I’ve finished with my first full playthrough. This will be a hard spoiler review. For everyone who hasn’t read through the game yet, please, do yourself the favor and try it before continuing!
So we’ll start with the first thing any prospective player/purchaser is going to be shown: The cover. It curates a certain idea of what the game is going to be, and (for me) it doesn’t hit the mark.
I, actually misunderstood, what the game was going to be about. In hindsight, I am the fool, but the very chance that another person like me, will also misunderstand, is pretty high. See, the first thing that will catch the most eyes on the cover is the almost mustard colored cat. A very unusual color, for a cat.
Before I continue, yes, I know. It’s an orange cat. We all know what a cat is like. So why did I say mustard? Because the exact color of the cat is #FFAD00, or otherwise called ‘Chinese Yellow’. We call all agree it’s an orange cat. Almost every screen in the world has a slight change in what color is being shown when on your screen. It IS a orange cat, that is what anyone will say because, well it’s just a bloody orange cat! However, #F4CF01 is the color of a Heinz mustard bottle, which I think everyone can agree, is yellow. It’s not; #FFFF00 is the color yellow. Straight yellow, no frills yellow, seen everywhere in the world yellow, it yellow.
“Why does this matter, in anyway shape or form?” “Stop talking about colors already!” “I thought you were gonna talk about, the game..”
I hear you! So anyway, more colors!
You might not be able to tell the difference between the second color and the third, that’s fine because even I can’t and I’m the one who put them there! However, I’m sure you see the difference between the first color, the cat’s fur, and the third color, yellow. (If you can’t, get tested for color blindness or change your monitor. I’m not kidding.)
So finally I get to why this matters; Your eyes naturally, find the most interesting thing to look at at any given time unless you will them. In which case, they move to the most important thing in sight also at any time. This should be the cat 97/100 times. So the very first thing you will ever see when looking at Scarlet Sorceress, is it’s slightly strange colored cat. This leaves an impression consciously or not, and I can’t give an example because it will be different for each person. Now I could keep going and list another twelve things and say this or that, but I think you understand by now.
You see a strange color, you follow this color, you realize it’s a cat, you categorize it as a ‘orange cat’, you look for the eyes because it’s a creature, you see a once again ever so slightly strange green for it’s eyes, you find the face, the mouth is objectively frowning, this leaves the impression of a negative thought in most people e.g. Sad, angry, upset, skeptical, ect. You then re-look at the eyes and face as a whole to understand the actual emotion of the cat, the eyes don’t allow sad, the eyebrows don’t allow angry, upset seems right, moving on. Then the posture, it’s not defensive but most certainly not open, so maybe not upset, skeptical becomes the default.
That’s just the cat…on one half of the screen…that processed completely in under a second. So what happens when you read the text? Well most text requires conscious effort, low for most, but it doesn’t happen in your mind without your input. But colors, shapes, textures, they go in and move on quickly, leaving you with plenty of small data to build on. So what does the text do, when it has colors, shapes, and with the two, a texture?
Even further, what does the text with a color, shape, and texture do, when it itself is a color?
Scarlet.
…
What’s the first thing that came to your mind? Got it? Now don’t think, just say the next five things you think when thinking the word ‘Scarlet’ go!
It was blood.
For me, it was blood as the first. I’m willing to bet it was in your top 5 too, right? No? How about fire? Flame? Still no? Was it at least Scarlett Johansson?! What do you mean no!? Ok. Jokes aside, it was something red or something dangerous right? At least one thing in your five was that right? If it was, then you know exactly what I think about the word ‘Sorceress’ don’t you?
My impression of the game was wrong. My impression. I’m not saying that’s anyone else, here. Maybe not even 1/1000 will get it wrong like me, but if they did…
The second thing you should ever see of the game is it’s description. It’s terrible. I mean, it’s optional. Entirely. The link to play the game is before even a single word of what it is. This too happens on itch where you can just start without even glancing at the words or images below “Run game” if you choose. That’s bad! I didn’t do that, I opened the link in a new tab and read the description before starting. But not everyone is like that, and that can create wrong expectations for a game, which can create bad experiences, which can tank a product through no fault of your own! Like I said, bad!
For those that read it, it’s perfectly fine. With two standouts. First, it never outright says what the game is. It doesn’t do Steam tags that make it very certain what’s in it. It doesn’t do CoG tags for exactly what to expect. It doesn’t ever just say straight out in bold go This is a cutesy cozy romance game about magic and finding true love. Oh wait..
It does say it’s a romance game. At the bottom. In the content warnings…Is romance a warning!?
No, like actually is romance a warning? I’ll have to add a lot of warnings now to my games. I’m not having a problem with what’s put there, but where it is: The very bottom where most won’t ever see it because it’s sandwiched between stuff that matters more to people, the romances in a romance game and the authors notes which are usually updates or tragedies.
That was standout two, move the bloody content warning. Back to point one.
Someone might ask, “What do you mean it wasn’t clear? Why does it need a bolded sentence?” And they’d be valid to ask because, doesn’t it clearly say that it’s set with cuteness and charm in a fantasy romance world? Doesn’t it say you play as a sorceress that you can customize your name, and appearance? Even your specialization? Isn’t the first paragraph:
You’d be right to say yes for each one. It’s got a bullet point of things to do. It tells you who you are able to love. It tells you about the other game included.
“What are you asking for then?! What more can you need then everything already here?”
I don’t. You, don’t. You, and you, and you, and yes, you over there, don’t need more. It’s obvious. But I’m trying to make every get how obvious it is to us.
For the one guy that doesn’t get it..they never will without it being spelt out to them.
PART 1: SEEING THE GAME
Now for part 2: The game.
It’s ready. Full on, full out honesty, 8.7/10
I would genuinely buy this for $10 right now, as it is day of release. This might surprise you that part two is just me saying “Yea, good stuff.” But that’s really how I feel right now. I beat the game right before I started this and liked it very much.
I have a nine page draft about how the game holds up, what my experience was toward it on a first playthrough. Now, I’m going to go play it again a 2nd time, playing with a real intent to see the worst of the game so I can give focused look at what doesn’t work, before playing for a final time using the save button to see every choice.
I’m sorry I couldn’t give instant feedback about what you actually wanted: A playtest! I’ll give a post that hits the word limit (if I can) in a few days (Likely 5-7, not actually a few) trust me, I want to do my job right! No matter what I say going forward, you definitely have a pre-order from me.