Scarlet Hollow

 PC
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Siliconera
    Feb 26, 2026
    100
    Between Slay the Princess and Scarlet Hollow, Black Tabby Games is fast turning into a developer whose titles you can’t afford to ignore. The creativity, character development, and world-building are excellent in this latest visual novel, and the degree to which our experiences can change based on our choices is astonishing. It’s so well-thought out and impressive, and a perfect example of “your choices matter.”
  2. Buried Treasure
    Apr 1, 2022
    93
    This is one of the most compelling, consuming games I’ve played in so long. I just cannot recommend this enough.
  3. RPG Fan
    Mar 15, 2021
    92
    I loved Slay the Princess, but truthfully enjoyed Scarlet Hollow even more. The sheer number of story permutations and complex character relationships offer a replay value I’ve rarely seen in a VN. I’ve only completed two playthroughs, but I will be returning for another few runs before the next episode. Black Tabby Games has created something special that all adventure game and VN fans should experience, even if they don’t love horror. Yes, Scarlet Hollow is technically a horror game, but it’s not full of jump scares or cheap thrills. Instead, it gently pulls you into the world of this small, decaying town, allowing you to experience the rot within. By my fourth day in the game, I realized I didn’t want to leave Scarlet Hollow. It’s the first time I’ve ever been content in a small town, and if that isn’t a testament to the quality of this wonderful, terrifying game, nothing could be.
  5. Noisy Pixel
    Mar 3, 2025
    90
    Scarlet Hollow is a masterfully written horror visual novel that blends eerie storytelling with deep player choice. With a richly detailed world, compelling characters, and a haunting atmosphere, it offers an immersive supernatural mystery experience. Though still incomplete, its branching narrative and impactful decisions make it a must-play for fans of narrative-driven horror.
  6. CGMagazine
    Oct 30, 2020
    80
    Scarlet Hollow proves not all horror games need jump scares or hyper violent animations for them to work. Its execution in a horror visual novel works well through old-school mysteries and slow buildup in its short time.

User Reviews

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User Score
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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. PublicNuisance
    Oct 11, 2020
    10
    I can’t remember a time I was as excited for a series as Scarlet Hollow. The first episode was released for free in hopes to get peopleI can’t remember a time I was as excited for a series as Scarlet Hollow. The first episode was released for free in hopes to get people interested and support the Kickstarter and it achieved it’s goal with me. I backed it and can’t wait for the finished product. Even as a stand alone episode if nothing else gets finished it was a fantastic game. The atmosphere is downright creepy and the music is as well. The art is really well done and unique. It feels almost like a black and white game but it isn’t. Just a really interesting colour palette. The story had me hooked and the characters were great. I loved the dialogue choices. You could run the full gamut of what kind of person you wanted to be. I also really liked the trait system where you pick two character traits and they will give you special dialogue options and story branches you otherwise wouldn’t see.

    I played Scarlet Hollow: Episode 1 on Linux. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any spelling errors. I played version 1.0 of the game and it used version 7.3.5.606 of the Ren’Py engine. Alt-Tab didn’t work. You could manually save wherever you wanted and there were 54 save slots. The game used the OpenGL API.

    Game Version Played: 1.0
    Game Engine: Ren’Py (7.3.5.606)

    Disk Space Used: 1092 MB
    GPU Usage: 0-44 %
    VRAM Usage: 587-990 MB
    CPU Usage: 0-20 %
    RAM Usage: 2.2-2.9 GB

    I adored this game and everything about it. I can’t think of a single thing it could have done better. If you enjoy visual novels you need to give this a try. The episode is free but considering I just went and backed the series on Kickstarter for $14 CAD it is worth at least that to me. I finished the game in 82 minutes. That length felt right. It didn’t feel rushed or stretched out. It ended making you want more which hopefully we will get.

    My Score: 10/10

    My System:

    AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | MSI RX 5700 XT Gaming X 8GB | Mesa 20.0.8 | Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB | Linux Mint 20 | Mate 1.24 | Kernel 5.4.0-48-generic    … Full Review »