7'scarlet -- No Spoiler Review
7’scarlet
System: PC, PSVita
Price: $29.99, $39.99
Voice Acting: Yes (Japanese)
ESRB Rating: T (13+)
Overall Rating: Stole 6.5/10 ♥s
Pre-Game Perception: A mystery-driven romance that might play out like The Village, or perhaps more mystical. I doubt they’re all dead.
Morning-After Reflection: A mystery-driven romance that failed to deliver a proper resolution and poorly executed the reveals, saved only by the voice acting.
Story: “The remote town of Okunezato is shaped like a crescent moon and shrouded in dark myths and legends. Take on the role of a brave young woman journeying into the unknown to uncover dangerous truths and locate her missing brother with her childhood friend. They find the area rife with mystery and populated by intriguing characters, each harboring their own hidden motivations. Encounter heart-racing twists and turns as you dig deeper into the story.
You'll explore the town caged by nature, Okunezato, and learn its many legends and folklores, and you'll help your friend Kagutsuchi Hino discover the mystery behind the disappearance of her older brother. Follow the footsteps of Kagutsuchi's older brother in 7'scarlet.”
Interest Rating: 7/10 I liked the art and the plot-heavy focus was something I could appreciate. I was ready for this mystery to unfold with all it’s “heart-racing twists and turns” and though I typically can predict reveals, I was ready to be shocked and awed by this game.
MC: Ichiko Hanamaki is our MC for 7’scarlet, and though the first name can be changed, other characters will voice it if you leave it as the default. She is an interesting character because she both exists as her own personality, but is so ethereal that it seems like she was written for self-inserts to take over. You get the option to show the MC sprite by the text box or not, it starts not shown so you have to turn it on if you’re interested in playing with it. I was, so I did. She is in about 75% of the CGs, and very rarely makes an appearance as a full-sized sprite, but it does happen a handful of times. She is not voiced, as per the usual.
Physically, Ichiko is what I’ve come to expect of otome heroines. She is on the short side, probably about 5’0”. She is tiny in stature, judging from the CGs she’s in where at times she looks like a child compared to some of the older LIs, despite her being 20 and a grown-ass woman. Long brown hair, pale skin, and large eyes that are a nice lavender shade compose the rest of her features. Not much of note here. She was nice to look at throughout the game, but the majority of her facial expressions are lacking emotion and blank, so I got a lot of barely there energy from her.
Personality-wise, I’m a bit confused on what to make of Ichiko. She is introduced as spacey, and has some sort of memory issue where she finds anything before highschool difficult to recall. She seems to take everything in stride, which makes me wonder if she’s incredibly grounded or just doesn’t realize the severity of the situations she ends up in. And she does get into severe situations quite often. She is your damsel in distress to the umpteenth degree. The writing gives a bit of introspection so Ichiko seems to be honest with herself and everyone around her, so there’s not a lot of “I shouldn’t say that” conflict - she just says it. That gets a thumbs up from me. Her thirst is also real, which was something I appreciated from an otome MC. I suppose that’s a second thumbs up from me. Unfortunately, her logic is exceedingly complimentary to every LI, so she doesn’t really have a strong sense of self; so that gets an unsteady hand wave.
Likability Rating: Ryo. I felt she was refreshing at times, and completely empty at others. She grew on me as the game progressed; but I think the only things I’m going to remember about Ichiko is that she was thirsty and honest.
Plot: 7’scarlet presents a mystery, on top of a mystery, on top of a mystery. What we’re told is that we’re playing Ichiko, who goes to some mysterious town (Okunezato) with her long-time friend (Hino) to look for her brother who disappeared there a year ago. What we get is that, but then it must have seemed too easy of a story so the writers added to it until you’re holding so many pieces that they spill out of your hands like grains of sand. The way the routes and the story is designed gives you more and more questions as the story layers the mystery on without giving you any answers, so theory is the only thing you’re left with once you find your bearings while you wait for the end of the game to confirm anything.
It was a little tiresome running the gambit the way the developers designed, since there are endings that are only available after finishing endings that come after the initial endings you already did. In other words, it was intended for the player to return to previous routes to snag a different ending if you want the complete story and not the edited version that kept its secrets secret. On top of that, many of the LIs are completely absent from routes outside of their own. This can be a good thing so MC can focus on the beau that she chooses, but I don’t like the non-existent cast since it’s clear the common route favors certain boys over others, so you really don’t get much time getting to know the other LIs.
Replayability Rating: ★★★★☆ You get a different experience and more story with each route; and if you want to finish the game, you have to do every LI in order to unlock each additional LI.
Love Interests: Let me introduce you to some strangers that pack the punch in personality. These five guys are full of fun comments that will leave Ichiko staring at them blankly, but you will probably squee and swoon with how natural and organic the characters tend to interact with each other. I’m sure you know by now that I’m a husbando collector, and rarely do I dislike a LI enough to drop this grade down below the 80% mark. This game is no different. Well, it actually is different since I really enjoyed everyone in it. Main characters, side characters, the villains and the heroes, I want them all to come live in my headspace that I freely give to them. Maybe you’re more interested in only the best for you, and with that being the case, I’m sure you’ll find someone in this batch that speaks to you.
7’scarlet runs a bit strange to most VNs in that there is a forced order. At the start of the game only Hino and Isora are available. Finishing one of those two will open up Toa. Finishing two of the previous three will open up Sosuke. All four are required for Yuzuki. All five are required for the True Route. The True Route is required for the Secret Character (which will not be listed in this review). With all of that in mind, the recommended order is Hino > Isora > Toa > Sosuke > Yuzuki > True > Secret. Each character has (at least) one Tragic End and one Happy End. Most have (at least) two Bad Ends also available, but not required for achievements. Enough of all of that technical talk, bring on the boys!
That starts us with Hino Kagutsuchi, the MC’s childhood friend that convinced her to go to Okunezato to look for her brother. As you can tell, this is that childhood friend route where feelings exist for some time before the couple gets together, and it is clear as f*cking day that Hino is simping hard for Ichiko, even before you get on his route. He is constant through the common route since he’s the only person that Ichiko knows in that town. And honestly, I found Hino hilarious. The dialogue for this game is so spot on with how natural the characters interact with each other, and the seiyuus really made the script work perfectly. There were many good moments that I enjoyed and I think it’s a great first story for the game.
Next up is Isora Amari, the youngest LI of the game at a mature 17. Seriously, this kid is anything but a kid, already on the career path of his choice and doing mighty well at it as well. He’s a smooooooth flirt. There were many times I was playing going, “Hang on, he’s 17?!” The dude is smooth, better at the romancing than most of the other LIs who are all several years older. I really enjoyed this route. I thought Hino was great, then I played Isora and I was like, “Sorry, Hino, I’ve got eyes for the younger boys.” Ichiko brings out her thirst in this route, and I really enjoyed that with her as well. Isora swept her, and me, away with his skills to pay the bills.
Toa Kushinada was a favorite of mine on first introduction and in everything he did through the common route. He’s awkward. Really awkward. The mostest awkwardest. And I ate it up. I’ve got a thing for socially awkward boys, especially special ones like Toa. My heart was moved every time he spoke. He evokes the protective instincts in me, and on more than one occasion my notes for the game were comments about hugging him and running away with him. The route wasn’t perfect, there were certainly some heavy eyerolls from me dealing with a few of the tropes they put in this part of the story, but I’m willing to look past them by removing the offender from my memories and self-inserting to smooch Toa baby.
Sometimes there’s a character that you really want to like, but the game lets you down. Sosuke Tatehira was that character for me. In the end I liked him well enough, but it was a struggle at the beginning of his route. Megane-kun Sosuke was tall, analytical, and obviously a smartboi since he was in school to be a doctor. I found his dry sense of humor to my liking. I thought he was the most scrumptious LI for my eyes to set on in this game. The problem comes with Ichiko; she doesn’t seem to like him much. His route was slightly soured by her interactions with him, and in the end I did like him, but only so much.
Yuzuki Murakumo doesn’t make much of an appearance through most of the game, he’s hardly in any route until you finally get to his own near the end of the game. Then it’s all about him. And that’s the way it should be. His lack of screen time gave me pause in actually wanting to romance this man who was clearly going to be a tsundere character. But his opening CG for his route convinced me this is exactly the man I want to romance. Talk about all the hot CGs being shoved into one route. Yuzuki’s seiyuu knocked this role out of the park, as well. It did have some moments I was tilting my head at due to the rushed romance, but overall Yuzuki was my second favorite LI.
Boy Crazy Rating: 92%. Another game where I’d simp for every character. Some made me weak in the knees, some filled my heart to bursting, and some made me feel things that are better left not explained. Every boy here can join my husbando harem.
Romance: 7’scarlet suffers from limited in-game time, so everything that happens happens over a very short week-ish. Due to that, all the romance in this game is a clear case of instant love. 7’scarlet is also a plot-heavy game, so not only is the romance limited from time available, but it’s limited to advance the plot of the game. That’s not to say there isn’t romance. I found myself falling in love with some of these husbandos and even rooting for a happy ending for Ichiko and her bea, which isn’t something I tend to do. I really enjoyed the characters in this game so much that I was left not disliking anyone. Having said that, there is not a lot of romance to be had. It’s all very quick and ignites magnificently and leaves you with many questions as to what comes next. There’s love, and certainly feelings that are shared, but I wouldn’t call 7’scarlet a romantic game. It’s more of a mystery game with some romance thrown in to keep things interesting. And it was interesting. You get your typical kiss CGs and some confession scenes, and one date-like moment with each guy. Which is pretty good for the length of the game, tbh.
Heart Palpitation Rating: C. The romance is so rushed that I find it hard to believe the feelings are true, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to see the couple happy. Only minimal feels were had with this game. Tiny cracks in my heart of ice.
Spice: Ah, another T-rated game. Another game I went into knowing there was going to be just the bare minimum of spice. We do get a few shirtless sprites, and a few topless CGs, but no nips because that would just be lewd. There were some scenes that I felt my kokoro doki doki (my pulse sped up) even with as innocent as they were, they were sexually charged and I can’t say I didn’t like it. Ichiko is thirsty, and I think that made me thirsty for these tall glasses of water because the heat they bring from just their voice acting and the right moments in the game certainly had me panting from being so parched. Really though, the spice level just gives you a small kick every now and then. It certainly isn’t fair to deny the follow through, but you’re not going to be squirming in your seat for this one.
Cold Shower Rating: Fail. Mild spiciness gives you a tiny taste every now and then, but get yourself some water and you’ll be fine. No shower needed. Not even a fan.
Angst: So what does 7’scarlet have if it doesn’t have much romance or spice? Angst. It has angst. Don’t worry, this isn’t the amount of angst that angst-known games are laden with, it just makes up roughly 60% of the game, leaving only 40% for the rest of whatever else makes a game; my vote is for sex and romance. But RJ! 60% is a lot of angst! I mean… sure? It’s more than half, but it’s not that much when you consider that it’s barely more than half-full, that still leaves it almost half-empty.
We start with our heroine who has some angst-driven issues, namely her missing brother which is why the whole game gets set in motion. Then we have a mysterious town with mysterious people and mysterious happenings-- I think you see where this is going. It’s mysterious and angsty. Each LI has something angsty relating to them, but I’m not going to go into how the angst resides in them since the point of the game is to enjoy the mystery. The thing is, even when the game starts with the angst, the writers figured out how to lessen the blow so despite the story taking an unexpected turn, or perhaps expected turn, it was never overwhelming. I don’t foresee anyone ugly crying to 7’scarlet, but who am I to talk as the emotionally dead robot I am?
Drama Llama Rating: 6/10. It’s a very middling experience, despite all the angst available, it just doesn’t do it like it’s been done to me before. The drama llama must have ingested something that has it functioning oddly, sometimes it stares, sometimes it chews, but the spitting is what you want to watch out for.
Voice Acting: The voice acting carried this game. When I was suffering through crash after crash (more on that in the errors section) getting to hear the sexy tones of the LIs repeating back lines I’ve already heard was more than enough to soothe my soul. I recognized some of the seiyuus on first lines, and it’s no surprise they were on my radar, because I make it a point to learn the names of people that impress me. I was not let down at all with this casting, in fact, they’ve given me some of the best performances I think I’ve heard yet from them.
The golden boy for me has to be Tetsuya Kakihara who played Isora Amari in 7’scarlet. I’m used to hearing his sunny, soft voice, but he does a wonderful job with this role; giving me the things I like best about his voice acting, and giving me things I didn’t know I needed. Shoutarou Morikubo is a name that most people recognize due to his unique vocals, and sure enough I pegged him as soon as Toa Kushinada spoke. This is by far my favorite role for him, I loved everything he did with the character and there’s not one moment I wouldn’t relive if I could. Yuzuki Murakumo commands the respect he deserves when voiced by Shinichirou Miki. His experience and ability to hit the right emotions for the scene really stood out, especially since his route is towards the end of the game and by that time I was so tired of the problematic port. Who doesn’t love a good himbo, especially when they know how to whine and murmur and express their complete obliviousness through vocal expression alone? Daisuke Kishio does just this as Yasuhisa Kukuri, the local cop. The game wouldn’t have been half as fun without him.
Expression Rating: Shu. Really wish I could have listed everyone who made a voiced appearance in this game, but that would take up much more space than I’m willing to designate for the voice acting portion. Needless to say, it was some good shit. I loved it.
Art: I really like it. By now, if you’ve read my other reviews, I’ve gone through the whole “I know what I like” spiel more than a dozen times. I like hard lines. I like detailed sprites and backgrounds. The art in 7’scarlet gives me what I like. That’s probably why I picked the game up to begin with, because the art was something I knew I’d enjoy. I really liked how they used shading and lines to show the fit of clothing; I don’t see wrinkled shirts all that often, and I enjoyed the way it made it look relatable for someone’s t-shirt to be bunched or draped where it would normally bunch or drape. There’s some weirdness with the hands in the art. While in natural poses, sometimes the lines connecting parts - say a thumb - are too dark so it looks almost added on after the fact, or its own separate part. But I feel that’s such a small thing to nit-pick on that I can easily overlook it for what I did enjoy from the art.
The sprites all have one change of clothing, a few pose changes, a few facial changes; you know, the norm for most VNs. They move a bit, not animated, but sometimes they’ll slide across the screen to mimic the movement in the scene. Not as much as some other games that have done this sort of movement, but it’s there from time to time, and very well timed, if you ask me-- and you did, because you’re here reading this right now. But the coolest thing the art has to offer for this game is the animated sequences. There are times that there is movement in the scenery, such as water running, or images passing by a window. It’s the first time I’ve seen animation in a VN, so I thought it was the coolest thing this game could offer.
Still Picture Rating: ★★★★☆ Many background detail. Such clean. Very movement.
CGs: Wonderful. Really, I love all the CGs. Really great scenes to immortalize for our viewing pleasure. I can remember exactly what was happening each time I look at one of the pictures, and they’re so well done that I have no big complaints about it. That said, I didn’t say no complaints. There’s a clear case of yaoi hands in some of the CGs, which is rather unfortunate, because I think the hands are drawn so well otherwise in the CGs. Also, some of the kiss CGs were kinda awkward looking. You’ll know when you see it. They’re not bad, they’re just… done in a way I’ve never seen them be done before. But there’s so much movement and expression and they really do seem like snapshots of life.
Look at this Photograph Rating: 90%. Easy to view, easy to identify the scene and what was happening. I like the art-style and choices made for the CGs. Only rated down because of yaoi hands.
UI/Mechanics: 7’scarlet runs like the typical VN with choice options and a standard UI. There are no special mechanics for the game. The menu is laid out nicely and was easy to navigate. Starting a new game was interesting, as you basically had scenes you could start from, choosing the prologue or moving on to a different route when it was unlocked (only for Yuzuki, true route, and secret character). The button map is not inside the game, but instead on the launcher, so if you forget what each button does while in game you’re kinda screwed. However, the usual buttons do the usual things, so it isn’t hard to get by without memorizing the controls.
There are some extra features that I enjoyed that don’t always come standard with all UIs, such as voice playback, rewinding scenes, choice highlight, and affection catch. Also the option to show the MC as a textbox sprite was nice, I often forget what the MC looks like until CGs when I spend so long without seeing her. As I mentioned in the art section, 7’scarlet does something that I thought was pretty cool, moving backgrounds. The sprites move a little, as I’ve seen before in VNs to indicate movement in the game, but they are not animated like the backgrounds. You only get it a few times, but it’s super cool to see water running, or scenery moving by. This really upped the game for me.
What’s this button do? Rating: A-. No in-game button map is pretty much the only downside to this UI. It’s not the best I’ve ever used, but it offers all the extras I like.
Errors: Oh me, oh my. Here there be errors, yo. Let’s start with translation, shall we? The translation is good. Very good. I played through the entire game and selected every option and I think I saw maybe a dozen errors all together. That’s it. That’s incredible, really. One of the best translations I’ve ever seen. Perfect. But… that’s not 7’scarlet’s issue.
The issue comes from the port being ultimately terrible. Originally on the PSVita, 7’scarlet was ported to the computer, which normally isn’t an issue, but something went wrong and there is an issue with crashing. Not an isolated issue. Not only for potato computers. For nearly everyone. I actually think potato computers might have the better deal here as I think it’s just not optimized for better graphics cards that high powered computers end up running. I played this game in conjunction with a few friends, and everyone on the computer had crashing issues. The PSVita players never crashed, meaning it’s the port and only the port. You’re looking at roughly 5 crashes per route. I managed to tally up 36 for myself. That’s one per hour in my slooooooooow slooooooow play-style. For a friend who spent half as much time in game than I did, that was 2/hour. Completely unacceptable. Literally unplayable. Except I played it. Ehn, I can’t tell you exactly why I put up with it, it certainly took longer than usual because I’d give up after a few crashes each day, but I powered through.
As for any other errors or bugs, there was one time that a no-named character was speaking, then suddenly they weren’t speaking anymore despite more text and conversation happening. I’m wondering if it was added in translation to give more meaning behind the conversation, so they didn’t have spoken words for it? Whatever the case is, the vocals did not exist for those lines and it was weird. Also, the sound effects volume doesn’t seem to affect anything inside the game. The only place it functioned was the first click on the menu when starting or loading a game, then the volume returned to default sound levels without moving the control slider, so there’s no way to make SFX quieter.
Here there be Bugs Rating: Fail. If you are persistent you might be able to get through the entire game despite the metric shit-ton of crashes you’re going to experience. There’s no denying the infestation in this place, you’re going to come across it if you’re not playing the original PSVita version.
Background Music: I actually didn’t care for it. Gasp! Shock! What’s this?! A soundtrack I didn’t want to buy after playing the game? But seriously, it’s kinda jazzy and generic, and I just didn’t really like it; so after playing my first route with it, I turned it off and put on my instrumental playlist from the many other OSTs I enjoy. Surprisingly, it matched up quite well, to the point that I was rarely brought out of the mood of the scene, and if that happened I just hit next on my playlist.
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