This hand-embroidered medieval adventure game looks like a lovely, chill time—but I'm warning you, don't be fooled by its pleasant exterior

Before I explain to you why Scarlet Deer Inn is one of my most anticipated games of this year, I urge you to download the demo on Steam and play it for yourself. It's hard to describe why I'm so excited by it without spoiling the very specific moment I realised it had serious juice, so I highly recommend you take 20 minutes to give it a try.

Alright, you've been warned. Scarlet Deer Inn is a side-scrolling adventure platformer created by Czech husband-and-wife team Attu games, distinguished from all the other games of its ilk by having an "embroidered" art style. This description is not entirely accurate. The backgrounds are actually hand-painted. But the characters—and every frame of their animation—have been created with a sewing machine rather than drawn, then scanned into the digital realm.

This is neat. But it also conjures images of a specific kind of experience. We're in the domain of cosy games, something that's warm, gentle, funny, maybe a little bit twee. Scarlet Deer Inn sounds like the kind of game you might show to your nanna in an attempt to convince her that you're growing up right.

And there are elements of that to it. The introduction to protagonist Elise presents you with an idyllic portrayal of medieval life. Rolling fields, sun-dappled woodlands, villagers chewing over the local gossip. It's a pleasant space to roam around. It's a surprisingly funny game, too. Not in a Monkey Island way, squeezing jokes into every possible crevice, but in a way that emerges naturally from the characters and their situations.

I enjoyed all of this in isolation. But then, eventually, comes the turn. At a certain point, it becomes clear that Scarlet Deer Inn is a game with teeth. And bones, and…other things. It's one of the more effective dramatic twists I've encountered in a game for a while, and it happens very early on, which makes me very curious about what else the game might have in store.

As you can probably tell, I was impressed by it, and have been looking forward to getting my hands on the full game for a while. Naturally, then, I was thrilled to see Attu announce a release date that's fairly imminent—July 17.

There's also a new trailer for the game that you can watch above, though again, I'd recommend downloading and playing the demo instead, as the trailer gives a fair amount away. I know there's an absolute avalanche of games headed our way in the next couple of months, but I'm confident that Scarlet Deer Inn will prove worthy of your attention.