7'Scarlet Review (starlightseq)
In search of her missing brother, a young woman decides to visit the last place he was known to visit - a small mountain town called Okunezato. Together with her best friend and other patrons of the hotel they're staying in, they work to uncover the mysteries hiding within this town and how they are connected to her brother's disappearance.
Rating: Teen
Length: Medium (~15-25 hours, depending on reading speed)
Warnings: Major character death, graphic violence, animal death/abuse (not visually depicted or written in detail), and (spoilers for secret route) pseudo/step incest.
Branching visual novel in ADV format. There are 5 routes, with two available from the beginning, as well as a continuation of the true route unlocked after the five routes are completed. There is also a secret route made available after the true route.
Pros:
✨ The main and major supporting characters are truly what makes this game. Each character is full of life and personality and you'll become quickly endeared to the characters.
✨ The character and CG artwork is fantastic and the watercolour backgrounds are lovely.
✨ Full voice acting and all of it is wonderful. Japanese only.
✨ The core concept of the story is very interesting.
Cons:
✨ The story is a little awkwardly written. They're really obvious about a LOT of the mysteries and don't leave enough room for the player to speculate, which I find is kind of detrimental to a mystery game. The romances can feel rushed and I feel like this visual novel really could have benefited from letting things be more fleshed out. The fifth route and the secret routes in particular feel more like excuses to infodump the remaining mysteries of the game rather than build up the romances. The MC has no sense of danger to such a degree that it's clear she's written that way for plot convenience.
✨ Spoilers for the secret route: The romance between MC and her brother COMPLETELY came out of nowhere and will be incredibly offputting to most people.
✨ Feels like it was not fully adjusted for PC when ported. No buttons over the text box to click to get to the menu/log/auto. Must have keyboard shortcuts memorized to access these while playing. The game only tells you the shortcuts in the game launcher. Cannot click anywhere on screen to advance the text; must click within the text box.
✨ All characters are voiced EXCEPT the MC.
Overall rating: 6/10
Recommendation: Wait for a sale before buying.