It’s here where the conventional horror of Scarlet Hollow begins. Stella, a YouTuber chasing cryptid sightings, somehow convinces me to follow her into the woods to search for a skunk ape. At the diner, I am introduced to Avery, a sweet, attractive, nonbinary waiter. Since I was able to talk to animals, Gretchen spoke to me like a faded southern belle. We can’t choose our biological family, and there’s something very lonely about being in a huge, gothic mansion with someone who doesn’t want you there.Īfter getting “settled” in the mansion, I decide to visit the town, where I’m finally greeted by a friendly face in Stella, a perky, overeager young woman with an adorable pug named Gretchen. Arriving at the dilapidated family estate, Tabitha shows me to my dusty living quarters and warns me not to get in her way. I offer my condolences for her deceased mother, but she doesn’t want to hear it. When I finally get off the bus, my cousin, Tabitha, gives me the coldest greeting possible and immediately treats me with hostility, resentful of my lack of involvement in the family. A strange guy won’t stop talking to me on the bus ride to town. In Episode 1 of Scarlet Hollow, the horror begins almost immediately. But there are other available traits that, in real life, I would have liked to have for a trip to the holler, like street smarts and physical strength. I chose “talking to animals” because that seemed important (it is!) and “hot,” mainly because I wanted to see if any hot country boys would approach me. At the start of the game, you choose two traits that can both help and hinder you throughout the game. In Scarlet Hollow, this kind of safeguarding is built into the game’s mechanics. As a gay person, I’ve always found myself doing research before I travel to make sure I’m going to be safe. As a city person, everyone in the titular town - both affectionately and pejoratively referred to as “the Holler” by its residents - regards you as different, from the police who look at you with suspicion when a local resident dies under mysterious circumstances, to a young woman who’s just excited to have someone new in town.īeing queer in a new place can be fraught. In Scarlet Hollow, an incredible piece of interactive fiction by Abby Howard, you play as an outsider in a small town in the middle of nowhere, visiting for your aunt’s funeral.

There’s something very scary about being in a strange new place and feeling different. Traveling Down the Dark Paths of Scarlet Hollow from a Queer Point-of-View: Part 1

Scarlet hollow episode 1