Based on the (as yet) unfinished Chapter 2 v.2.
My usual disclaimers when writing reviews on here are that A. I am here for the "plot" not the plot and B. I generally dislike visual novels. So take both of those into consideration for my review when thinking about this game.
Pros
- Writing - My usual stance about erotic games is that the porn is the key and good writing will only be the cherry on top, and I stand by that. But in Pale Carnations it's a pretty bloody big cherry. Despite being 100% a porn game (with porn logic and so-on) it's also presented in a super believable and coherent fashion so that it doesn't feel like there's much suspension of disbelief or leaps of logic. The dialogue and characters are also just extremely well written so that not only does the broad strokes of the plot make sense, but the moment-by-moment character interactions are great too.
- Unique setting - Not only is the writing itself pretty damn good, but the overall premise is pretty neat! And it has the promise to keep being exciting too.
- Sexy sex - This is a SUPER fucking scalding hot game. Despite having an apparently extremely competent writer, it doesn't shy away from the fact that it's here for the erotic stuff. And this means that not only is it great to look at but the sexy writing is absolute class as well. 10/10 would fap again.
- Visuals - I think in general Honey Select can be a bit divisive on here, but I would say that Pale Carnations at least does a stellar job within the limits of the engine.
- Illusion of choice - One of my biggest issues with visual novels is how little it feels like you can impact the story or have an effect on events. In Pale Carnations though it really does feel like you can change the direction things are going an awful lot and have a great deal of influence on the outcome of events. Even if this isn't true it at least FEELS like you can, which is an important distinction.
Mehs
- Extreme kinks - I use the word "extreme" but obviously that depends on the individual. So this is kind of hard to judge. As it stands, despite the fact that the game suggests it will contain NTR, this actually hasn't happened as of yet. Which is great. It also only really dipped into territory I was unhappy with at one occasion (a particularly gross humiliation scene). However this is just one tiny blip and the rest of the time it remains very sexy. In fact, the NTR thing is quite interesting because I get the impression of thus far having your cake and eating it too (I.e. the story suggests there ought to be a LOT of NTR, but because of protagonist magic there hasn't been yet).
Cons
- Honey Select protagonist - My ONE single solitary dislike of the game is the protagonist's looks. I'm not sure if it's a requirement of Honey Select to always use the same model or something, but he's just boring, dweeby and unattractive. It's not a huge deal because you aren't looking at him a lot, but I would've like to see a bit more effort there...
Pale Carnations seems relatively new on the scene but has immediately leapt to the absolute top of my estimations. It is, quite possibly, up there amongst my top games on this site.
There are a lot of reasons for this but I think for me the biggest thing is that it succeeds in marrying proper porn with some plot. Mutt & Jeff (the devs) don't try and take the game's story overly seriously and shoehorn in tonnes of drama and silly "plot" nonsense to make the claim that it's all about the writing. It also doesn't just phone it in and throw a bunch of sexy animations at you, surrounded by broken English, and hope that's enough for the best.
It really is a case of having your cake and eating it too. It feels like a proper erotic game where the focus is all about the sexy stuff and getting laid and fucking hot girls in a BDSM-style environment. But it's also just written so bloody well that it's just so compelling and easy to accept. You don't need to internally accept a bunch of nonsense just to get to the porn, the porn seems to happen "naturally" within the rules of the story and that just makes it great.
It also helps that there is already a genuinely surprising amount of content for only two chapters (enough so that it feels like the game might end up being only like 3 or 4 chapters long) and a LOT of it is super hot and fun to play. Which is part of the importance, it's also fun!
I really had to nitpick to find my issue with the protagonist because otherwise I have to say I do give the game my wholehearted recommendation. The one and only true hang-up I have is that the game has demonstrated it's not afraid of diving into some fairly dark territory (both in terms of kink and story) and I personally hope that it doesn't dive too deep in the future and start using a bunch of kinks and stuff I dislike.
Mostly because I'm already hooked and would rather keep playing, but I'm doing so under the fore-warning that it MIGHT get dark at some point and that I'll just have to accept it.