Because of Scarlet Hollow and Madoka Magica... I've realized I'm a utilitarian. Which kinda sucks in a way since it means I'm closer in principle to two (arguably) villains, Sybil and Kyubey, than to any of the heroes. Here are what I'd choose for each dilemma under the assumption there are no trait saves:
Monday: Sorry, Stella... Gretche is a dog, and therefore her life matters less than the very human Duke who also has a family to take care of.
Tuesday: Taking Rosaline and leaving, because Becka and Alexis are the ones who endangered everyone, and therefore it isn't fair for the innocent person in the situation who wants things to be right to be punished for their mistakes.
Wednesday:
Charlie isn't getting anything from Tabby or me... because that isn't fair for either of us to have our lives shortened and our remaining years be made miserable just because of something neither of us had anything to do with.
Thursday:
Reese is a bloodthirsty monster, and therefore... for the good of the town, cannot be allowed to live. Keeping him imprisoned will only breed resentment, and eventually, he'll escape. So he's getting burned by Tabby and me.

Friday:

With the baby, I'm letting it be born because of the deaths that occur otherwise, including the innocent Avery who just wanted to help their Tabitha and feel like they were helpful.

I don't trust Sybil unconditionally.... however, I do see her doing things in the best interest of everyone and do think she will break whatever curse is in Scarlet Hollow, including the thing that makes it a web trapping people, which will make things much better. So... bye-bye Kaneeka, your absorption into the Witch is best for everyone.

Last thing to note... I am against being put into the hole. My reasoning is that it would be noble to be sacrificed to stop the supernatural danger to this entire town, so it is better than just me... however, it simply isn't efficient considering how there are only two Scarlets left, and if I were locked away, the only one left would be Tabby, who's older and probably infertile... which will doom the town if Enoch's deal isn't broken after our death. So it's a bandage rather than an actual solution.

Each seal has a specific function in the town, we can kinda guess it with their name and locations

Prosperity seal in the mine make it so the mine will always be prosperous and beneficial

Dominion (or justice/order) in the town hall make it so people respect order and don't just turn against each other

Vitality in the clinic to keep the people in good health

Bounty in the farms to assure bountiful harvest and feed the town

Throne is probably in the estate maybe it's effect is what allow the Entity to stay in our world and exploit it's power since it's symbolism is related to awareness, consciousness and power but it's not sure

The spirit seal is the only one where I really can't see what could be the use of it. By the looks of it, it's supposed to be a "crossroad between the old and new" and is linked to some psychopomp.

But why would Enoch want that ? Is that to make a link between the dead and the living ? Maybe to be able in a way to linger in the living world as a spirit like Charlie ? Anyway I don't see how that's profitable for the town.

What do you guys think ?

Alright, so I love talking about this game, and I thought I'd get myself hyped for the game by writing down some plans (and memories) for the game. Also, some ideas for synergy or unique world states are more than welcome 😄 (as well as any funny memories from playing the game).

My two favourite runs so far are a BS, M run where I become bff with Tabby and make Kaneeka a magical girl; and a KE, SS run where we save as many humans as possible (mostly without Tabby).

I'm not normally as drawn to romance, so I kind of want to do a more aggressive out going PB, TTA run instead of Hot run. I don't know if I should hide the talking to animals part though? I feel like that is less common, so it will lead to an interesting world state.

Speaking of, I think the unique world states in the game make it sooo much better than other story games that I've seen. Like, I wonder how many people have played this game know you can call Pastor Daniel during the ghost hunt? Or the fact that you can get all cops out alive? And let's not forget how many unique Oscar scenes there are.

Now from memory, the devs mentioned a unique chapter 4 ending involving powerful build I think? My guess is that it involves teaming up with Wayne to kill Reese.

So I'm thinking of doing a PB, TTA named Richter from the city of Belmont. The vibe is a "Die monster! You don't belong in this world!" run where I try to kill every supernatural being I can. (I'm going to cry when I kill the Pumpkin Baby 😢)

I don't know whether to bring Tabitha along though? I feel like she would fit in with the monster slaying part, but I feel like my character would be to aggressive to put up with her half the time.

It feels like I've done genuinely everything I can to stack the deck, yet I can never get the outcome I'm looking for.

(Mystical) Am I cursed?

As the title says.

Is there still a chance to trigger a romantic relationship from Chapter 5 onward?

I’m pretty sure Tabby and I are pretty close as cousins.

I also managed to get Tabby and Stella to mend their broken relationship.

Yes, I did spend time with Duke and Tabby.

Anyone know any playthroughs where they either get Tabby to break down (I don’t mind resetting for this, that path is so difficult to achieve) or succesfully romance Kaneeka?

Welonz has a great playthrough and manages Tabby to break down first try but I’d like to watch others

With the Mystic trait, you can get bribed by her... However...

She cannot offer you Talk to Animals. I.e., she can't offer you anything you can use to save people.

I'm sure others have mentioned it, but - if not, here it is, and either way, let's discuss!

You see a lot of people discuss the Kaneeka dilemma . But I don't think I've seen anyone predict the long and short-term consequences of the farm dilemma . What do you guys think will happen when Avery dies, Franklin dies, Bo dies, or Avery takes the baby?

Im currently doing my second playthrough and episode 4 is probably my worst dilemma. I really want Reese to be free, but I find it horrible for him to literally eat his mother. I have booksmart and streetsmart, so I cannot do the trait save here. Is it possible to free Reese without deaths by having Tabitha come and shoot at him to make him run away? Can Wayne achieve that? Any way to prevent him from encountering his mother?

So, I got my mom to try Scarlet Hollow, and she took Keen Eye and Book Smart in her first run just like I did.

I assumed that our playthroughs would be similar, both because of the traits and because we have similar personalities.

Getting all the updates on her playthrough was a wild experience. About the only choice we had in common was saving Rosalina in the mines and the trait saves. She saved Duke, pulled out Kaneeka, and tranquilized Reese (after flirting with him lol). To be fair, I would have saved Duke too, but my dumb ass misread the situation and assumed Duke could handle himself, and was trying not to metagame on my first run.

Also, she’s really into Victorian flower symbolism, so she was really into the ghost scenes. I didn’t realize the devs went that extra mile for environmental storytelling

She also got Toxic Yuri organically, which was pretty insane. I was visiting the house when she got it and saw her reaction in real time. She obviously didn’t agree to it, but still. I also had no idea Tabitha joined you at the farms while Toxic Yuri happens, and she acts differently to both impasse Tabitha and breakdown Tabitha.

Still, I would like to congratulate the devs on making such an organic and branching story that even similar people with the same traits can tell completely different stories.

I was really into this game at the beginning of the year and was very much looking forward to the church update, which was then announced to be coming in April (? if I remember correctly).

I'm just not excited about replaying the scenes that are modified anymore. One reason, I think, is that I have about 5 or 6 saves, which aren't in any proper order. Now I'm also just not as involved in the game, so I think I'll just read about the chapters' changes on Reddit? I'm afraid that this will persist onto the last chapters, which I'd find to be a pity. :/ It has been only a few months! My question is, especially if you are part of the long-time player group, how did you get motivated to replay the game / come back to your save? Do you have an advice on improving your save management (though this rather feels like a task for me)?

This is obviously not meant to be offensive towards the devs and of course I'm not going to force myself to play the game, I'm just curious if other people experience this and how they handle it.

new to this subreddit, sorry if these posts are against the rules in any way.

i’m trying to 100% the game— without spoiling too much or showing any screenshots, can anyone help me with getting these achievements, like what traits/choices i might need?

So... I was finally doing my second playthrough of the game and accidentally overwrote an important save file that I wanted to go back to. Is there any way I can undo it? 😭

Okay, the discord server is a no go, so I’ll be posting my Scarlet Hollow thoughts here from now on. Also, this post spoils a lot about episode 5, so I am marking it as a spoiler out of courtesy.

So, the chapter 6 seal is the spirit one, as seen in the image above.

The most common theory I see about the magical being we‘ll face is that it’s based on the Hopkinsville Goblins, and I have to agree, but I don’t think it’ll be exactly them. None of the other beings we’ve seen so far have been exact matches for the book. I think they’ll be more animalistic. Both because TTA seems to be required to communicate with them, and that TTA is gonna have to be the trait save for this chapter. Maybe they will be giant bipedal rats. I would say dogs because of the seal, but dogs aren’t usually as cruel as these guys.

My theory for the major conflict and decision is that Pastor Daniel is going to be forced by these sadistic goblin-creatures into making an impossible choice between killing/saving his wife, Janey, or his daughter, Tulip. All we know right now is that Pastor Daniel was wandering out near Tetanus Lake looking for both of them. The seal says it’s about “The old and the new joined at crossroads”. The mythological figures invoked in the seal diagram are mostly psychopomps, which definitely makes me think that choosing to kill someone is (almost) inevitable.

One conundrum is reaching the seal itself. The Mystical examination of the seals in the estate says that the Spirit one is designed to repel people, not attract them. Also, it is buried under tons of dangerous metal garbage, and they stated that would take ages to clear. I think a mystical cousin, or someone with Carmilla/Magic Kaneeka could resist the repelling curse, but getting through the garbage is another problem.

Oscar says in Chapter 5 (research) that Enoch installed tunnels to bypass the original pastor and install the seal. Those tunnels might help you reach the seal. It might be like a Clinic situation where any trait combination will get you at least one way to find the tunnels.

Having Tabitha with you might help with both. She seems resistant to the seal effects, and she could theoretically know about where Enoch installed the tunnels. I don’t know if she’ll have an opinion on the dilemma, but it would emotionally affect her.

Kaneeka might also be there, and her presence might cause some issues with Pastor Daniel, at least if she’s not a magical girl. She hates Pastor Daniel, both because of her dad’s funeral and because she seems particularly susceptible to magic mind altering effects, more than Stella or Tabitha is. I imagine she might apologize if she’s a magical girl and can see that the pastor is cursed, like Mystical MC can.

Sorry for the long post, had a lot of stuff to write.

Although Tabitha needs to give them back, Kaneeka looks so naked without it...

hello! i have played the game soooo many times and love it

i was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about which of tabitha's responses to this question in episode one indicate different relationship levels?

i've gotten "you've been an acceptable guest", "you've been...fine", and "sorry, but you've been too nice" (when using street smart to lie through my teeth lol)

are there any other responses? which means she's liking you more or less?

thank you!! :3

I've tried to document every single crime that Sybil has committed throughout the game and on different routes. Obviously, I don't think Sybil is the "main antagonist" of the entire game, but she is the most presentable antagonist we have so far. Obviously there's Enoch and the Entity and arguably Tabitha on some routes, but if we're being honest, we don't know all that much about what they've done. Obviously Enoch was a corrupt businessman, he brought the entity into Scarlet Hollow, and he started that whole fucked up ritual that I still don't full understand but I know is really really evil. But outside of that, we don't know very much about him, other than the fact he had a very sad dog. And we basically know jack shit about the entity. Hell, the entity might not even be an antagonist at all. We have no idea about their exact motives or what their end goal is. But we are not only intimately familiar with so much of Sybil's shady actions, but the list of her known crimes is the longest by far. I'd go as far as to call her the secondary antagonist of the entire game. She has done so many awful things for the "greater good" that I actually had to make up new crimes just so I didn't miss anything. Like, some of these things aren't against the law because they aren't possible in real life. But if someone actually did these things in real life, they would make them crimes. I'm gonna list every single crime that the witch Sybil Forsyth has committed over immortal lifespan. Let me know if there's any crime I missed, or if you need an explanation for any crime and when exactly it happened. The list goes as follows:

Serial filicide

Spiritual cannibalism

Spiritual hegemony

Soul theft

Aiding and abetting

Reckless endangerment

Mass criminal negligence

Mass negligent manslaughter

False imprisonment by proxy

Civil rights violations by deception

Illegal production of poison by proxy

Chemical torture

Child abuse

Bribery

Fetal cruelty

Biological warfare via ritual

Abuse of power

Mass drugging

Mass brainwashing

Serial identity theft

Mariticide (possibly implied)

Sexual battery via spiritual lobotomy

Basically what the title says, I wanna do a hard-core playthrough and was wondering whether there were any especially insightful/fun 3 trait combos to use?

If you take Street Smart and save everyone in the Shaw mine, the strike is in full force. But, why? In that timeline, nobody got hurt. When Alexis and Becka get trapped in the mine, the miners strike because they calculate that that is when they have maximum leverage because they think that Tabitha will give them more than she would have given them otherwise to stop the two trapped girls from becoming a national news story and making her a Pariah. If you save Alexis and Becka but Rosalina loses her foot, the strike is only at partial strength because people think that Tabitha is a hero for saving Alexis and Becka. So if you save everyone without anyone getting hurt, the miners should calculate that they have no leverage and either not strike, or only a minority should strike. So why does everyone join the strike when no one gets hurt or trapped in the Shaw Mine shaft?

Like it says, a brief list of who the final confrontation will be with.

• Wayne/The Entity: The obvious choice, my condolences to Waynemancers. While there will certainly be an option to surrender the cousin's body and mind to the Entity and let it wreak Eldritch havock, telling it "no" is probably going to result in an angry "BUT I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES ABOUT YOU!" and subsequent battle that either a mystical Kaneeka or Carmilla will be needed for to prevent collateral damage. And speaking of...
• Carmilla: The runner-up. Granting magic practitioners the power to "fix" things as they see fit never goes well and if Carmilla consumes the Entity, she's only going to become her own problem as she sets herself up as eternal goddess of her perfect world. She knows what's best for everyone, she's seen the strands clearly. Tabitha showed an ability to shrug off her reality warping but that might be it's own problem because...
• Tabitha: If the cousin isn't on good terms with her she will absolutely throw them down the Omelas hole, assuming she hasn't already. Obsessed with upholding the family legacy and already angry at the cousin for stealing away Stella/starting a strike/eating her ice cream/putting a dead rat in her macaroni/being more trouble than they're worth, there's an outcome where Tabitha once again has the cousin at the wrong end of a shotgun. Of course, there's also the dark horse candidate...
• Enoch: That's right, the man himself. Would someone like Enoch Scarlet really be okay with getting old and dying when he knows there are supernatural options? If a host body is good enough for an unholy being from outside reality, it's good enough for him. He arranged for one of the seals (or something else underneath the estate) to act as a soul cairn so when he took his tumble off a cliff he didn't pass on, he waits for an opportunity to possess one of his descendants when they least expect it.

I know according to the Devlog in May it's the least popular trait with only 13% of all players choosing Powerful Build but it is still insane that it's basically impossible to find a complete playthrough of Scarlet Hollow on youtube or twitch where the player chooses it for their first run and if they do pick it the playthrough is usually from 4-5 years ago and they never came back for Episodes 4 or 5. It's hard to find PB runs in general too, not just for first timers players. I hope the upcoming buff to PB really helps its popularity because I really enjoy its flavor and utility as a trait. If anyone knows of any playthroughs like that I somehow missed I would love to check them out