...

I finished my first run of Scarlet Hollow last night and my two main thoughts were 1) “How have I not played this before now?”, and 2) “Maybe I should’ve waited till it was all the way done”.

Like, it was amazing. I heard about it from Slay the Princess, and many of the things I liked there I liked here as well. Like the art is obviously incredible. What I thought was super special here was the atmosphere tho, it hits just right for me. This is just me projecting onto it, but I’m queer, and it felt just like going home. I’m not from a town that small, I’m from rich suburbs, but *everyone* goes to the same church, and in my area, most people are cousins or something. Going home is comfy and familiar, and there’s a lot I like, but there’s a lot of anxiety just sitting there under the surface. The game has such a perfect cozy little horror, and I love it.

I love the characterization on everybody. They’re all so good. The only problem with the cast is that flirting and romance options start to pop up when my wife Stella is not in the cast. Other than that it’s just perfect. I love Tabitha too, she’s like a really ugly cat, she’s adorable.

This was better than StP, but I wish there were better font and text choices. Playing on a Steam Deck is easier for me and the text size and navigation isn’t perfect. It’s not terrible, but it can be annoying.

I’ve already started my second playthrough, the umm, what are they called, traits? Seem like a really cool way to change things up and it’s been interesting already.