SD Media Digest vol.1: Jan-Mar 2021

By Robert Gannon

What do a trip to your ancestral home for a funeral, a harsh critique of the allowed roles of women in media creation, a drug-fueled overnight shift at a hospital, and a pair of killer pants have in common? They've all been critiqued by Robert J. Gannon (that's me) at Sketching Details in the first quarter of 2021.

Welcome to the first ever issue of SD Media Digest. This is a collection of the best writing featured on my entertainment media criticism website Sketching Details from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Gannon
• Release date: Apr 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005628086

Book preview

Introduction

What do a trip to your ancestral home for a funeral, a harsh critique of the allowed roles of women in media creation, a drug-fueled overnight shift at a hospital, and a pair of killer pants have in common? They've all been critiqued by Robert J. Gannon (that's me) at Sketching Details in the first quarter of 2021.

Welcome to the first ever issue of SD Media Digest. This is a collection of the best writing featured on my entertainment media criticism website Sketching Details from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021. The collection is presented in chronological order by first publication.

Sketching Details has existed for over 16 years as a trusted source of in depth media criticism. While my primary focus continues to be horror, sci-fi, and fantasy across media, I've grown to use those skills in analyzing any form of entertainment media. Here you will find a mix of film, book, TV, and gaming criticism spanning everything from tiny indie projects you may have never heard of to the buzziest Academy Awards contenders.

This collection is just a sample of the work I do at Sketching Details. You can find years of content on film, theatre, gaming, and more by visiting the site. While this quarterly collection will always be free, you can consider visiting my Ko-fi to purchase my books or even tip me directly. Finally, you can follow me on all social media @robertjgannon.

Thank you and enjoy the collection.

Scarlet Hollow Episode 1 Review (PC Game, 2020)

content warning: gore, gun violence, animal suffering

Scarlet Hollow is a horror/adventure game in the form of a visual novel. You play as an estranged family member attending your aunt's funeral. You never met her or even saw your ancestral home because of a falling out in your family. For the next week, you'll be living with your cousin Tabby, who you also never met before, as you wait for the funeral service of one of the last members of your family.

The further you go into the town of Scarlet Hollow, the stranger things become. The bus stop has one bus arrive and leave each week. Tabby's home is a dilapidated manor on the side of a cliff. More buildings than not are boarded up and abandoned in the town. No one bats an eye that the town's most famous resident is a cryptid hunter on YouTube. The strange, wonderful, and horrifying things you notice are just daily life in the Holler.

Scarlet Hollow is the debut game from Abby Howard, the cartoonist and graphic novelist behind The Last Halloween, Junior Scientist Power Hour, and Earth Before Us. Her work in horror features large ensemble casts of unlikely friends in a world of inky crosshatching and sprawling shadows. In Howard's work, monsters are real and bring the worst traits out of the people who have the misfortune of discovering them. Her work also reflects reality with diverse casts that look like the actual world.

The branching narrative options of Scarlet Hollow can allow for multiple playthroughs of the game. After choosing your name and preferred pronouns (he/him, they/them, or she/her--non-binary characters exist in this world without consequence or judgment), you choose two unique traits out of seven options that define how your story will go. Maybe you want to talk to the many animals in the game to gain insight into what happens in the town. You could also choose to be incredibly strong so more physical tasks don't pose problems. You can also be a flirt, an empath, or very intuitive. Each trait offers different dialogue options showing what is really happening in the story.

I've played through Episode 1 twice now. The different experience I got just from being able to talk to animals turned a piece of psychological horror into a work of supernatural tragedy. I mention it in the content warning, but I have to stress that there are animals in pain in this game. Something bad is happening in the town, and some local animals are the unfortunate warning of impending doom. Everything is fun and games befriending a