along with it. I'd say it works pretty well to keep the pacing going, and understand how the characters and the world feel about them, but it did break my suspension of disbelief in one fetch quest because I was appalled the main character would just agree to carry certain things... It made me think that's what the game was going for, that getting in contact with the supernatural fogs the character's mind and they don't question the impossible things going on around them. Not until they stop making contact with them and they then realize just what happened. Alas this is not what the game was going for, but Im happy it DID have some space for theorizing where things were going. Going back to the fairytale aspect, and not explaining things, it made me wonder if some some parts or twists would've been more obvious if I had known of these (possible) fairytales its (probably) based on. Like if I could've picked up on warning signs earlier and would've avoided taking certain routes. This isn't a critique of the game design, again I think it worked very well, just something I found myself wondering on if it was intentionally designed like this or not. And speaking of designs... The npcs are very well characterized ngl, not that they're all super visually distinct from one another, but their characters are memorable whether they're friendly or not. Sure maybe you can't remember villager no.3, but you can remember how rude or how awkward they were when talking to you. You don't get backstories for them as it's not necessary, you can extrapolate why some of them act in certain ways and that gives you an "aha!" feeling, but the one thing I thought I would've gotten was some advancement in some relationships. Like finally getting someone's dirty deeds exposed, or getting friendlier with others that seemed to have an interest in you, but when you think things are going to start changing the game ends rather soon. And although the npcs are rather balanced, I wished we'd gotten a bit more out of the protagonist. Like with the npcs, some context is given on her situation but you'd think they'd delve further into it as the game goes on, as the supernatural things going on pose a few questions on if maybe they had something to do with the protagonist's past. I thought she would at least question if the supernatural played a part in some of her tragic past events, but for the most part she was tunneled visioned on the main goal (cant blame her). Maybe I just liked this game more than normal, but what can I say, I wanted more! I still want more! If they ever decide to follow up on it with a sequel I'd be all down for it, this game has style and it should capitalize on it. Specially because the game leaves on what may be a cliffhaner?... (spoilers for the ending, skip ahead one paragraph) Was the new beekeeper the same as the old one??? They sprites aren't the same, they're not recolors of each others since their face shape and hair shape and color are different, but he was acting as if he already knew the protag so I got the feeling that he may not be fully human and will always reincarnate into another person to keep doing the supernatural chores(?). Again, this could just be based on a fairytale and be very obvious to Czech people, but to me (who is from another continent) it felt like sequel bait (which im more than happy to take) as it makes the happy ending suddenly turn very uncomfortable for the protag. (End of spoilers) tldr: Very fun game! I hope this game isn't just a one off because it has a ton of charm.

[h1] Hodnocení 9/10, splněné achievementy 10/10, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34526713-Gaming-Professors/] Curator [/url] [/h1] Scarlet Deer Inn sice na první pohled klame tělem, ale ve výsledku přináší syrový a nezapomenutelný zážitek. Attu Games vetkali do každého stehu kus svého srdce, jež bije stejně divoce v prosluněné vsi jako v nejtemnějším podzemí. Eliščin urputný boj za záchranu rodiny ukazuje, že ta největší odvaha se často rodí z čistého zoufalství. Za nitě osudu tahá nekompromisní temnota, ale stojí za to do jejích chřtánů sestoupit. Balada dozněla, louč zhasla, avšak neklid v duši zůstane. Celou recenzi si můžete přečíst na https://www.gamingprofessors.cz/scarlet-deer-inn-herni-recenze/

Just for context, this is a first impressions review. I am yet to complete the game fully. So let's look at what I like and don't like. Pros: Visually beautiful I like the music Gameplay is enjoyable even if it's very simple Mostly bug-free (I had what I think was a bug with a text bubble once) Story is simple, but enjoyable, and honestly very dark Cons: Wall climbing/jumping can be iffy There is a point in the story that I don't like, since it takes away the urgency of the situation The price might be a bit too steep. I think that €15 would fit the game better Overall, I am enjoying my time with Scarlet Deer Inn even if I don't play this kind of game often. I've been following the developers for a while, and I want to support my fellow Czechs. If my opinion drastically changes after I complete the game, I will change the review. But as of now, I can recommend this game if you are okay with paying a little premium for the unique way this game was crafted.

I haven't finished the game yet but loving it so far. Beautiful art, great soundtrack and a story that finds a good balance between slice of life and disturbing