I've played more porn games than im willing to admit and a lot of them have wasted my time.
When it comes to porn games i have a central philosophy "deliver good porn first, then we can talk about the rest" meaning no intricated gameplay or compelling story is gonna save mediocre porn.
But if you have solid porn then things like the story will elevate the final product.
Pale Carnations as it stands today is far superior than to the vast majority of AVN that are available not only in this site but for sale out there. It does this by a combination incredible arounsing porn and a very engaging story with interesting characters.
Lets start for the first hurdle for the general audience, the setting, Like many that have passed on this gem, the premise gave me pause but still decided to give it a chance for *looks at the banner* reasons....
Before dedicating it my time i wanted to be sure that the porn would be good and that there would be a balance between the more BDSM/humilliation acts and more regular stuff.
And as someone who normally doesnt want anything with BDSM, exhibitionism and other similar kinks, there is balance and it doesnt leave you wanting if you like more "regular" stuff. Aditionally to this the acts play very well with the narrative so even when i dont find them arousing they still contribute to the experience because the narrative wouldnt have the same impact withouth this scenes.
Speaking of the story, Edwin is a very interesting vehicle to experience this game. He allows us to perfectly exlplore the themes around self-descovery, desperation and morality.
" i like to think of myself as a good and decent persont, but...
I have simply never been given the opportunity to prove my conceited self-image of right or wrong"
Is a line that i love because the idea is so prevalent and yet we ignore it so often. We often say "i would do this " or "i would do that" in certain situations when in reality is more of a desire to belive in our own untested morality .
So that what the story does, testes Edwin morality as he discovers a part of himself that didnt know and might not be confortable with. That journey and how it clashes with the motivations and desires of the other characters is interesting to see.
I also like that the story is willing to consider a middle ground and not just between a binary be an asshole or be saint, and seems to acknowledge that in this situation being too nice could make Edwin inneffective.
But not everything is depression and honyness, there is levity and humor that more than once got a chuckle out of me.
I like that consequences are more linked to your actions and affections (to the characters) than to a morality scale that decides wether you're a good boy or a naughty boy.
The idea of perks and traits is good but (currently) underutilized.
All in all, it blew away my expectation and i look foward at what the future holds.
edit: almost forgott to mention, the music is very nice and with plenty of variation to fit the scenes or characters. What could be considered as "Minas theme" never fails to give me a smile.