Matsuro Palette

About Matsuro Palette

Matsuro Palette is a game by SleepingMuseum, published on Steam by KEMCO in October 2020. It is a remake of the developer's smartphone game Death Palette - Matsuro, laid out for a horizontal screen, with message skipping and new episodes featuring the girl in the painting. It is also sold on GOG, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox.

The protagonist is shut in a gloomy studio for seven days with a painting of a girl. The painting talks, it has opinions, and it wants to be finished. You work on her portrait by choosing colours and what to paint, and you look around the studio for the notes that past victims left behind, which hint at what she likes and what she will not forgive.

The horror is in the stakes rather than in shocks. Upset her, and the day ends in one of many grim death scenes, drawn in black, white and red. The store says plainly that there are no jump scares or heart-pounding scenes and no code or key puzzles like those of escape games; there is only the mystery of the girl and what happened to the people who stood at the easel before you.

It suits players who like short, dark and strange stories in the manner of Ib or It Paints Me, and who want a horror game that unsettles without making them jump.

How to play Matsuro Palette

1. Click around the studio to look at objects and find the notes left by past victims.
2. Read the notes for hints about what the girl in the painting wants.
3. Pick a colour and choose what to paint on her portrait.
4. Watch how she reacts; a choice she dislikes ends the day in death.
5. Use what you learned to try again and get through all seven days.

Tips

• Read every note twice; the hints are in the wording.
• Dying is part of the game, and each death scene teaches you something about her.
• Use message skipping when you replay a day you already know.

Questions