• Price: $49.99 (digital & physical)
• Developers: Idea Factory & Toybox Inc.
• Publisher: Aksys Games
• Release Date: May 15, 2025

A review code was kindly provided by MMPR on behalf of Idea Factory, Toybox Inc., and Aksys Games. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: rated T. Disappearances, kidnapping, death, animal death offscreen

After bringing us Despera Drops back in March, Aksys Games decided to “add some color” to our lives with 7’scarlet, a mystery otome with supernatural and horror elements. It tells the story of college student Ichiko, whose brother went missing a year ago.

Unfortunately, there haven’t been any leads, and those of us who watch crime shows know that you’re less likely to find a missing person alive after 48 hours. Ichiko’s childhood friend Hino offers to go with her to the town of Okunezato, which is her brother’s last known location.

Their trip served two purposes: finding out what happened to her brother, and meeting with the Okunezato Supernatural Club that Hino’s interacted with online. They arrive at the only hotel in town, which is drastically understaffed; as such, they’re offered an extended stay if they help out around there.

With more time to investigate her brother’s disappearance, Ichiko befriends the members of the club and learns more about Okunezato’s local legends. The townspeople don’t take kindly to outsiders snooping around, though, and there are many forbidden areas in and around the town.

Ichiko has a habit of spacing out, and she doesn’t always have the best judgment when it comes to risk assessment. Strange things are happening in Okunezato – do the supernatural beings mentioned in their folklore truly exist? Will something happen to Ichiko during her stay? 😈

That’s where our love interests and helpful side characters come in handy. Some of them already know a lot about Okunezato, and Ichiko could use a bodyguard of sorts as she investigates her brother’s disappearance.

When it comes to the love interests, I liked the majority of them. I felt bad for Hino, who’s obviously loved Ichiko for a long time. Ichiko even says something about not knowing much about what he likes, and I was like, poor Hino!

Hino’s secret love of cute things was adorable. He knows everything about Ichiko’s likes and dislikes, and is very sweet and protective. While I liked Hino, I didn’t think his route gave us much in terms of the plot or romance. I was kind of baffled by Ichiko’s very sudden realization that “oh no, he’s hot.” 🤣

I played through Isora’s route next, and wasn’t really a fan. Hino and Isora’s routes both just felt like basic introductions to the setting and overarching storyline.

Toa, on the other hand, has one of my favorite routes. It still doesn’t tell us a ton about the main story, but we do get some important information in his route. He is also ridiculously cute, loves cats, and shares some of my interests. That being said, the romance did feel rushed between him and Ichiko.

Sosuke is the next love interest, and he’s a total nerd (I say affectionately). He’s a bit socially awkward, which I absolutely relate to. I had mixed feelings about Yuzuki, as he could be a real jerk sometimes. His route had the most potential plot-wise in my opinion, but like most of the routes it felt rushed, with romance development that didn’t feel natural.

I think Sosuke and Yuzuki’s routes felt the shortest. We eventually get more information about the secrets of Okunezato after completing the 5 love interests’ routes (plus the true ending and secret route). There were some interesting ideas, but I don’t think that they did enough with them.

Additionally, all 5 love interests have this one thing in common that was kind of unbelievable and too convenient as a shared backstory. Their personalities are different, but the similar backstories made the romantic development less special to me.

They did make me feel quite emotional over the true ending and secret route. I just felt like I needed them to expand more on the story and have less similarities across routes. They gave Ichiko a trait that could have made for more interesting storylines if they’d used it more somehow.

While I wasn’t overly impressed with the way they handled the plot, I was still entertained by many of the character interactions. Hino was a surprising source of some pretty good zingers here and there; he and Yua often had minor squabbles that made me laugh, and she could be pretty funny too.

Middle schooler Yuki is a child genius who pretty much runs the hotel; he provides a decent amount of information about the town, and he often has the upper hand in conversations with adults. I usually don’t love kid characters, but I thought he was hilarious – especially in his interactions with local law enforcement.

They did make frequent jokes about the town’s lone policeman related to an obscure video game, which I think may be hit or miss with Western audiences. I was uncertain about their use of “Violacia” flowers instead of “Violacea” as well. Other than that I thought the localization was very well done.

The artistic direction is a major win for the game, in my opinion. I don’t think I’ve ever played a visual novel – let alone an otome – with such unique graphical features. In the “World End Syndrome” opening movie, instead of creating a standard otome opening that introduces the cast, they used real life footage of environments similar to those depicted in the fictional town of Okunezato.

Fun fact: Apparently writer Tomio Kanazawa had considered using Karuizawa as the game’s setting, but he ultimately decided to create Okunezato, a fictional town based on Karuizawa. I can definitely see similarities based on the images online when compared to the screenshots of the game!

I really appreciated the visual effects like the sunlight and shadows through the window as the bus to Okunezato moves, the steam in the hot springs, and the movement of the waterfall in otherwise static backgrounds. The sound effects were also fantastic, and the music tracks really suited the mood of each scene well.

I loved the character designs, and the backgrounds look like beautiful images one might see on a postcard. The CGs were lovely, although I kind of wish they had more group shots separate from the CGs with Ichiko and the love interest for that route.

It took me a little over 10 hours to complete all of the routes in 7’scarlet, including the True and Secret Routes. While this wasn’t my favorite otome due to (what I view as) a weak story and romance, I think it is entertaining. The mystery elements didn’t quite pan out for me, but if you enjoy stories that include some interesting folklore and discussion of the supernatural, you might want to check this out!

7.5/10