In this week's post we continue with our dive into the core pillars for making The Crimson Maid, with the second part about optional depth. As stated in the first part, there are plenty of ways to get more out of the game, but it's up to you if you want to explore them. Aside from the optional dialogues, the tile puzzles and the documents, all described in the previous post, here are some more game features that allow you to immerse into the story just as deep as you want.
Your thoughts on paper
A key mechanic in The Crimson Maid is the journal. Marius, who you play as, will often write down his thoughts on events, people and discussions. Some of these thoughts will be revealed just by following the main path of the story, while others will need a bit more involvement from the player. Try to go over optional topics, solve optional puzzles, find collectibles, inspect the environment etc. to unlock all the journal's pages.
In-game, you'll notice empty areas in the journal where you still need to unlock some of Marius' musings. And you can also check out your journal progress in the main menu, by going to Chapters and checking out how many journal entries you've unlocked for each chapter, out of the total available.
Feed the birdies
Did you notice that Marius has a pet robin? He took the little guy with him when he left home to the seminary. Now that he returned home, he brought him back - you can spot him inside the car. Marius loves these cute birds and there are several birdhouses around the property where robins can take shelter and eat the seeds left for them by the Rosenthal family members. As you explore, when you encounter a birdhouse, you can interact with the seeds box to feed the robins. It's the wholesome thing to do!
But of course kindness is not the only reason why you should feed the birdies. For some reason, your selfless act makes a robin bring you a tiny piece of paper with verses on it - who knows where it's from? Better collect them all and read the entire poem.
Lost snapshots
Leon Rosenthal taught his children how to take pictures and paint over them - it became one of their shared hobbies. Find these lost pictures around the estate, depicting portraits of the Rosenthal family members at various moments in their lives. Marius will keep them in his journal, so these precious memories are never lost again.
In a future post we'll move on to another core pillar - meaningful exploration. But in the meantime remember to wishlist and follow the game if you haven't already done so. And check back frequently for more updates on The Crimson Maid!
