Thank you Black Tabby Games for sending us a preview code!

Upon launching Scarlet Hollow, you’ll be asked to enter your name and location.  You’ll also get to specify your gender: male, female, or they/them.  Once your character is created, you’ll find out the backstory about your aunt dying.  Your mother and aunt had a falling out and you’ll be meeting your cousin for the first time when you arrive in the small coal mining town of Scarlet Hollow.    

Scarlet Hollow is a small and poor town with many of the residents working in your family’s coalmine and relying on the work-provided housing to make ends meet.  Even when the workers are unhappy, most of them are too poor to leave.  While the townsfolk are friendly, many are cautious of your character due to your family ties.  

You’ll be staying at your cousin’s mansion for your week-long visit.  Unfortunately, the mansion is in disrepair and there are many restrictions in place.  Most of the mansion is off-limits, so you’ll have to stay in your room when your cousin is home.  Your cousin has graciously provided materials to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  If you want to eat anything else, you’ll have to go to the diner or grocery store in town.

As you explore the town, you’ll discover some oddities.  There are mysterious white creatures roaming in the woods and they can even be spotted in the daylight around town sometimes.  Livestock at a nearby farm is disappearing and when found, they are covered with huge lumps.  To make things even creepier, a recently deceased miner named Wayne starts following your character around.

One of the townsfolk is a tea leaf reading fortune teller and she predicts a major calamity is coming.  The choices you make will determine who will be impacted and whole will live or die from it.  There are one hundred and thirty seven Steam achievements, so there are plenty of choices to be made and various outcomes to experience.  

Like many visual novels, there are lots of dialogue choices to make and I highly recommend saving beforehand.  The chapters are roughly an hour long apiece and you are told to save before embarking on the next one.  When starting a new chapter, you can get a full series recap, or just be reminded of what happened in the last chapter.  These episodes are good and I eagerly anticipate the release of the next one.  Unfortunately, they seem to arrive eight months or so apart.

The first episode is free to play and the full game is $19.99.  You’ll have to restart a new save file when you launch the game.  Thankfully, you can fast forward through the dialogue to speed things up.  Alternatively, you can take the “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews as an indication that this is a good game and just buy it outright and not have to replay the first chapter/episode.

Before parting with your $16-20  (this game is 20% off as of writing this review), you should be aware of the many moral issues.  Language is all over the place and you’ll see the Lord’s name used in vain along with other curse words, including the F-bomb.  There is a lot of unavoidable blood and gore.  You’ll be encountering spiritual possession and many skeletons in your family’s past (literally!).  

If you don’t mind the language, occult elements, gore, and waiting for future episodes, Scarlet Hollow is a thrilling visual novel adventure game.  I love the art style and the character abilities that alter the game’s story options.  I look forward to the remainder of the series and more titles from Black Tabby Games!