Scarlet Hollow

Great artwork and music all around. Plus I like talking to her dog. Is a original and independent game that is unique. Creativity in gaming that matches the devs that made it and not Halo garbage or such. When a hour goes by and one is experiencing the unique sound distortions and the graphics and that what is hidden in it, is fulfilling to me.

I wish there was a 'maybe' for recommending it. At its core, Scarlet Hollow is a good game. It's very well illustrated and competently written. It's engaging. Its chief weakness is that the player agency is a little lacking, at least so far. You get certain 'big decisions' within some acts, but I've yet to feel any immediate impact from them. Though, I seem to have had a pretty good route my first playthrough here - and there are at least two decisions I hope would make a very large impact. Still, if the little details matter at all, it's at such an imperceptible level that I feel unrewarded and incomplete for engaging with them. Compared to their previous work, "Slay the Princess", it simply lacks the pacing and impact that made that game exceptional. Part of the issue there lies in these weird off-shoots and little character explorations, which only serve to reinforce the lack of player agency when forced upon the player character against their will. This makes the story feel much more 'told at you'. Especially where past events are concerned. Speaking of which, this game nearly necessitates some kind of journal for keeping track of your family history. I read every snippet of dialogue, and in chapter 5 I still have very little idea who key players are. My apologies for soft spoilers, but I have literally 0 investment, or notion, in/of who most of these characters are. Personal problem? Perhaps. But even here in chapter 5, I only even remember what's immediately apparent and narratively reinforced. For these reasons, sadly, I can't TRULY recommend it at this price, despite genuinely enjoying it. The full release might alleviate some of these problems, and tie some threads together. But even considering that, the narrative disjunction between chapters makes this feel too incomplete to me. And let me be clear: I do love the game. And the developers. I realize this review is much, much more critical than most. But it isn't meant to diminish the talent at play here. Rather, I hope it will be be of some small use in honing the game before release. I'm about to start a new playthrough, which might change this review considerably. But I wanted to get my thoughts down here on my first experience, because it is an important experience. [EDIT] Playthrough 2, enjoyable so far. Different enough to be fresh, which makes it much more viably worth the price.

I have become truly addicted to this game within days! Amazing story and writing. There is so much depth to your choices and things keep coming back to bite me in the butt I did cluelessly in the first hour of playing. Love it!

Estoy dando volteretas, esto es mágico. Hiper recomendado, no puedo parar. Me muero por el desenlace de esta Novela Visual, no puedo esperar a hacer otros caminos y ver que me estoy perdiendo, es que me voy a morir. Actualizaré cuando juegue mas

A southern gothic inspired story game with amazing visuals. The vibes are immaculate. I was warned, and yet... I still chose to obliviously wander into the woods at night with a complete stranger. Did I continue to make bad choices? Yep. Was I entertained? Also yep. A classic "I can fix them". It might still be in early release, but I couldn't tell. There's potential here for infinite hours of a good time. I highly recommend the experience.

While some parts are hit and miss (some of the characters are a bit weird sometimes, someone at Tabby Games must freaking LIVE off PB&J and/or Ice Cream & Mac and Cheese - and like, no, I don't want to romance this person, thank you, you want to put on a little more clothing when you have guests OLIVER?! - and what's up with the absolute weirdo on the bus? And for the character complaining about it being a tiny hick town, it's actually an fairly diverse group of characters, in a good way, but someone at Tabby Games definitely has a "type" nod nod wink wink.) but character nit-picking aside, there are so many nooks and crannies to this game, that it's an amazing power house of a choose-your-own-horror-story that I've played, beaten, and come back to, repeatedly, trying to find different allies or get revenge on people who upset me last playthrough. But things and characters change so often that I've found it stays pretty enjoyable, fresh. It has good storytelling in general. The story telling and art direction varies from good enough to excellent, although sometimes I lost the plot and had to read about what just happened (episode 3 and the end of four) but it's an enjoyable well fleshed out game that put a great deal of effort into replay value - and that effort shines. Not without its flaws, it's a very replayable and fairly creative game. (also spooky banjo music unlike project zomboid really is top notch environmental story telling.

There's just so much to do and the game isn't even complete yet (as of writing this it's up to chapter 5). I came here from Slay the princess and though at first it does feel a little railroad-y when no matter what you choose you end up in the same place for different reasons, the more I think about it, it makes a lot of sense lore-wise. I find myself coming back with different traits to see what happens. I think Slay the princess might be slightly better, but both games are fantastic.