Scarlet Sails User Reviews

Top reviews

Too short

I've paid for the game after the first 4 chapters, expecting there to be much more but found out that it was about it. Was very disappointed. The replayability is almost none, and the game is so short that it would take you less than 40 minutes to finish it. Make it longer or don't attempt to charge for it.
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Almost Great, Still Above Average

Story felt rushed, and a bit heavy handed. Still, I like the characters and a bit of the humor.

Potential all around

This story could have so much more. Somehow the writer got off track and game play mechanics in your choices started to not only be silly but also have little to no effect on the game. I did enjoy the pirate mentality, the pirate talk and the history of the story. If this writer took more time and a bit more effort this story could be almost as good as the hero project series.
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Great potential but marred by lazy writing

The game has a fun plot and light-hearted writing style. I very much enjoyed the pirate setting, the cast of characters, and the ability to play as any gender or no specified gender at all. The characters were definitely my favorite part. I also thought the stats system was well-balanced and gave options suitable to every build. In short, if you like interactive fiction, pirate fantasy settings, and light-hearted stories, you'll get a great kick out of this.

However, I feel that this game has some shortcomings you should be aware of:

*Very linear. Even seemingly big decisions end up not making much difference. Further, probably at least 50% of the choices are "fake choices" where nothing changes regardless of what you choose. Examples: 1) you must choose to keep one crew member, either T or F; regardless of who you choose, the very next page tells you that you get both anyway; 2) you can choose to kill a person, but if you choose not to, another character kills them almost immediately after; 3) you get to choose the rules of your ship (how are spoils divided, etc.), but this has zero consequences

*Lazy writing that tries to fit multiple situations into the same text, resulting in some situations making no sense. This was by far my biggest gripe with the game. All it'd take is 100 words of "flavor text" to make the situation a lot more sensible, instead of cramming 5 different situations into the same outcome. Examples: 1) if you have a good enough rapport with a character, you can get him to tell you a secret early; but when the event happens, you acknowledge in 5 words that he told you already, but the rest of the text still reads like he betrayed and lied to you. What's even more annoying is that even if you knew the event was going to happen, the text still says that you just realized it; 2) if you leave captain B, you later have to fight a usurper who challenges your captaincy; if you don't leave B, you have to fight B--the text is the same in both cases, but was clearly written for the fight with B. As a result, if you fight with the usurper instead, the text makes no sense
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Great Potential

This game had the makings for a great story... I mean, who doesn't like pirates! But the execution of the story left a lot to be desired. The experiences started out great and the first few scenes were really fun and had a lot of color, but the rest of the story after that felt rushed and linear. Your decisions seemed to lack impact which made me wonder what the point of it all was. And the character development went south really quickly about mid story. Overall, I loved the idea and the concepts that were introduced, and the characters could have been really exciting, but in the end it none of it really came together and it all seemed to fall apart. Sadly, not worth the purchase.
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Thrilling

A thrilling adventure with plenty of options that hadn't even occurred to me.

Ok I guess

It starts off well but ends up just feeling random and forced. Plus it's REALLY short. I was excited for this because...well..
PIRATES! But this just turned out not to be worth buying. Plus your choices didn't really matter all that much expect towards the very end. Where you either die or don't.

Don't bother

Not worth the money. I finished the story in a couple of hours and was not very satisfying story wise

An uninteresting bore.

Short response: This game is an uninteresting bore, don't buy it.

Long response: The only reason this gets 2 stars instead of 1 is that I can see the potential for a great game here. The ideas for the magic are interesting, and pirates are awesome. That said, I can't reccomend this gane. The characters are flat, the choices uninspired, and the scenarios dull. I pushed through, hoping desperately that there would be something great, but there wasn't. The game ends in a rushed climax which left me feeling hollow. This was not the pirate adventure I signed up for.
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Meh

I feel kinda cheated paying for such a short story. Also would have liked more details and scenes regarding romance.