7’scarlet

7’scarlet
System: PS Vita
Developer: Toybox Inc. & Otomate
Publisher: Idea Factory
Language: Japanese
Rating: CERO B (12+)
Release date: July 21st 2016
Official site: http://www.otomate.jp/7scarlet/

Story:
Ichiko’s brother went missing a year ago (will otoge heroines please keep an eye on your brothers geez) in the mysterious town of Okunezato. Her childhood friend, Hiro, finds a website named “Forbidden Okunezato Club” where they look into the town’s legends and folklore. He invites Ichiko to the website’s offline meeting in the town in hope of gaining information about her missing brother but this isn’t her first time here after all.

Characters:

Kagutsuchi Hino (CV: Shimazaki Nobunaga) – Ichiko’s childhood friend from university. Really into sports but secretly loves cute things.

Amari Isora (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya) – Chef at Fuurin Cafe, working hard to look after his mother.

Kushinada Toa (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) – Clumsy, cat loving dork with some HUGE secrets.

Tatehira Sousuke (CV: Sawashiro Chiharu) – Intelligent medical student who is afraid of germs and is terrible at making jokes.

Murakumo Yuzuki (CV: Miki Shinichirou) – The strict Fuurin Hotel owner.

Hanate (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) – Heroine’s missing brother.
Hirasaka Yuki (CV: Kobayashi Sanae) – Genius middle schooler who assists with managing the hotel.
Susano Yua (CV: Saito Chiwa) – Video game-loving female hotel employee.
Kukuri Yasuhisa (CV: Kishio Daisuke) – Police officer.
Tsukuyomi Kagura (CV: Takahashi Hiroki) – Landscape photographer.
Karasuma Chikage (CV: Yasumoto Hiroki) – Unsociable novelist.

My thoughts:
I’ve decided that these murder mysteries that take multiple routes to figure out whodunit are totally my type of game! I couldn’t put it down. I laid in bed at night just thinking about it. The game wasn’t perfect and had a lot of plot holes but it was thoroughly enjoyable!
As soon as you hear the title call, as well as saying 7’scarlet, it says things like “why” and “run away”, I love this! It’s certainly different. 

The game kind of forces you to play in a certain order (definitely recommended as you’ll get the full story this way). The final route is a huge text dump that fills in some of the blanks. I would have preferred it if they had incorporated it into the other routes as I feel the final impressions of a game are important. But I did very much enjoy the epilogue, even to the point of getting goosebumps.
There are some unnecessary things in there *cough* stop putting random idols in all your games otomate *cough* but all in all everything fit together perfectly and flowed really well.

(during a group photo) “Sorry, I blinked”

(during a group photo) “Sorry, I blinked”
As for favourite character, it has to be Toa doesn’t it? I’m sure they purposely made it that way but it’s impossible to play it without loving him. The first time you see him, he is covered in cats. Boom! Instant love. Just his whole aesthetic and colours are so nice, with or without glasses! 

With Kurahana Chinatsu doing the character designs and art, it’s obvious that they would be pretty. But what interested me were the backgrounds. It’s like painted over photos. I wasn’t sure at first but they really grew on me.

Also the game gives you these sort of rotoscoped cutscenes. The game begins with a woman running through a forest, that got my attention straight away. Most of these scenes look incredible. I would love to see more of these in otome games.  

If you’re planning on playing this, DON’T LOOK AT SPOILERS. I hardly knew anything about the game before I started, I was spoiled on one thing but everything else were “oh my god I was not expecting that!!” moments for me. I couldn’t even guess who the killer was!
7’scarlet is a super intriguing mystery game with some supernatural surprises in there. I highly recommend it if you like that type of game.