7'scarlet

Last updated
7'scarlet
7scarlet decalless cover art.jpeg
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Director(s) Tomio Kanazawa
Artist(s) Chinatsu Kurahana
Writer(s) Tomio Kanazawa
Composer(s) Yuki Sugiura
Platform(s) PlayStation Vita
Microsoft Windows
Release
  • JP: July 21, 2016
  • NA/EU: May 25, 2018
Genre(s) Visual novel
Mode(s) Single-player

7'scarlet is an otome visual novel video game developed by Otomate and Toybox Inc. It was released for the PlayStation Vita by Idea Factory in 2016 in Japan and by Aksys Games in 2018 in North America and Europe. The player reads through the story, making choices that determine its direction, and takes the role of college student Ichiko Hanamaki, who goes to the town of Okunezato to investigate the disappearance of her brother together with her friend Hino Kagutsuchi.

Contents

The game was directed and written by Tomio Kanazawa, with character designs by Chinatsu Kurahana and music by Yuki Sugiura. Although Kanazawa initially wanted to set the game in the real-life town Karuizawa, he ended up creating a fictional, crescent-shaped town based on it instead, with some features such as the main street remaining largely unaltered compared to their real-life counterparts. The game was well received by critics.

Gameplay

7'scarlet is a visual novel in which the player reads through the story, and makes choices that affect the direction of the story; they need to replay the game multiple times and take different paths to uncover the whole story. [1] The player character has a default name, but the player may change it if they wish; if they use the default name, dialogue mentioning the player character by name will be voiced. Throughout the game, items are added to the player's "TIPS" glossary, including explanations of terms and background stories for characters and locations. [2]

Plot

The game follows Ichiko Hanamaki, a college student whose brother has disappeared in the town of Okunezato a year prior to the start of the game. She and her childhood friend Hino Kagutsuchi find a website discussing mysteries surrounding the town, which will host an offline meetup in the town during the summer; Ichiko and Hino go there to investigate Ichiko's brother's disappearance. [3]

Development and release

The town of Okunezato was based on Karuizawa; the main street was largely unchanged from the real-life Old Karuizawa Ginza Avenue (pictured). Old Karuizawa ginza06n3872.jpg
The town of Okunezato was based on Karuizawa; the main street was largely unchanged from the real-life Old Karuizawa Ginza Avenue (pictured).

7'scarlet was developed by Otomate and Toybox Inc., [1] and was directed and written by Deadly Premonition producer Tomio Kanazawa, [4] [5] with character designs by Chinatsu Kurahana, [6] and music by Yuki Sugiura. [7] The opening theme, "World's End Syndrome", was performed by Kaori Oda and composed by Myu; the ending themes "Me no Mae no Hohoemi", "Koboresou na Tsuki" and "Itoshisa o Daita Hana" were performed by Mao, Oda, and Haruka Shimotsuki, respectively; and the insert song "Lovesick" was performed by A-TO and Auk Zero. [2]

The town of Okunezato was based on the real-life town Karuizawa; Kanazawa had wanted to set a game in the actual Karuizawa, but was asked to make it a fictitious place, so he took artistic liberties with the location and changed it to a crescent-shaped town surrounded by forests and rivers; some specific areas remained largely unchanged, such as Okunezato's main street, based on the Old Karuizawa Ginza Avenue. [4]

The game was announced along with several other Otomate games at their Otomate Party event in 2015. [6] It was released for the PlayStation Vita by Idea Factory in Japan on July 21, 2016, [8] and by Aksys Games in North America and Europe on May 25, 2018. [1] [9] Along with Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk , it is part of Aksys Games' "Summer of Mystery" campaign; players who purchase all three can get a set of enamel pins. The North American physical release of 7'scarlet includes a set of character cards, [10] and the Japanese deluxe edition of the game includes postcards, pin badges, a towel, and two audio dramas. [11] The game's original soundtrack album was released by Muzzle Duzzle Musik Allerlei on November 25, 2016. [7]

Reception

Famitsu gave the game their Gold Hall of Fame award, saying that they enjoyed its mystery theme and how it was well integrated with the otome format despite how it was unusual to see the two elements combined. They also enjoyed learning more of the mystery on each new route they played through. [8] 4Gamer.net enjoyed the music, saying that they liked the sense of mystery, and that the song "Through the Woods" in particular gave them goose bumps. [7]

7'scarlet was the 16th best selling game in Japan during its debut week, selling 3,128 copies. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Party</span> Japanese video game development business

Ruby Party is the Japanese brand name of Koei Tecmo Holdings' women-based game development team. The team was established around 1990 by Keiko Erikawa.

<i>Code_18</i> 2011 video game

Code_18 is a visual novel video game developed by Cyberfront and released on September 29, 2011, for the PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360, and later for Microsoft Windows. It is a reboot of the Infinity series, which also includes Never 7: The End of Infinity, Ever 17: The Out of Infinity, Remember 11: The Age of Infinity, and the spin-off 12Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral. The story follows Hayato Hino, a high school student who receives voice messages from the future on his phone, and is stuck in a loop, repeating a month of his life over and over again. The gameplay involves advancing the story through conversations with characters, with dialogue choices influencing the story's path.

4Gamer.net is a Japanese video game website operated by Aetas Inc. It was launched in August 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spike Chunsoft</span> Japanese video game development company

Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game development and localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike in 2012. It is owned by Dwango.

<i>Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate</i> 2010 roguelike video game

Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate is a roguelike role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft. It is the fifth main entry in the Shiren the Wanderer series, which is a subset of the larger Mystery Dungeon series. It was originally released for the Nintendo DS in 2010 in Japan.

<i>Code: Realize</i> 2014 video game

Code: Realize − Guardian of Rebirth is an otome visual novel video game developed by Otomate for PlayStation Vita, released in 2014 in Japan and in 2015 in North America and Europe. The game features a steampunk aesthetic and a cast of literary and historical figures, including Arsène Lupin, Abraham Van Helsing, Victor Frankenstein, Impey Barbicane, and Count Saint-Germain. Two fan discs, Code: Realize − Future Blessings, and Code: Realize - Wintertide Miracles were released on November 26, 2016 and February 14, 2019, respectively. Aksys Games localized both games in English. An anime television series adaptation by M.S.C aired from October 7 to December 23, 2017.

<i>Goes!</i> 2016 video game

Goes! is a Japanese female-oriented drama CD developed by Petit Reve and published by Future Tech Lab. The series spans 5 volumes, with the first one being released on August 27, 2014, and the last one released on November 5, 2016. Between January 27, 2016, and April 20, 2016, four image song albums were also released. On November 25, 2016, Future Tech Lab released an otome visual novel video game adaptation for PlayStation Vita, developed by Petit Reve.

<i>Wonder Flick</i> 2014 video game

Wonder Flick was a role-playing video game developed and published by Level-5, which was released for iOS and Android devices. Versions for the Wii U, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One were planned, but these were eventually cancelled upon the shutdown of the mobile version in 2015.

<i>Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan</i> 2016 video game

Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan is an otome visual novel video game developed by Otomate for PlayStation Vita that was first released on April 21, 2016. It was written by Yuma Katagiri, with art by Satoi. A sequel, Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Kuroyuri En'yōtan, was released in 2017, and was followed by another sequel, Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Irodori Nadeshiko, released in 2018 for the Nintendo Switch. An anime adaptation of the original game, directed by Masahiro Takata at Zero-G, aired in Japan from April 8 to June 24, 2018.

<i>Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly</i> and <i>the Ashen Hawk</i> 2015 video game

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk are two otome visual novel video games developed by Otomate. They were published for PlayStation Vita by Idea Factory in Japan in 2015 and 2016, and by Aksys Games in North America and Europe in 2018. Intragames and Idea Factory released Black Butterfly for Microsoft Windows in 2018, and Ashen Hawk in 2019.

<i>Bs Log</i> Japanese gaming magazine

B's LOG is a Japanese gaming magazine, published in both print and digital formats, by Kadokawa Game Linkage, aimed at the female market. Games covered in this publication typically fall into the otome and BL genres. According to parent company Kadokawa, it has a circulation of 90,000; its readerbase is 99% female with an average age of 22.

<i>Bad Apple Wars</i> 2015 video game

Bad Apple Wars is an otome visual novel video game developed by Otomate, exclusively released for the PlayStation Vita by Idea Factory in 2015 in Japan and by Aksys Games in 2017 in North America and Europe. The game follows a student named Rinka who, after dying in an accident wakes up in an afterlife modelled around a high school setting. It launched to favourable reviews by Western critics, who generally praised the story.

Kaoru Hasegawa is a Japanese game artist and part of Spike Chunsoft's affiliation. Since 1994, he contributes to the company, with the Mystery Dungeon franchise as the main character designer for the Shiren the Wanderer series since its first title in 1995, and as an artist for other video game titles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Romano, Sal (2018-03-21). "Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, 7'scarlet, and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk launch in April, May, and June in North America". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  2. 1 2 Bashou (2016-06-27). "「乙女チック4Gamer」第85回：2つの顔を持つ田舎町が舞台の「7'scarlet」を特集。不思議な事件に挑む主人公と青年達の恋が楽しめる". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas, Inc. Archived from the original on 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  3. ↑ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (2017-07-01). "Aksys Games to Release 7'scarlet, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk, Code:Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ Otome Games". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
  4. 1 2 "ソウスケ役の沢城さんがディレクターの金沢さんを直撃！ 『セブスカ』謎解決プロジェクト・回答編". PlayStation Blog (in Japanese). Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2016-08-31. Archived from the original on 2017-04-06. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  5. ↑ Sato (2016-05-16). "Deadly Premonition Producer's Visual Novel 7'scarlet For PS Vita Gets An Opening Movie". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on 2017-10-07. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  6. 1 2 Hodgkins, Crystalyn (2015-08-17). "Idea Factory Announces New Norn 9, Brothers Conflict Visual Novels". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
  7. 1 2 3 Iona (2017-01-13). "ミュージック フロム ゲームワールド：Track 89 「ポケットモンスター サン・ムーン」「7'scarlet」". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas, Inc. Archived from the original on 2017-06-22. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  8. 1 2 3 "7'scarlet（セブンスカーレット） まとめ [Vita]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2017-10-31. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
  9. ↑ "5 big new releases to look out for on PlayStation Store this week". PlayStation Blog Europe . Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2018-05-21. Archived from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
  10. ↑ Bukacek, Jacob (2018-04-27). "Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly Kicks-Off 'Summer of Mystery'". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  11. ↑ "『7'scarlet（セブンスカーレット）』にオリジナルグッズを同梱した『7'scarlet DXパック』が予約開始！". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. 2016-04-26. Archived from the original on 2016-07-03. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  12. ↑ Sato (2016-07-29). "This Week In Sales: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana Sets Out On A New Adventure". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.