Scarlet was quite a shock for me to find on Indie Speed Run 2.0. Not many games have been pushing social or moral issues, even though the contest has no rules against including such content. I don’t condone the actions or resolution of the game, hence why I called it something other than a conventional “pick.” However, it’s there for people to vote on, so why not discuss it?



Your sweetheart comes home abruptly, and it is your goal to hide the evidence of the affair you have had, anywhere and anyway you can. As she walks the house, you have to figure out the order in which to hide everything so she remains unaware, all in first person. WASD moves and clicking picks up and hides evidence.

While the “secrecy” theme pervades, the “steering wheel” element is a bit obscure to me, unless they meant playing the game in first-person somehow steers the events. The title screen with a steering wheel doesn’t cut it for me. Kudos to Andrew Dennis, Jon Moore, Jordan Ajlouni, and Marie Lazar for pushing the scandalous envelope on Indie Speed Run, though.

I’d download Scarlet directly (extract and click on the HTML file inside and it should load in your browser), without reading the description on Indie Speed Run thoroughly. I only skimmed it, and I think got more out of the game than I probably would have otherwise. Scarlet presents some uniquely devious gameplay, and it’s up to the player to decide how serious to take its actions and ending.