To the average person who thinks that AVNs cannot be an art form, Mutt & Jeff say: hold my beer. Pale Carnations is one of those rare games that the AVN world must carefully study.
I will be reviewing the game on four main parameters: story and writing, art and animation, style and presentation, and sex scenes. At the time of this review, this game is at Ch. 4 Up. 5.
Story and Writing (5/5)
I have played a lot of AVNs in the past 6 years of my life. Many of these games were good, many were brilliant. The latter category has your usual characteristics: good art, masterfully crafted models, great animation, and of course, enticing, hot and kinky sexy. Many of them also featured great writing. But few had a gut-wrenching page turner of a story like Pale Carnations. I believe of all things, what sets this game apart from any other AVN created is its compelling characters, captivating settings, and intelligently crafted dialogue-writing.
Pale Carnations is an exploration of the relationship between sex, power and morality. Each character in the VN is differently placed on the nexus of these three driving forces of human behaviour. Without going into spoiler territory, here is the rundown. We have in this world the agents of power: the Kathleens, Augusts, and Chucks of the world, who pursue their goals using the power that they have, often with a reckless abandon of any sense of morality. For Kathleen, sex (in her own perverted ways) is an end in itself. For August and Chuck, it is a mere mean, but to very different ends. Then you have the powerless subjects: the working girls, and to different extents, the Carnations. But the most interesting characters in the story are the likes of the MC, Hana, and Killian. They all command a certain amount of power, and are also subjects of it. With this unique position that they occupy, they are often faced with moral quandaries. Hana, ever the voice of reason in the game, finds the activities of the Carnation Club deeply repelling. But as we see along the story, she too has to compromise with her principles due to her position in the Club. Killian is the morally ambiguous sort. In some parts of the story, as the MC notes, he shows surprising amount of moral clarity, while in others he does reprehensible things with very little remorse. Then of course there is the MC, the blank slate, who will become whatever the player makes of him, within bounds of the writing. It is this world and story that really drags you into the VN. But what keeps you clicking is the wit and humour with which the writers have crafted the dialogues of this game. It really has the writing of an award-winning TV show.
Art and Animation (5/5)
While I am emphasizing on the writing, it is by no means the only feature that makes this game what it is. I am yet to play a honey select game which has put in so much effort in its unique character designs. Nothing is a mere drag and drop template. Every character has been shown the care and attention it deserves. In execution too, the expression that every character has is scene appropriate, to the point it feels extremely real. The animations are smooth and never look out of place.
Style and Presentation (4/5)
The music in the game is very well chosen and fits the vibe of the game. The UI is also creatively designed and has good art. The whole Ren'py presentation is great. There are no mechanical issues or bugs that caused an issue to me. What they could do better is perhaps improve the Profile and Stats pages. Right now they seem a bit haphazard. The profiles only indicate the latest encounter with a character and not the entirety of your history with them. It's not useful when you open it to refresh your memory from the last update. Plus, the Profile tab is not exhaustive, quite a few minor characters are missing from it, who are nevertheless mentioned here and there.
Sex Scenes (4.5/5)
Pale Carnation however by no means ignores its sex scenes. Much like the story itself, the sex scenes too are really compelling. The porn logic is minimal– the authors through their excellent writing make even the most ridiculous and kinky scenes seem realistic and natural. The animation in sex scenes is fluid and pleasing. The VN covers a wide variety of fetishes and kinks. The emphasis of course is on a maledom side. However, it may not be exactly what you're looking for if you want a self-insert power fantasy of a game. The game will make you feel the weight of the fucked up things you do. But I guess that's somewhere the point with a game like this.
Conclusion
It may not be a great exaggeration to say Pale Carnations might be, and I do not use this term lightly, the best AVN created so far. Mutt & Jeff have definitely created a standard for the industry. In the future, I wish for creators to take a cue from them and create AVNs of similar quality.
