VN - Ren'Py - Pale Carnations [Ch.4 Up.5 Public] [Mutt & Jeff]

Review of Ch. 4 Update 1 version. Given it's set in a brothel I was hesitant to try this, but I was totally wrong. Don't let this stop you, it's a great game!

A really cool & entertaining game driven mostly by the alluring LI.

What i loved the most are the backstories as it gives a lot of depth & complexity to the characters.This helps to emphasise the saying "never judge a book by its cover".Best eg is Veronica who looks definitely like an amazonian with a fierce never back down personality but as u continue later on u find that she has nothing else left so is just giving this her all.
Not to mention this game has the best bro Ian i mean he definitely is the most complicated character ive seen in an AVN cuz he is a womanizer who goes after every pussy that comes his way including his postmenopausal maid inspite of having a cute model GF but when it comes to MC & his mom he is a freaking Angel

Gorgeous renders & phenomenal sex animations enhances the whole experience tremendously.

Sometimes on this site you stumble upon an absolute gem of a game when you least expect it & this is the Cullinan Diamond.
Writing & character development are top notch & I love the fact that even the incidental characters also have varied backstories so you always have the feeling that loads of different scenarios are bubbling away beneath the surface.
If you haven't played this game yet, please do. You won't regret it.

This is a review for Ch. 4 Update 1.

Pale carnations is a game about a student aspiring to be a doctor getting a job in a high class brothel thanks to the help of one of one of his rich friends. Over the course of the game, you can define the MC's personality where he either tries to be a decent person or falls into the depths of depravity and becomes an asshole. Most of the time I played this game I tried to make sure the MC was a decent person however the game does the corruption of the MC really well too.

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Story and Character Development

The story so far is not too complicated - the main character needs to help with running an event in the club and manage three participants who are prostituting themselves for the duration of this event who are known as the Carnations. These are women in desperate situations who will win a price of their choosing should they win. There are hints of politics between the club owners and illegal drugs however as of Ch. 4 Update 1, this is not deeply explored yet and the plot remains simple.

While the story is simple the characters are not. Most of the characters are very well written from the random patrons of the club to the whores to the carnations themselves. The two characters that stood out the most to me are the main character who is struggling to keep his decency in the midst of all the depravity around him and the MC's best friend - a deeply flawed individual that acts like an asshole but has some redeeming qualities.

Given the above you would enjoy this game if you like your games to have deep character development with well written characters and are fine with a plot that is not too complex.

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Renders and Romance

The renders are very well made with lots of details to them. While I think there are games that use different engines/rendering software this is one of the most impressive looking Honey Select 1 games I have played. The developers have put in a lot of effort into the visuals and it shows.

In terms of romance, you have five major characters. You have the three carnations and two other girls. One of the two is your best friend's naive girlfriend and the other is a co-worker in the club who works as a bartender.

When it comes to romancing the carnations, there is not too much of it. The main character has sympathy for the girls in the good guy route but his feelings do not evolve into anything more. He does not think of them as romantic interests and does not have other complicated feelings (such as jealousy) when they are forced to perform for the club. I feel like the game goes to great lengths to avoid making the player feel like they are being cuckolded if they choose to try and get closer to the carnations and I am not convinced that this is a good thing. To me it feels like as long as the game keeps doing this, there will never be a deeper connection between the MC and the carnations and they are not really love interests but rather girls the MC fucks because thats part of his day job. I think jealousy and negative emotions when seeing a girl you care about used by others is natural and I dont fully understand why the game goes to such great lengths to avoid it.

The best friend's girlfriend is cute, naive and very likable. Many people make mistakes when it comes to relationships and she has clearly made a big one. It is interesting to see how she puts up with the abuse her boyfriend puts her through (such as flirting with other girls) and the 'I can change him' attitude she initially has just like most people on their first relationships. The inevitable break up is also handled quite well. The only issue with her is that she feels a bit out of place compared to the other love interests as she is the only one who does not have ties to the club. As a result she has very little screen time as of Ch. 4 Update 1 and while her romance until this point is good it is not fully fleshed out due to lack of screen time.

The romance with the last girl - your co-worker is very well done and she is the only girl who at this point feels like a real love interest for the main character. She is the daughter of a former pornstar and one of the club owners. Her mother is sick with Huntington's disease and requires expensive treatment. Her father is a mob boss who was absent for her entire life but is now going through a mid life crisis and wants to bond with her. He ends up making her work in the club as a bartender in an attempt to get closer to her by agreeing to pay for her mother's medical expenses if she works in the club. She and the Main character have great chemistry together - they start off at a relatively equal footing and the romance develops very nicely as they go from coworkers to people who like each other to people who want to date each other. When her father finally tries to make her an owner of the club (a place she despises) the MC is the only person she can trust. The romance is very well done.

To summarize, the game looks very impressive for a HS1 game. In terms of romance, I feel like there are some very touching/heartfelt moments with the 3 carnations however the romance itself is lacking. The romance for the best friend's girl is done well enough but she suffers from lack of screen time and feels a bit disjoint from the rest of the game. The romance with the last main girl - the MC's co-worker is extremely well done.

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Overall I really like this game. I do not play too many games like this because the sex scenes can feel a bit cheaply written but this was not the case here. It is a very well written games with some great characters and I would recommend it to most people.

Version: ch.4 update 1
Rating: 4.5*

Pros:
Great Renders
Good writing
Good Story
Nice looking Character Models
Interesting Characters
Great Sex Scenes
Good Animations
Good Music/Soundtrack
Many fetishes
Different paths

Cons:
The Story is interesting, but I don´t feel hooked to the Story like in other Games.

The Sex Scenes are great and I like that there are pounding sounds, but the combination of pounding sounds and the lack of moaning sounds make the scenes feel a bit anticlimactic.


All in all this is a great game that I can recommend and I will follow the game's progress really closely.

Pale Carnations is such a different and distinct game, it is like a wild dream going on without stopping , something that is very considerable and significant
I like games with different paths and when choices actually making differences and that is the case here.
Characters depiction are stunning and ravishing , story is captivating and dialogues are touching .
Definitely one of my favorites.

Overall played more than 4 times and the story is very good and interesting, the graphics are ok and especially the scenes are not repeated over and over again. The expansion also makes it nice to see how stats are affected by individual decisions.

excellent game! the gameplay, the girls, and the story is just perfect i hope it's gonna continue for a long time and kudos for the creator that maked this one my peepee is waiting for the new update.

Superb writing
Superb art
Incredibly sexy

This game is beautifully polished and takes you on a dark journey. This game sets a new standard for the kind of storytelling that you can do in this medium.

The game is great:
- excellent visual, and especially the main girls.
- the girls have a unique personality and they are not empty of their quirks and flaws.
- the story is interesting.
- the sound design/music is right on the spot, even if not a main thing in the game.
- the story seems rather interesting, even if "easy" on the player character.

From this point, I don't see why this game wouldn't be a must play of the adult VN genre.

Game with an intriguing story, great models (curvy, muscular, goth – basically whatever floats your boat), great UI for tracking relationships and bio's of every character you meet. Not a big fan of the MC's model, but the writing makes up for it. Relationships feel real, considering the circumstances. Quite a lot of scenes which won't make you blue balled. 4.7/5

Version: 4.1

Best game on the site.

No, I do not say that lightly. It just is.

I'd stayed away from this one for a while, but boy am I glad I finally took the plunge. The writing is god-tier! It's really amazing the amount of effort the developers put into this. Every SINGLE one of the characters, including the wall dressings in the Club Carnation scenes, all act like real, complex people.

It's just aaaarggh really difficult to describe . These characters are REAL. The main girls are all so perfect, I get conflicted when deciding who to spend time with. I love them all. Felicia and Hana are now both my best characters in any adult game ever, and Mina and Veronica easily come a close second. Everyone else is also second. They are all that good.

Engine is old, but the developers do wonders with it. WONDERS. Half the time, I find myself staring at a scene, lost in the eyes of the girls.

And the sex scenes? Hoo boy. Don't get me started. They are LONG, varied, and crazy satisfying. Three or so of them number among the best I have seen anywhere, including movies.

I came into this game expecting a fun romp, and I am leaving with 5 waifus. Genius, I tell ya. Genius. I will follow this to the end of the earth. Don't drop the ball, Dev. This game will remembered forever.

Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious, I rate this a 100/5. Really would break the rating just for this game if I could. Awesome work!

Version: Ch4. Update 1

Rating: 8.75/10 (4.5 Stars is what I would choose if possible)

In Short: Wow... This game is something else. I have thought about how to describe it for a while now and all I can think of is "pure fun". It never gave that overwhelming swell of good feelings that you might get with other top titles and their stories (which is a shame, I prefer those) but all the way through I was just having a good time. Tons of sex and pretty decent writing (The game does a good job of letting you know other characters feelings too which is appreciated) There's also the start of a really good romance with a character if that's your cup of tea instead of fucking whores all the time

Other thoughts:

Models are dated a bit but I hear this is an older engine and this game pushes it to the max. I really can't dispute this as when you see the animations they are great.

Sex scenes tend to last a good amount of time also which feels nice. Whether its just for fun or the scene is meaningful to you, the extra time helps connect to the characters.

The story for me is pretty standard but I see people raving about it. Perhaps it's due to the nature of the game setting? Whores don't really do it for me and all the moral thinking MC does bugs me a bit. But I would call the story interesting for sure. I still want to see where it goes. I'm just not enthralled in it.

Music is solidly decent. I don't remember any standout tracks so it could be improved but the presence of it there was nice. Nothing to connect you with the characters though.

Really liking the last LONG scene with Hana. She's my favourite LI and hopefully the content in the game goes on long enough for you two to have a meaningful relationship. There are some obvious twists in the future with her dad so that'll be fun.

Conclusion:

I really like this game if you couldn't already tell. I just can't call it a masterpiece up there with my favourites because I honestly didn't connect with any characters until the end of the chapter (Hana) I think in a story that's a pretty big requirement. I cared about Ian too but that's different, I'm tryna get some pussy here lads

I honestly think it deserves 4.5-5 stars though for doing something so interesting and unique, pushing the boundaries and still trying to put romance and other elements in there too. I much prefer romance in a story too over a harem so my 8.75/10 is based on that, I can easily see why people give this 9-10/10 if the "topic" interests you. - Don't be put off from this game like I initially was. Give it a try!

Great game, it really surprised me and I surprised myself, because I never played anything close to this theme, so it was quite disturbing at first.

The story and characters are interesting and well written, love the dialogue and the choices, lewd scenes are nicely done and there is good variety. Also love the options to be more dirty or more vanilla in lewd scenes and outside of it - you are pervert, but you can be a pervert that isn't a total wacko and creep. I absolutely love the option to choose between fuck buddies or gf relationship with girls (at least Hana, not sure if it's same with Mina yet). I'm looking forward to see how gf Hana plays out and of course other girls, when I replay the game.

One minor issue I have is the color of the narrative text. For some reason I find the yellow hard to read in many scenes. If there could be an option to change that color, it would be great.

I'm a writer (i only write in my own language, not english). The way you write a book is a bit different than a porn game, but they have couple things in common. First you flesh out the characters, how they look, think and how they will react to certain scenarios. Then you write the end of the story and if you're done with that, a beginning. You'll probably have a couple of scenes that you want in your story, write them out, only now you can begin. There's more to it and it's easier said than done, but this is the essence. It doesn't matter if you want the scenes in your story thrilling, sad, funny or in case of a porn game, hot and sexy, you'll have to do this to see it through the end and have at least a shot at being successful. I'm certain 95% of the porn game developers don't do this and their game ends up abandoned and unsuccessful. I'm pretty sure Pale Carnations at least did the first and third step, because
the writing is great, the story is complementary and the scenes are hot as fuck (and it has some great animations). Just as it should be, in case of a porn game imo.

(pardon my english, i'm too lazy to do any grammer and spelling checks right now)

I played this game because I had a slight feeling that I might like it because of another game that has a pretty solid plot construction. And I must say that I loved this game, very good development of most of the things that it shows us.

There were certain details that did not convince me or that I did not like and that is that there are moments when the protagonist, let's say, is taking a serious direction towards another person, from one moment to the next he stops being, not because he has calmed down, it feels as if I would never have been in that situation. Of course they are too small details and very few situations in which that happens.

I think that the best thing that seemed to me in this game is that for you to reach +18, you have to go through many situations but that makes sense. That is, what I liked the most is that these erotic/sexual situations have a reason for being and that gives a touch of "reality" to the game in general, it is not like in other games that you just arrive and everyone already agrees to have intimate relations with you just because. This was the best of the game in my point of view.
On the other hand, something that I want to highlight, where I could be wrong, is the modeling of the characters. I'm not sure, but I think the characters were made with Honey select or Ai selection. I'm not sure about this, but what I want to say is that most of the games that model their characters with these "programs" usually make them very average, that is, very mediocre, without so much detail, they simply create characters with boobs. , asses and that's it, if they add tattoos they make them so horrible that you say "what an ugly design". Well what I'm getting at is that in this game, the creator really took the time to design characters that fit their personality and that they look good basically, I mean, you don't see the "girl with tits" type as in all the games that are based on some of these "programs" to create characters, the creator really wanted to do something that is at the level of what his story brings us and something that we could enjoy visually.

Summary:

o Character Design/Visual: 5/5
o Background music/sound: 4.7/5 (there are some moans)
o Plot: 5/5 (excellent argument, I want to say something very well built and solid)
o Animation: 5/5 (excellent animations.)
o +18 Scenes: 5/5 (At the beginning you will find several erotic scenes, but as the game progresses it becomes more immersed in the erotic / sexual, so you will find a lot of +18 content)
o Gameplay: 5/5 (a visual novel, which allows you to make decisions that DO matter throughout the game and not just for the scene.)
Interface: 5/5

I really recommend the game, it is very well done and it is enjoyable. If I had to add something more serious, hopefully there is the possibility that in the future there will be a Harem route. anyway enjoy

Incredible storyline. Definitely not your vanilla romp, this is a story about a exploitative sex club. There just the "right" about of writing and dialogue between scenes, it doesn't ever become excessively verbose.

Updated review 1/4/23:
This story gets better the further you go. I've restrained myself from playing through this too fast, because this experience is like an fine aged wine that you will want to savor.

I always did wonder how this could sit as number 1 so many times, as i often dislike games where sex rather than story buildup is the focus, i just couldn't get myself into it, and decided to drop it.
Now i finally managed to just do it, and i was so wrong about my sceptisism about playing, this game is great in everything, i found myself just fully immersed and entertained for hours on end. Now i dont doubt why this can sit as number 1 anymore, everyone should definetely give it a go! : )

Incredible game! The plot is a little extreme, I got scared of how much I enjoyed this. The art design is amazing! Is there a way to buy the game without using patreon?

Recommend 10/10