Scarlet Deer Inn is an unusual blend of adventure game and platformer. You play as Elise, the owner of the titular inn, and gameplay alternates between talking to people in town and puzzle platforming sequences. I think the game’s store descriptions are intentionally vague about the story. It just alludes to finding something vaguely spooky below ground, and I do think it’s best to not know what it is going in. The story is more effective with at least a bit of surprise.
As far as the gameplay, it’s pretty basic in both modes. The adventure game sequences are essentially brief trading quests that start with a character asking you to get an item from someone else, who will probably tell you to go to a third character. You never really need to think about these sequences at all, but the writing is decent and whatever you’re doing generally helps move the plot forward. Most of the rest of your time is spent underground, where you’ll be doing more traditional, but basic, platforming and puzzling. Puzzles are almost always just moving blocks around or finding a key, although sometimes you have to sneak past an enemy. Almost all platforming sequences also require you to stay in lit areas or take damage, so puzzles sometimes also take advantage of that to require you to explore to find ways to avoid darkness.
There are also a few gameplay sections that could be called bosses. Most of them are platforming chase segments where you need to follow an NPC holding a torch and avoid falling either too far behind or into spikes. These never have combat, but they feel like bosses thanks to their fast pace and instant deaths. The game forums have a lot of difficulty complaints from people who didn’t expect platforming, so be aware of that. These segments can be pretty long and generally don’t have any checkpoints. They’re not hard if you’re used to platformers, but they could be a frustrating blocker if you’re not. The lone actual boss fight is similar. There are no checkpoints, lots of ways to die instantly, and it’s pretty long. I enjoyed it, but it may not be for everyone.
The graphics and music will be the highlight of Scarlet Deer Inn for most people. All animations were done with actual embroidery, which gives the characters a unique look. Text boxes also share this style, but the game’s world uses a more traditional art style. The music is in line with the game’s medieval Eastern European setting and there are a few really excellent tracks.
All that said, the elephant in the room is that this game is very short and ends extremely abruptly. I got about 3.5 hours out of it even though I was playing with distractions for most of my time, so a focused player could easily get that under 3 hours. There’s minimal replay value unless you want to make two minor decisions differently for achievements. I could have been fine with that if it at least felt as long as it needed to be, but the credits really do roll out of nowhere. It feels like it just ends after what should be Act 1. And sure, it’s largely a strong Act 1, but it’s hard to be satisfied when many questions are left unanswered and the plot is at best partly resolved.
Conclusion
If Scarlet Deer Inn had been half the price and released as Act 1, I’d be able to give it a much better score. As it is, I can just about recommend it on sale. It really does just come down to that ending. Charging $20 for so little content only works if the game is firing on all cylinders, and while the art and music are at that level, the gameplay is just functional and the plot feels unfinished. I’m sure the high price is partly down to the effort of creating these animations. I have sympathy for that, but Scarlet Deer Inn needed to tell a story that fit into three hours if that was all the time they had to work with. Hopefully it gets a sequel that completes the plot and gets the pricing to a better place.
Rating: 75%
Price: $20
Time to beat: 3-3.5 hours.
For a similar game, see Castle in the Sands Review: Short and Sweet
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For more reviews, see my Steam curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43219041
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