Scarlet Hollow

Last updated

Scarlet Hollow
SH Logo Color Light.svg
Developer(s) Black Tabby Games
Publisher(s) Black Tabby Games
Programmer(s) Tony Howard-Arias
Artist(s) Abby Howard
Composer(s) Brandon Boone
Engine Ren'Py
Platform(s) Linux
MacOS
Microsoft Windows
ReleaseJune 11, 2021 (early access)
Genre(s) Visual novel, Role-playing game
Mode(s) Single-player

Scarlet Hollow is an episodic visual novel developed and published by Black Tabby Games. It entered early access on June 11, 2021 for Linux, MacOS, and Microsoft Windows systems. As of 2024, four episodes have been released out of a planned seven.

Contents

Gameplay

Scarlet Hollow is a visual novel with RPG elements. The player chooses the protagonist's name, gender, and background, alongside two additional traits (out of seven options) that unlock unique choices and dialogue options. These traits are "Book Smart", "Street Smart", "Talks to Animals", "Hot", "Keen Eye", "Powerful", and "Mystical". [1] There also exists a "Hardcore Mode" (unlockable as a New Game+ option) that allows the player to pick three traits, but at the cost of cutting out certain story paths those traits would normally grant access to. [2]

The player influences the story with their decisions and dialogue choices, though most basic story beats remain unchanged. Some options are labeled with the word "(Explore)", which in most cases means selecting them will not progress the story. [3] Non-player characters' perception of the protagonist is dependent on a hidden five-variable system (open/closed, agreeable/adversarial, insightful/dull, bold/passive, and reliable/unreliable) that shifts based on their responses. At certain points, the player may have the option to begin a romantic relationship with certain NPCs, though doing so will lock out other romance options for the remainder of the playthrough. [4]

Plot

The protagonist is invited to the funeral of their estranged Aunt Pearlanne by her daughter Tabitha, the new head of the once-affluent Scarlet family. They travel to Scarlet Hollow, North Carolina, a small town supported by the Scarlet-owned coal mines. The protagonist meets several residents including cryptozoology YouTuber Stella. She invites them to film a video with her in the woods. The two discover that fleshy creatures called “Ditchlings” have been abducting small animals and laying their eggs into them. The encounter can end with the death of local farmer Duke or Stella's pug Gretchen. The protagonist also encounters Sam Wayne, a seemingly supernatural man whose head is covered by a veil.

On Day 2, the protagonist and Stella research the creatures at the library with Stella’s friend Kaneeka and town librarian Oscar. They investigate the coal mines, potentially learning from the miners that Wayne is a former coal miner and Tabitha’s ex-boyfriend. As they leave, they spot Oscar’s daughter Rosalina sneaking into a condemned mine with her friends. Inside, Rosalina vents her frustration with Oscar moving her out of their house as he claims it is haunted. The protagonist has a vision of their ancestor Enoch Scarlet ignoring safety issues with the mine, resulting in a deadly mine collapse. Presently, ghostly creatures appear as the mine begins to collapse, and the protagonist is faced with helping Rosalina escape or going back to help her friends Becka and Alexis.

On Day 3, the protagonist has dinner with Kaneeka and Stella’s friend Reese, a chronically ill young man who is mostly confined to his house. His mother Dr. Kelly cares for him and restricts his contact with the outside world, causing him to resent her. The group meets up at Oscar’s house and find it is haunted by the ghost of Charles Shaw Jr., the lover of the protagonist’s ancestor Edwardine Scarlet who was later killed by her. Charles demands that either Tabitha or the protagonist repay their family’s debt to him by sacrificing years of their own lives and becoming middle-aged. Afterwards, an upset Stella flees the scene.

On Day 4, Stella remains missing. The miners have begun striking due to recent events. The protagonist secretly visits Reese and may discover that his mother has been poisoning him with ricin for years, causing his illnesses. Reese, off his “medication” and enraged by his mother’s deception, transforms into a beast. Dr. Kelly potentially reveals that Reese was conceived supernaturally and that she poisoned him as a means of suppressing his transformations. The encounter can end with Reese’s death, continued imprisonment, or escape. The protagonist is again visited by Wayne, who instructs them to investigate the Scarlet estate’s sealed-off wings.

Development

Scarlet Hollow is developed by Black Tabby Games, an independent game studio consisting solely of married couple Abby Howard and Tony Howard-Arias, originally founded in Boston before moving to Toronto. [5] They ran a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter in 2020 for the game. [6] Scarlet Hollow's influences includes Life Is Strange , Twin Peaks , and Gravity Falls . [7]

Episode 1 was released as a demo in 2020, [1] with Episode 2 releasing the following year. [4]

Following the release of Episode 3, the couple decided to release a second, non-episodic game that would support the remainder of the Scarlet Hollow. That game, Slay the Princess , released in 2023 and proved successful enough to fund the rest of Scarlet Hollow's development cycle. [8] [9] Episode 4 released in late 2022. [10]

Reception

Reviewing Episode 1, PC Gamer's Emma Matthews praised the game's setting and implementation of the trait system. [1] Rachel Weber of GamesRadar+ wrote positively of the game's hand-drawn art and dialogue, saying, "The story has echoes of Shirley Jackson, with the snappy dialogue of a Netflix hit, and the art style holds it all together like a beautiful spiderweb spun with digital ink." [4] Writing for The Escapist , Amy Davidson praised the first episode's tone and pacing. [3] CGMagazine scored the episode an 8/10 while focusing praise on the characters and setting. [11] John Walker of Kotaku named the early access version of Scarlet Hollow as one of 2021's best games. [12] He also listed Episodes 3 and 4 among 2022's best games. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Peach</span> Video game character

Princess Peach is a character in Nintendo's Mario franchise. She was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original Super Mario Bros. game as Princess Toadstool. She is the princess regnant and head of state of the Mushroom Kingdom, where she resides in her castle along with Toads. Since her debut, she has appeared in the majority of Mario video games as the main female character and the romantic interest of Mario. She has been voiced by Samantha Kelly since 2007.

<i>The Walking Dead</i> (video game) 2012 episodic graphic adventure video game

The Walking Dead is a 2012 episodic graphic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games. Set in the same universe as the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, it is the first installment in Telltale's The Walking Dead video game series. The game follows Lee Everett, a convicted criminal who becomes the guardian of a young girl named Clementine amidst the onset of a zombie apocalypse in Georgia. Player decisions, such as dialogue choices and actions, influence the story’s direction, with the consequences of these choices carrying over across the game’s episodes.

"I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee...", or simply "arrow in the knee", is an Internet meme that originated from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Originally a procedurally generated line of dialogue conceived by Senior Bethesda game designer Emil Pagliarulo and spoken by non-player characters (NPCs) who act as guards, the phrase became unexpectedly popular among Skyrim players. The phrase and its variations, such as "arrow to the knee", have since found popular reference outside of the game's original context, as well as media unrelated to The Elder Scrolls franchise.

Rosalina (<i>Mario</i>) Fictional Mario franchise character

Rosalina, known as Rosetta in Japan (ロゼッタ), is a character in the Mario franchise. She debuted in Super Mario Galaxy (2007), as a non-player character who resides in the Comet Observatory, the game's hub world. Rosalina is the adoptive mother of the Lumas, a fictional species of star-like creatures in the game, and also watcher of the cosmos. Rosalina has since appeared as a player character in subsequent Mario games, such as Super Mario 3D World and the Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. series. She also appears in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (2022), where she is possessed by Cursa, the main antagonist.

Abigail Howard is an American webcomic creator and video game developer from Charlotte, North Carolina. She is the co-founder of indie game studio Black Tabby Games, and created the comics Junior Scientist Power Hour,The Last Halloween, and The Crossroads At Midnight.

<i>The Walking Dead: A New Frontier</i> 2016 episodic graphic adventure video game

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is a 2016 episodic graphic adventure video game based on the comic book series of the same name developed by Telltale Games. It is the sequel to The Walking Dead: Season Two, and the third game in The Walking Dead video game series. The first two episodes were released on December 20, 2016, while a retail season pass disc edition was released on February 7, 2017. The game employs the same narrative structure as the past seasons, where player choice in one episode will have a permanent impact on future story elements. The player choices recorded in save files from the first two seasons and the additional episode 400 Days carry over into the third season.

<i>The Walking Dead</i> (video game series) Episodic graphic adventure video game series

The Walking Dead is an episodic graphic adventure game series developed and published by Telltale Games and Skybound Games, based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. First released in April 2012, the series currently spans four main five-episode seasons, an additional episode as downloadable content, and a mini three-episode season, with the fourth and final season being released in 2018 and ended in 2019. The games have been released to personal computers, game consoles, and mobile devices and have had both digital and physical releases.

<i>Tales of Berseria</i> 2016 video game

Tales of Berseria is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Windows. It is the sixteenth main entry in the Tales series and a prequel of Tales of Zestiria. It was released in Japan for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in mid-August 2016, and was released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Windows in late January 2017. A manga adaptation of this game was serialized on Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Rex Magazine since October 2016. The third and last volume was published August 2018 with an English translation finishing April 2020.

<i>VA-11 Hall-A</i> 2016 videogame

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is a 2016 visual novel developed by Venezuelan studio Sukeban Games and published by Ysbryd Games. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on June 21, 2016, and ports were later released for PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, with the Vita port developed by Wolfgame and published by Limited Run Games. The game puts the player in the role of a bartender at the eponymous VA-11 Hall-A, a small bar in a dystopian downtown which attracts interesting customers. Gameplay revolves around making and serving drinks to patrons while listening to their life stories.

<i>Celeste</i> (video game) 2018 platform game

Celeste is a 2018 platform game developed and published by indie studio Maddy Makes Games. The player controls Madeline, a young woman with anxiety and depression who aims to climb Celeste Mountain. During her climb, she encounters several characters, including Part of You, a personification of her self-doubt who attempts to stop her from climbing the mountain.

<i>Pokémon Uranium</i> 2016 video game

Pokémon Uranium is a fan-made video game based on the Pokémon series. The game was in development for nine years, and used the RPG Maker XP engine. The game adds 166 new fan-made species of Pokémon, with only 160 currently available, along with a new region. Similar to the official games, Uranium contains both online trading and online battling. In August 2016, after one and a half million downloads, the download links for Pokémon Uranium were taken down from the official website because the developers wanted to "respect Nintendo's wishes", after learning other sites that offered the download received DMCA takedown notice letters from lawyers representing Nintendo. The following month, the developers officially ceased development of the title and shut down the website and servers. Community members created a new website and continued to develop patches for the base game, including bug fixes and new features.

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, "Luna" for short, is a character from the Final Fantasy video game series made by Square Enix. She is a central character in Final Fantasy XV (2016), originally a spin-off title called Final Fantasy Versus XIII, a prominent character in the game's associated media, and has made appearances in mobile projects within the Final Fantasy franchise. Lunafreya is the Oracle, a powerful figure in the game's world of Eos who communes with its deities, the Astrals. Originally engaged to main protagonist Noctis Lucis Caelum as part of a political marriage, she remotely helps Noctis's quest to become the True King of legend and save their world from darkness.

Life Is Strange is a series of adventure games published by Square Enix's External Studios. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the eponymous first installment, which was released in five episodes throughout 2015. It was followed by a prequel, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, which was developed by Deck Nine and released in three episodes throughout 2017, with a downloadable content (DLC) bonus episode released in early 2018. The sequel Life Is Strange 2 and its spin-off The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit were developed by Dontnod and released between 2018 and 2019. A third main installment, Life Is Strange: True Colors, was released in its entirety on 10 September 2021. A fourth installment, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, was announced on June 9, 2024, set to be released on October 29, 2024. Additionally, a remastered collection of the original game and its prequel was released in February 2022.

Steve (<i>Minecraft</i>) Fictional video game character

Steve is a player character from the 2011 sandbox video game Minecraft. Created by Swedish video game developer Markus "Notch" Persson and introduced in the 2009 Java-based version, Steve is the first of nine default player character skins available for players of contemporary versions of Minecraft. Steve lacks an official backstory as he is intended to be a customizable player avatar as opposed to being a predefined character. His feminine counterpart, Alex, was introduced in August 2014 for Java PC versions of Minecraft, with the other seven debuting in the Java edition of the game in October 2022. Depending on the version of Minecraft, players have a choice of defaulting to either Steve or any other variant skins when creating a new account. However, the skin is easy to change from the game itself or website. He will be portrayed by Jack Black in A Minecraft Movie, set for release in 2025.

<i>Muse Dash</i> 2018 video game

Muse Dash is a rhythm game developed by PeroPeroGames based in China and published by hasuhasu and XD Network in Japan. It was initially released for iOS and Android in June 2018, later being released on Nintendo Switch, Windows and macOS in June 2019. It combines aspects of action games and music games, using an anime art style in the form of a 2D side-scrolling video game.

<i>Grand Theft Auto VI</i> Upcoming video game

Grand Theft Auto VI is an upcoming video game in development by Rockstar Games. It is due to be the eighth main Grand Theft Auto game, following Grand Theft Auto V (2013), and the sixteenth entry overall. Set within the fictional open world state of Leonida—based on Florida—and its Miami-inspired Vice City, the story is expected to follow the criminal duo of Lucia and her male partner.

<i>Pokémon Scarlet</i> and <i>Violet</i> 2022 video games

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are 2022 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. They are the first instalments in the ninth generation of the Pokémon video game series. They were announced in February 2022 and released on 18 November 2022. The games later received a downloadable content (DLC) expansion pass storyline, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. The first part, The Teal Mask, released on 13 September 2023, and the second part, The Indigo Disk, was released on 14 December 2023. A post-game expansion, Mochi Mayhem, considered the epilogue to the DLC and the game itself, released on 11 January 2024.

Katherine "Kate" Walker is a character from the Syberia video game franchise developed and published by Microids. A lawyer from New York City, she is the central character of franchise media beginning with the first Syberia, where she is tasked with overseeing the purchase of the Voralberg automaton factory on behalf of her employer. She later abandons her assignment, as well as her life and career back in the United States, to accompany the factory's heir in his search for the legendary island of Syberia, a sacred site to a fictional indigenous Siberian tribe known as the Youkols and is said to be home to the world's last surviving mammoths. Subsequent sequels explore the consequences of Walker's life-altering decisions and the personal toll they take on her.

<i>Slay the Princess</i> 2023 video game

Slay the Princess is a 2023 horror adventure game developed and published by Black Tabby Games for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS systems. It was released on October 23, 2023. The game is conceptually a twist on the damsel-in-distress archetype; rather than saving the princess, the objective is to kill her.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Matthews, Emma (October 13, 2020). "Scarlet Hollow is a chilling tale lifted by good jokes". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on April 3, 2024.
  2. ↑ Black Tabby Games [@blacktabbygames] (April 1, 2023). "The monkey's paw curls! For years you've asked us to give you a third trait in Scarlet Hollow, and today that wish is granted, though at a heavy price. Introducing HARDCORE MODE. So please, enjoy your new dialogue options, but know the suffering your hubris brings" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. 1 2 Davidson, Amy (October 2, 2020). "Scarlet Hollow Is a Choice-Driven Horror Visual Novel You Can Begin for Free". The Escapist . Archived from the original on December 5, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Weber, Rachel (August 21, 2021). "Have you tried... surviving monsters and Gothic family drama in Scarlet Hollow?". GamesRadar+ . Archived from the original on January 29, 2023.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Joshua (May 21, 2021). "Scarlet Hollow Episode 2 Coming To Steam Mid-June". Bleeding Cool . Archived from the original on June 27, 2022.
  6. ↑ Olah, Tina (October 21, 2020). "Crowdfunding Chronicles: Scarlet Hollow". RPGFan. Archived from the original on September 24, 2022.
  7. ↑ McGlynn, Anthony (October 4, 2020). "Twin Peaks meets Gravity Falls and Life Is Strange in Scarlet Hollow, Episode 1 free on Steam". PCGamesN . Archived from the original on December 5, 2023.
  8. ↑ Howard-Arias, Tony (August 30, 2022). "Earning wishlists on Steam: A case study". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on October 8, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  9. ↑ Howard-Arias, Tony (June 16, 2024). "Black Tabby Games — 2024 State of the Union". Medium .
  10. ↑ Walker, John (December 8, 2022). "The Best Narrative Game Of The Last Two Years Just Got Even Better". Kotaku . Archived from the original on March 15, 2024.
  11. ↑ Goh, Clement (October 30, 2020). "Scarlet Hollow Episode 1 (PC) Review". CGMagazine . Archived from the original on April 13, 2024.
  12. ↑ Walker, John (December 22, 2021). "John Walker's Top Ten Games Of 2021". Kotaku . Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  13. ↑ Walker, John (December 14, 2022). "John Walker's Top Ten Games Of 2022". Kotaku . Archived from the original on June 17, 2024.
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.