Slay the Princess developer Black Tabby Games is relaunching the gothic horror-themed visual novel Scarlet Hollow on March 3rd, with an extensive patch titled “The Roads Untraveled”. The game is in Steam Early Access, available on PC, macOS and Linux.
Black Tabby plans to overhaul the game’s technical and visual elements, including the text box and overall UI. Players can also expect more choices in the first two episodes (four out of the planned seven have been released so far). Read on for more information and preview the latest screenshots below.
Scarlet Hollow – The Roads Untraveled Update Overview
Ahead of Episode 5’s release, return to Scarlet Hollow, North Carolina — or visit for the first time, all are welcome — and you’ll find things are…different. The married powerhouse fueling Black Tabby Games continues to mine the Hollow’s cold, dark earth, renovating the user experience, expanding the script by more than 70,000 words across four chapters, and improving the UI. Bask in even more of Abby Howard’s evocative, award-winning artistry.
One week in Scarlet Hollow, North Carolina, will change everything. Your aunt Pearlanne Scarlet, owner of the coal town’s Scarlet Mine, is dead. You return home to pay your respects, only to find that your cousin Tabitha, Pearlanne’s daughter, hates you. Weird things are afoot in the midst of this strange place in an uncertain time of change, as something otherworldly stalks you from the shadows.
It was more than the funeral that pulled you to this town. Whatever this gravity is, it’s not from here. Upon arrival, this compulsive frequency leads you beyond the veil through an episodic adventure where every decision directs the story’s cursed course. Steel yourself: your aunt may not be the only life mourned this week. Welcome home.
Combine character traits — like communicating with animals and/or being hot — to encounter unique narrative trajectories exclusive to each. Discover that romance can bloom even in a graveyard and seek out potential partners, from the town’s resident cryptid hunter, to a strange and rotting specter who stalks your every move. Make Scarlet Hollow’s tale your own by directing the story’s course in a complex web of branching paths through seven planned chapters.
“Before diving into Scarlet Hollow’s final chapters, we wanted to take the opportunity to make its opening act more reflective of the extreme agency and deep character writing that defines the later episodes,” says Tony Howard-Arias, co-founder at Black Tabby Games. “Episode 1 was the very first game we made, and while we’re so proud of the impact it’s had on people, we’ve also learned so much since its release.
We’re better game designers, better writers, and we know our characters much more intimately now than when we started. We’re so excited to give old fans an opportunity to re-explore the beginning of their journeys, and we can’t wait for a whole new crop of players to enter the Holler for the first time.”
Key Improvements
Improved player agency in the first two episodes of the game. Over 70,000 words of new story content in Episodes 1 and 2 to explore previously unseen paths. What happens if you don’t venture into the woods in Episode 1? What happens if you do your best to stay out of any and all danger at the start of Episode 2?
A user interface and visual overhaul. We’ve also been working hard to update Scarlet Hollow’s use interface and visual presentation to be closer to our current quality standards. There’s more on that in our previous update, but a small preview is included below for those who missed it:
Screenshots
Scarlet Hollow‘s The Roads Untraveled update launches for PC, macOS, and Linux on March 3rd, the first day of Steam’s Visual Novel Fest.
Feel free to check out Dom Kim’s reviews, wherein he had a lot of positive things to say about episodes 1 and 2. Keep checking back here at RPGFan for more visual novels and all things RPG!
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