If you don't turn the lights off, grab a blanket, and play Scarlet Hollow are you even living?

Yes, yes, I'm very well aware that spring is around the corner (though living in the Northeast has taught me to not hold on to hope because the weather has a mind of its own up here), but there's still plenty of creepy times during your day to sit down and play this gem.

Tabby Games, makers of the diabolically fun game Slay the Princess, have re-released their award-winning horror adventure, Scarlet Hollow, with The Roads Untraveled update. No biggie - this update is paved with death, fatal whoopsies, DECISIONS, and consequences that will keep your butt glued to the couch as you try and process all the ways in which you screwed up your playthrough.

This. Fucking. GUY.

A quick shoutout to a character before we dive in, though.

The game already starts by unnerving you with THIS GUY. This guy is that one guy we have all met in public transportation, but dialed up to 11. Creepy, annoying, uncomfortable - that's him. I cringed the entire opening of this game because of things he said, and I was beyond happy to be rid of him as the game continued.

Scarlet Hollow: The Roads Untraveled spoiler-free review

The art style of Scarlet Hollow keeps this game creepy and weirdly uncomfortable. It adds to the constant state of impending doom, unavoidable mistakes you will make (thank the maker for multiple save files), and the intolerable and absolute dread some of the dialogue and dialogue options will fill your soul with. The locations are so detailed and beautiful, one could actually frame screenshots as paintings and no one would know.

When you cannot hide the text box on your Steam Deck and it ruins a would-have-been wallpaper screenshot.

Isn't it, though? But that's how all horror movies (and games) start out - beautiful place, weird people, small town.

What could go wrong?

Not the chickens

Well, chickens could continue to go missing. Or, you know, you could be smart and avoid trails at night.

If you can withstand saying "no" to every interaction.

... but beware of every choice you make. Some choices, marked with (explore), don't progress the story - which is a wonderful gift. So many fun little bits can be discovered though these options. There is a giant catch, though - even though they do no advance the plot, they do change your relationships with other characters. So you see, as much as I'd love to tell Stella to shut the fuck up and leave me alone, I couldn't. Because I... wanted to make sure i could keep seeing little miss Gretchen, the pug.

She's precious and must be protected at all costs.

Though Scarlet Hollow plays like an interactive novel and there are no jumpscares per say, the atmosphere is dreadful, unpleasant, weird, uncomfortable... you name it - all the wonderful things that make a solid, scary experience.

Me too, man. Me, too.

Official Pixigonal Rating: 9.98/10

Scarlet Hollow is ingenious and amusingly cruel, and any horror fan needs to experience it.

The only reason Camila took .02 out of the rating was for the fact she couldn't keep the text box hidden for the ultimate screenshots on her Steam Deck. She likes her screenshots, and she is not sorry.

Pixigonal was given a free copy of Scarlet Hollow for reviewing purposes.