What do you think of otome games? Do you feel they all play the same or do they always impress you with different stories of heroine facing impossible odds and falling in love with even more impossible matches? Here at Honey’s Anime, we love otome games for offering unique visual novel experiences that allow females to be the predominant main characters unlike most VN experiences. 7’scarlet, crafted by well-known developers Idea Factory and Otomate, originally launched on the PS Vita last year but now has been released on the PC. Is this mystery/romance themed visual novel worth your time and money? We answer that for you below as we review 7’scarlet!

7’scarlet is an otome themed visual novel where players assume the role of a young girl who travels to a remote town in search for her brother who went missing. Players will need to make choices that help our female lead get closer to the truth and romance various male leads who seem to be drawn to this strange town. With several endings—including a true ending—7’scarlet isn’t a small VN and you’ll find yourself replaying it numerous times to reach the revelations you seek! With full voice acting and strong visuals, 7’scarlet is a strong VN with a lot to love and adore.

Okunezato is a remote town known to very few but shrouded in numerous mysteries and myths. A young woman lost her brother to Okunezato when he vanished shortly after arriving in the town. With her young friend in tow, the young woman decides to explore the town of Okunezato for clues on where her brother disappeared to. However, in this quaint town lies an unknown force that may engulf those who seek answers in a mystery that won’t easily be solved. Choose your fate carefully, as every choice may lead you closer to your end…

Otomate should be quite a recognizable name to those who are fans of otome games. The same should be said of Idea Factory who has created tons of amazing RPG series. We here at Honey’s Anime reviewed 7’scarlet for the PS Vita when it first released back in 2018, but we’re here once again looking at the PC port. Do we still have the same feelings of enjoyment we had for 7’scarlet when it was bound the Sony’s handheld or have we changed our opinions? We shall find out in our PC review of 7’scarlet!

In case you haven’t played 7’scarlet before, here’s what to expect. 7’scarlet starts off with an interesting set up. Players assume the role of a young woman—her name can be changed but her default name is Ichiko Hanamaki—who goes to the town of Okunezato to find her missing brother who disappeared there a while ago. It doesn’t take too long to notice the town is far from normal and seems to be plagued with strange occurrences and even stranger locals. Ichiko will ultimately run into various men who are in the town for varying reasons and will have to make choices to get closer to her brother’s whereabouts as well as solve the mystery of the town. At first glance, 7’scarlet seems to be yet another otome game with a focus on attractive men all being in love with Ichiko for the mere reason that she’s a female. However, 7’scarlet has a few tricks up its sleeve from keeping the narrative too trope-like.

As with most VNs, you will be reading and making choices that alter the path of 7’scarlet’s tale. Will you help the childhood friend get closer to his desire—aka you—or will you help the seemingly cold mystery man because you feel he’s got this appealing aura? Each choice will guide you along toward one of the male routes and in turn change how 7’scarlet plays out. Okay, so 7’scarlet doesn’t do much different than the usual otome game setup, but where it excels greatly is the narrative that plays out as you progress. While these characters all share the usual male themes—childhood friend, young-looking boy and so on—their involvement in the town differs greatly and often can be quite surprising. Plus, if you want 7’scarlet’s true ending, you’ll need to get each of the character’s routes done before you can unlock it. This can take you quite some time as each character—there are several—has three possible outcomes from normal, good and bad endings. 7’scarlet is pretty lengthy but each tale is intriguing enough to warrant repeated playthroughs.

Outside of the simple gameplay style—which you know to expect with a majority of VNs—7’scarlet other great strengths lie in the visuals, soundtrack and impressive vocal performances. 7’scarlet looks incredible for a VN with a lot of emphasis on background imagery and character designs. While the characters themselves can be seen in a slew of other visual novels or reverse harem series—we swear some of these characters look straight out of Diabolik Lovers—they still are well drawn and unique enough to go with any girl’s taste. The CGI and pseudo-real video segments also look great giving 7’scarlet a truly creepy feeling occasionally. The opening cinematic alone felt like it could have been from a horror series which really roped us in from the gate. Lastly, the vocal work is excellent with characters all sounding distinct and accurate to their appearances. We did love that if you keep Ichiko’s name default, then others will respond to our heroine by her name and not just be silent when they say something that revolves around her.

Otomate and Idea Factory did a great job working together with 7’scarlet. We loved the story and visuals from 7’scarlet and really had very little negative to say. If you’re tired of the usual VNs like 7’scarlet you might find that this title does little to change your mind of the genre but that doesn’t mean the game is bad by any means. 7’scarlet keeps a safe route going by creating an intriguing mystery/romance VN that doesn’t do much different than other VNs or otome games, but it doesn’t ruin the overall experience. If you love otome games and need a new one to sink your teeth into, you’ll find a lot to love about 7’scarlet.

While 7’scarlet didn’t wow us as much as some other visual novels have in the past, yet we still loved our time playing it. There’s only so many ways you can do an otome game, but 7’scarlet shows that even reusing some themes—primarily with the characters—doesn’t ruin the overall experience. Are you excited now to try out 7’scarlet for yourself after reading our review? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to not fly too far from our hive for even more game reviews done by us here at Honey’s Anime!