I would recommend if it’s on sale, it’s a good story but a bit short. I mostly played because I like plague doctors and have one tattooed on me.

An extremely short russian VN; Sanator is a little too ambitious for it's own good, and in desperate need of a professional editor or new translation.

It's text is consistently wordy, which is the least of it's downfalls, as half the dialogue is nonsensical, and about 80% of the text is poorly phrased. It's incredibly obvious that the original language wasn't english. It's a little disapointing, as there are actually a few clever lines stuck in this obtuse game.

It feels like more time went into trying to make a huge fantasy setting than creating an actual story to read. You're bombarded with way too much lexicon in an incredibly short amount of time, so much that there's even an in-game codex, which is even MORE confusing to read than actually just reading through the VN normally (which may be because the codex pieces read even worse).



I've enjoyed series such as Dune, which have plenty of their own verbage, but the difference is that it's spread out and that learning about it comes naturally, as opposed to trying to dump a lot of nonsensically written backstory on you.

10 dollars for about an hour of an awfully written VN? No thanks.

Sanator: Scarlet Scarf is a dark fantasy multiple choice Visual Novel written by Gilbert Brissen using a prose style that reflects the Period setting allowing the Reader to delve deep into the immersion of the Plague ridden town of Reustadt.

The Main Protagonist is a Sanator called Richard Murdoch who belongs to the Brotherhood of St Elmo that are tasked to ensure the safety of the town and to do battle against any Plague spirits. To be prepared, the Sanator wears protective clothing of: a beak shaped mask, a long cloak, a robe, deep gauntlet gloves and fisherman length boots making Murdoch appear, at least to me anyway, as a Medieval superhero who also has a 'sidekick' named Anga - a Shadow spirit he can call on when in danger.

Whilst walking through Reustadt, Richard Murdoch encounters a young woman named Syl which concerns him as every resident is indoors being protected by a 'Seal' on their door to ward against the Plague spirits. Those who are unfortunate enough to fall victim to the Plague have Scarlet Scarfs adorning their homes - a calling card perhaps?

I won't add much more story content as this experience involves, as all Visual Novels do, reading but this particular VN really does throw you directly into the story with great detail and content. Because of that I would recommend using the Free Demo because it gives a prelude to this story introducing the characters and the setting. This way, when you come to read Scarlet Scarf, you don't get too overwhelmed by its depth of writing.

It is clear at the menu how much effort has been made by Ignis Sanat to provide ease of use while also adding touches that I found improve the VN experience. An example being the Self voicing option (press V) that has the story read to you a paragraph at a time & doesn't progress until you click for the next paragraph to appear.
There is a skip function (press Tab or CTRL) to bypass the core story during a replay to open up the four endings and there is a Screenshot mode common to most VN's.

The graphics by Pony are exceptionally good, I loved the use of vibrant red 'paint' splashes to depict the gory scenes and the glorious cat's eye appearance to Syl but, in general, the beauty to this art is how it matches the dark overtones set throughout this medieval story. Pony also did the illustrations to the User Interface menu which feature moving images linked to each menu choice and the Sound Effects.

Adding to this, the music (created by Avernus Xardara) adds a vibrancy that sets an upbeat mood with its use of drums, chimes and bells. As you unlock each story type this in turn unlocks added music content as well as a gallery of the art that accompanies the story routes. Another extra is a section called Codex that acts as an encyclopedia to the story's terminology and lore.
There are also achievements that accompany each route and extra stories within the Menu that feature shorter backlog journeys.
The good part to each route was that it features a mix of actions that culminate in Murdoch's epilogue so you can expect a good variety in the overall experience.
Upon fully unlocking the four endings there is a bonus that introduces us to the next story in the world of Domus Et Animae.

In summary, this VN would appeal to fans of Fantasy, Dark horror and Choices Matter while having the benefit of a dystopia world that was developed over an 8 year period that adds huge depth to the ongoing plot.

~~~ Liked what you see? You can find more at Have a Word ~~~

If you saw the most high-rated negative review for this visual novel it's not completely baseless: the prose is sometimes clunky and the game at a few rare points struggle to properly express its fairly intricate lore. For the most part, however, it's very good: extremely atmospheric, unique in many of its driving concepts and consistently interesting to follow. There are many things that are not explained in the story and only partially explained in the codex, but I didn't feel like it got in the way of enjoying the main plot – you don't need to know everything to follow the storyline and get invested in it, while reading up on the world is a nice bonus. It's also not that short when it goes to full completion: 2-3 hours of content.

Indeed, if you dig enough into it, the lore gets overly convoluted, but the things that actually matter, the core features of the game's world and story, are awesome. The protagonist, a plague doctor and member of a religious order de facto ruling vast parts of the world is an interesting lead: devoted to his craft and ruthlessly pragmatic in performing his duties, but also empathetic to those deserving the care. His interactions with Anga, a dangerous spirit he trapped in his own body and a mysterious homeless girl he meets in the plague-infested city are full of this interplay between duty and compassion. The endings are often brutal, but most of them are interesting and compelling in their own way. The aesthetic is beyond excellent and music adds to the heavy atmosphere.

So, while the English script, the codex explaining the lore (this needs shorter, better arranged and easier to understand entries) and the UI could still use some polishing, it's still a very cool short story. I'll be definitely looking forward to new entries in this series and highly recommend giving this one a chance.

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PS If you're interested in quality visual novels, check out my curator page.

"Sanator: Scarlet Scarf" is mediocre. Pretentious, yet unbelievably boring at the same time. I was somewhat intrigued by its grimdark premise and "horror" tag, but the writing eventually proved to be more than I could handle.

You're a plague doctor commissioned to investigate the circumstances around this medieval-looking town. The plague outbreak is inevitable, so as a player you might expect to see different sides of human nature being put to the test, and make some tough yet necessary choices to save innocent lives.
It does sound promising, but... but the story itself and the world it takes place in are just so bland and uninspired, relying more on piling up names and concepts than on proper narrative practice. Good god, the "hints" menu explicitly tells you to check the encyclopedia if you ever wish to grasp the meaning of what's going on here in the game! The authors love their creation very much, fair enough, but in desperate attempts to present it as something unique they just assault you with unnecessary terminology, info dumps and flowery writing.

The writing truly is the bane of this novel. Poor English is only a half of it, the lesser half to boot (I'm pretty used to it now, having read plenty of VNs translated from Russian). Yet pure, unadulterated pathos and purple prose make it hard to embrace the world and its characters.
What a shame. At least it's not long, 1-2 hours of reading tops.
The art is a bit too cartoonish for my taste, oftentimes clashing wildly with the tone of the story. The characters may look weird at certain angles, but I guess that's not the focal point anyway. Some UI choices are baffling, to say the least, especially the ravens. I had to stumble my way through several screens and reloads to finally pick English after a missclick.
The music is perfect though.

Overall:
+ decent pricing
+ great soundtrack

- unconvincing script
- poor translation
- inconsistent art/ui direction
Final word: amateurish and tiresome story taking place in yet another "original fantasy world", further let down by atrocious writing. Not recommended.

Sanator: Scarlet Scarf is not a long game, but a good quality one nonetheless.
Among all the crap that has been flooding Steam for years through Greenlight program, Sanator is one of those "hidden gems". Its storytelling is solid, while musical score and visuals set the perfect mood for this kind of game. It's a great VN for some evening reading if you're at all interested in dark fantasy, the game's story and lore are sure to captivate you.

This is a short but truly outstanding visual novel. While the story itself is kinda simple, the setting feels really unique. I would say it's a crossover between Sapkowski and Lovecraft. It may not be for everyone, but I would definitely recommend trying it to everyone who's interested in grimdark atmosphere.

One of Steams hidden gems. If you like plague doctors, and medieval legends, this is truly a great interactive story for you. If you are going through all the content at a "normal" pace, you will most likely have around 2.5 of great content. I really enjoyed the different endings, and the secret at the end. If you are planing to get this, try getting it on sale if you are looking short on money. If you still want it without the sale, that is also worth it in my honest opinion, because I think it was a great interactive story to read.

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TL;DR: It's short but nonetheless captivating. I advise to check it out if you're into the whole dark fantasy setting with a focus on a plague epidemic.

Note: The demo is like a standalone VN that you definitely need to play first. If you only found out about this after having purchased the game, download the demo here[ignis-sanat.org].

Note 2: I'm the latest RU->EN translator for this game (can be found in the credits). I have to state there was a coordination fail within the team- the game currently has a good chunk of old (unedited) translations in it, most of my edits didn't make it through. The developers are about to fix that.

Before I begin my rant, I'd like to first state the pros & cons of this VN:

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Pros:

• Great art & design. Unlockable Gallery.
  
  
• Decent soundtrack. You can listen to each of the compositions in the game's "Extras".
  
  
• Unique setting and quite a rare sight in videogames in general: a plague epidemic.

Cons:

• Extremely short. Unique, interesting, but doesn't last long.
  
  
• Quite difficult to read (and I don't mean the old translations here) due to the original writing.
  
  
• The content doesn't equal the price tag unless we count the demo. The art, although, compensates for the writing.

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It's an interesting VN, with captivating story and setting, lots of potential here. Aside from the price tag, I don't see why I wouldn't recommend trying it (well, I'm not a fan of visual novels in general, to begin with, so my price tag opinion is pretty subjective). To make the most of your experience, you should first get acquainted with the demo, which is a standalone prequel to the events of the original VN.

The two principal problems with the VN that prevent it from actual success are its length and the narrtive mode. The game is very short and, because of that, leaves a bittersweet feeling after you get the first ending. Not only it is short, but it's also riddled with overcomplicated word structures and terms that just seem unnecessary.

Nonetheless, it is not as bad as many make it out to be. I like the setting, I like the story, the design is superb, the soundtrack is good, all of that creates a pretty nice atmosphere.

It's important to say (repeat) that everyone who's purchased the game as of now faces the old translations, which are indeed quite bad. In the end, in my (new) English localization, I tried to soften and smoothen the overall word flow so it's easier on the eyes (and the mind) while retaining its original spirit. It should be in the game in a couple of days (writing this as of July 4, 2019).

In my opinion, the whole thing feels rather like a prequel to something bigger, and I hope to see that "something" being released on Steam soon because there is a lot of potential for this universe.