Black Tabby Games scored a major hit two years ago with the release of Slay the Princess, a visual novel about slaying a princess and about the consequences of the choices you make. It was rightly praised for its beautiful hand-drawn art style and its incredibly intricate writing. There was so much intrigue to be found within the game’s time loop mechanics and so much proof of how aware the developers are of the different outcomes of even the slightest of changes in actions or words.
For most people, this was a pleasant surprise, but the only reason for that is because most weren’t aware of Black Tabby Games’ other game, Scarlet Hollow. This is another horror visual novel, which the developer duo have been working on since before its initial early access release back in 2021, although development was temporarily halted when Slay the Princess became the duo’s main focus.
Fans of Scarlet Hollow were eager to see the episodic game continue, though – with episode 5 released just last week – as your adventures in the titular town were escalating quite quickly. Each episode of the game sees you play one full day in the life of one of the only remaining Scarlet family members. The Scarlets have been running the town of Scarlet Hollow ever since they started a mining company there in the pretty distant past. While this had brought them an incredible amount of success and riches, their legacy now is somewhat crumbling.
After you and your mother left the town due to an unknown conflict, the mining company was left in the hands of your aunt. At the start of the game, she has passed away, leaving your cousin Tabitha in charge. She invites you, as the only other living Scarlet, to attend the funeral. You arrive in town a week early, so you set out to get to know your cousin a bit more, although she desperately tries to keep you at a distance. The bad blood in your family seems to run deep.
From here on out, it becomes difficult to describe the game’s events. Not just because there are many mysterious things going on, but also because your story will completely depend on the (dialogue) choices that you make. You can choose to stick close to Tabitha, or you can freely discover the town and its inhabitants, all of which will lead you down different paths. Yes, there are some events that will happen no matter what you choose, but even these will be influenced by your choices, for example, by having certain characters join you during these events or not having them there at all.
No matter which choices you make, there are a number of characters who will make an impact on your story. There’s Stella, the local cryptid YouTuber who seems to have some history with Tabitha, and her friend Kaneeka, a young woman who runs the General Store but who seems to be torn between staying with her family and moving somewhere else. And then there’s Wayne, a mysterious local miner who seems to be following you around for some reason.
This trio, along with Tabitha, will be your protagonists and/or antagonists during your time in Scarlet Hollow. Just like with Slay the Princess, who you trust and when you trust them will play a very important role in how the story evolves. So far, we’re five days into the game’s week-long story, and is it ever eventful! I don’t want to spoil too much, as you’ll want to encounter everything on your own terms, but let’s just say there’s a whole lot going on in Scarlet Hollow that isn’t meant to see daylight, both in the paranormal sense and in the shady dealings sense. This all sounds incredibly vague, but I would advise you to go to Steam and try out the game for yourself. The first full episode is available for free, so you’ll get a taste of the narrative and know if this is something you’d enjoy.
One of the best things about Scarlet Hollow is its replayability. Because of how many options there are to choose from within the game, you could encounter completely different story elements depending on your own actions. This means that the writing is incredibly dense, with chapter 5 being almost as huge as the entirety of Slay the Princess, even if a playthrough of the episode will take you far shorter than playing that entire game. There are just so many plot threads that need to make sense, and somehow, Black Tabby Games makes it happen.
Seriously, I’ve played through the game with three different save files, trying to make quite some different choices throughout, and on each playthrough I’ve discovered things that shake what I thought I knew about the town and the characters completely. It’s such an impressive feat that the game still makes sense, no matter what choices you have made, especially considering the freedom of choice it actually offers.
Episode 5 is no different for that matter. It drops us into the action straight away, having us torn away from the safety of our bedroom into the forbidden wing of the Scarlet mansion. From there, you’ll discover some family secrets that perhaps should never have been discovered and which will change your relationship with Tabitha forever. The second part of the fifth episode, which was released a week later than the original release, then escalates the story quite a bit, ramping up the action before leaving us with a pretty big cliffhanger.
Black Tabby Games have said that the final two episodes will be released in short succession, meaning that this is the last big cliffhanger before we get Scarlet Hollow’s conclusion. I’m desperately hoping the wait for the finale won’t be too long, because the setup in this episode is phenomenal. The danger looming over the town and your new friends is real, and the consequences could be incredibly dire for both them and yourself.
