#129

Pale Carnations By Mutt & Jeff

[Summary]

"Step into the shoes of a tightly wound pre-med student pulled head first into a world of debauchery thanks to the influence of a waning childhood friend.

As the newest employee at the Carnation Club, navigate your part in a series of cruel erotic games and sexual encounters..."

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Review:

Let me tell you something...
It would be an understatement to say that I'm not a fan of visual novels. (This entire blog is a testament)

When I boot up a video game, I expect to push some buttons, controls some long and girthy objects, maybe kill some stuff.
What I don't expect is to read 500 words essays just so I can get the juice.

I hope that gave you context about how much of an impression this game left on me. Yes, it's that good, and it only keeps getting better.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually very open-minded, and I do check out VN's now and then, only to get disappointed again and again...
Recently Pale Carnations was brought to my attention after Chapter 4 (Update 1) was released.

Now, if there's one thing that I know about VNs is that when they reach a point of releasing new chapters / episodes / installments (however you wanna call it) regularly over a long period of time - it means that there are enough people that appreciate said project to keep funding it. 

So following common sense, I dived in...

Our story begins with Chad Dicksworth (they asked me to name him!) - a young and aspiring pre-med student looking for a way to keep his head afloat to fund his studies.

After the quick MC background intro, you're asked to select his traits, past memorable events, and basically shape up how future actions will affect your progression based on these core factors.

A couple of events later, you'll meet up with your friend Killian.
As fate would have it, one thing lead to another, and before he knows it, Chad is now the errand boy of the Pale Carnations club - an exclusive club only for the wealthy. A through and through "secret" VIP club if you may.

Chad's first job is to "interview" a young woman in a couch casting style.
This is the first point in the game where the MC is facing his first corruption event - how far will you take him down the lust rabbit hole? will you stick to morals or take advantage of every situation?

At the middle of the prologue you'll get more control with who to speak via a point & click interactions with the highlighted characters available at the scene.
A big plus in my eyes, to break from the rails experience many VNs have adapted to themselves.

From this point onwards, there will be many paths to take, many routes that make each decision impactful on the REST of the story!
Kinda like in Mass Effect series, when performing certain actions throughout the game unlocks special dialogue options. (lets not talk about the "endings" though..)

? To illustrate you just how crazy the events branching can get, the game has no less than over 16,000 rendered images!! NOT including the close to 400 animated scenes!
These figures are absolutely mental, given the fact that the models are stunning, with high attention to detail, and not cutting corners with the animations either.

Needless to say, even with multiple playthroughs, you'll need to create new save files very often to view all of the available scenes.
At this point I can only imagine the most dedicated people will unlock all the scenes legitimately, with how complex the story branching has become.

But you know what is the best part about this game? the immersion.

How should I put it... sex and lust are more psychological than physical.
In some situations, we can make ourselves climax just from thought alone.
What I'm trying to say is that an H scene with context has a lot more impact than coming across the same image randomly.
Kind of like seeing a nude total stranger VS a nude acquaintance or a friend.

✍️ The writing is so well done, proofread, relatable, believable, distinguishing each character that you never feel you're talking to NPCs.
It's not a story about some dude with a massive schlong on a mission to penetrate every female he comes across.

There's character build-up, morals, a sense of mystery that keeps you immersed and intrigued to find out "what's next?"

When you finally reach intimacy with one of the girls after learning about their background, their feelings, in such a well written way, it's no longer just another sex scene. 

Unlike other genres, context is everything in Visual Novels.
If a VN can't use words to make a scene turn you on from anticipation, then it has failed its job, and is no better than just a gallery viewer.

Pale Carnations sets a very good example that adult games can also have an immersive and meaningful story. The characters ultimately get down to the dirtiest kinks, but at the same time keep their dignity and morals.

⭐ I cannot recommend this game enough to anyone who's looking for more than just a quick release session.
There are so many layers of depth to Pale Carnations, that it has easily become a top favorite VN of mine.

Pale Carnations is available at Mutt & Jeff's Patreon.

❤️ For relevant H content of this title you may contact me in DM for referrals.