7’scarlet has been around for several years on Steam, but the Nintendo Switch has become a solid home for the visual novel genre, so why not have it on this nice, slim, near-perfect “reading” device? I doubt many otome fans would say that it’s their favourite Otomate project, but at the same time, it’s an elegant and tautly brief blend of mystery and romance.
The most appealing thing about 7’scarlet is, without a doubt, the setting. The main town, Okunezato, is based on a real Japanese historical holiday town (Karuizawa), and that vibe comes through the location loud and clear. Once you’ve taken a couple of trips to Japan and visited the main cities, it’s towns like these with their spectacular scenery, quaint little shopping streets, and typically laid-back pace that really become the highlights of any trip to the country. These towns always have their local legends, mysteries and stories, and Okunezato is no different in that regard.
In fact, that’s exactly why the protagonist is taking a trip there in the first place. Her brother went missing on a journey to Okunezato, and there are haunting, horrifying legends of the town and local gods (kami) birthing “Revenants” who have an insatiable desire to kill living people. The protagonist wants to dig deeper, and signs herself up to a mystery club that gets together to try and get to the bottom of the weird goings-on in town. That mystery club just happens to be populated almost exclusively by eligible-aged, attractive men of various TYPES, and that’s when the romance blooms.
You have the usual gaggle of reverse-harem options in 7’scarlet – there’s the guy next door, the quiet one, the rather dangerous misogynist type, the rather creepy one, and so on. Otome fans will be pretty comfortable with this lot, as it doesn’t rock the boat too much. However, the way these characters are used IS interesting, and often quite surprising. It’s not a long game, and a single route will take you around six hours, with everything being done in around 20 or so, and that’s a bit of a pity, because it does mean that things tend to happen very quickly in 7’scarlet. Every time I wanted the writers to dwell and give me some depth, the momentum of the story was being pushed forward again.
This was perhaps best for the mystery elements, however, which 7’scarlet generally does well. The writer and director of the project was the same guy who produced the original Deadly Premonition, and while 7’scarlet doesn’t have the benefit of Suehiro Hidetaka’s surrealism to give it a Lynchian quality like Deadly Premonition had, Tomio Kanazawa knows how to keep players gripped with suspense and danger. Without giving away any spoilers, the final ending of the game was actually quite touching and emotional too. That’s always a good sign that the developers have given you enough to become invested in it.
The storytelling is backed by some truly gorgeous art. The boys are pretty enough to look at (it would be a bit problem for an otome if they weren’t), but 7’scarlet’s real strength is the “hidden” character – the setting. The backgrounds that tell the story of Okunezato itself, with their hand-drawn artistic quality, are beautiful and really help to give 7’scarlet a unique quality that it might not have had otherwise. It’s not generic, per se, but it really is the setting that gives it a point of difference from other mystery VNs out there.
What you end up getting with 7’scarlet is a safe-ish suspense mystery. There are otome visual novels out there that are far darker, more explicit, sharper, more horrific, and more intense than this one, but it’s not a criticism of 7’scarlet to say that it’s for those that want something more relaxing and straightforward to enjoy. A truly lovely setting that will have you pining to explore small-town Japan, and some lovely art, make this pulpy-style otome an easy-going page-turner.
