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

In the article Pornography Use Among Young Adults in the United States by Ballard Brief, they stat early on that "pornography exists on 12% of all websites and is viewed by approximately 69% of American men and 40% of American women in any given year." followed quickly by, "support and public opinion for pornography have increased among young adults in the last several decades."

The isolation of young men and women, exposure to pornography and unhealthy sexual attitudes, even themes like radicalization, these are important topics on anyone's mind, certainly anyone's mind browsing a site like this. Is it possible to engage that mind about topics like these, making that brain think about what it is consuming, while at the same time giving it entertainment that it can really pound its pud to? Pale Carnation is here to answer that question and, in my opinion, it succeeds quite heartily.

Warning, I am a new player and I haven't even come close to finishing the current version...I think I'm still doing a "rehearsal" with an aspiring young actress in her bedroom. (And it's actually going quite well.)

The story of Pale Carnations is immense, right out of the gate the game is hitting you with quality, cohesive themes, characters that are layered and fit with one another. People are diverse from one another while sharing the same ecosystem and looking like they belong together. The way wolves and rabbits are far different from each other even as they both slot perfectly into their roles of predator and prey.

The graphics are top notch, that bit about "cohesive characters" I mentioned above also applies to the physical models. The presentation is top notch, and despite yourself you might find yourself growing fond of these characters.

Regarding this game as a game, on a technical and artistic level, I have no complaints, it hits every point it is supposed to hit and goes out of its way to please you, the player.

However, I couldn't help it, I did have some personal gripes. These will not go into the official rating because these are just my own issues and my own baggage. But I have to talk about them somewhere, and it might as well be here along with every other thought I have about this game.

The first issue, is at times the narrative and my vision of the character seem to be at odds with one another. At the very beginning of the game the MC is sort of a "square" and has to be eased into the world of depravity, so it made sense that he was hesitant, that he was afraid to sink into what he saw as a criminal element. But I think after the first few days, it started to nag at me slightly. At one point you can see a "worker" from the club out at a rock concert, and she'll be nervous around you. Later on when you ask someone about it, they say that she thinks of the MC as the management, so she's scared that we're going to hassle her. And the MC has some response like, "What, I wouldn't do that!" When the whole time I was thinking, "Yes, I would like to do that actually." Since this is a VN and not so much a sandbox(except for limited moments) it makes sense why we can't choose to do that on a whim. But, I would like to at some point.

There is also an element of femdom in the game, it's not so bad and it's been pretty light so far, but by virtue of the MC being young and without much authority within the club at the moment, he's put into situations where he has to be vulnerable. There is one such scene where he gets handcuffed, multiple situations where girls can potentially push themselves on him, and also one of the older 'MILF' type characters is your boss, and she very much enjoys wielding that authority. I actually really like that character, but player be warned if that's something you tend to avoid in other games.

The biggest issue, however, comes from the MC's mother. See, the MC's mother is alive in this game, and he has an actual relationship(not that kind, pervert) with her. He goes to her house, he spends time with her, you see flashbacks of sad moments between them, and she is as fleshed out and three dimensional as everyone else.

However. She also shows up...a lot.
Aside from those very minor niggles, this game is a dream and a masterclass. If you enjoy themes of BDSM and like when things get dark and intense while still being "cute", give this game a try. I don't think you'll regret it.

Excellent story, excellent artwork. Highly recommended if into kinks or BDSM. Characters are surprisingly well fleshed out and it makes quite good use of the visual novel format. Development is slow but well worth it for the quality.

It's not an exaggeration to say that Pale Carnations set a new bar for quality, story writing, and character development for me. It's rare that I feel endeared to almost every character, even the ones that aren't romance options. Even if I didn't feel strongly attracted to certain characters, I wanted to take my time and think about my choices with them because of how well written and real they felt. In other AVNs/games, I usually get impatient with scenes with characters that aren't my favorite. I can't wait for more updates.

Really amazing AVN. Personally recommend checking the walkthroughs and mods to prevent constant reloading to watch all the scenes play out.

Story is essentially: You're an up and coming med student who needs money for his studies. Given an opportunity on a silver platter by your best friend's uncle, you end up working as a "manager" at an exclusive club that humiliates and trains women into the perfect "Carnation". Three carnations are picked, one is a hard-working mom that's drowning in debt, one's a failing business owner, one's a bored trophy wife. Your job is to perform mental maintenance on the three throughout the games, whilst also participating in said sadistic exhibitions.

Gameplay is essentially a VN with multiple branching paths. Each potential love interest has friendship statuses and a complementary stat (libido/confidence/bi-curious/etc). There are also other side characters that play a great hand in which choices you choose play out. Overall, the game has some replayability throughout each chapter.

The 5 potential love interests are each quite interesting and hot, my personal favorites being Mina and Rosalind. You can't "romance" them in the typical sense yet, with the exception of one. There's an equal amount of screen time for all of them so far. The plot has many twists and turns, as well as very interesting side characters. They don't feel like superficial one-dimensional NPCs. The MC can either be extremely sadistic or soft-hearted, or even something in between - based on your decisions.

Overall, 5 out of 5, even for the future if the quality of the story/writing/characters keep up.

highly recommended visual novel. It excels in dialogue, character development, renders, atmosphere, setting, and the incorporation of mature content. It stands as a testament to the power of storytelling and visual aesthetics, providing an engaging gaming experience for fans of the genre.

Amazing model, Amazing Plot, Amazing Writing Amazing thighs, Amazing Animations, Amazing kinks

I wish I can give it more than 5 stars. It's a well written plot with honey select models that are amazingly created. The vocab and writing is chefs kiss. And the animation mixed with the expressions, no other game has all these.

It does delve in darker aspects but thats what makes this game so interesting. Every character is amazingly rich. All I can say is just play this VN

Truly a remarkable BDSM game on this site. Not only does it have high-quality renders, but the plots involving physical and spiritual humiliation are great. At first, I doubted people who gave too many positive comments about this game, but after giving it a try, I think I was wrong. If you love BDSM, plz try this wonderful AVN.

This is a dark-themed AVN with well developed characters and a very creative story. The intricate scenes and plot-related exploration of various psychologies/fetishes is extremely entertaining. This may be a bit dark for some, but it's relatively tame in it's genre. The graphics and models are high quality, but nowhere near hyper-realistic. Very sexy and very entertaining. One of my top 10 AVNs of all time.

I love this game, the story, the cast, the kinks, the style, etc.

This game is on another level and easily one of the best I've ever played. The story is quite compelling and has me wondering where it will all go in the end. The whole game is definitely setup for multiple playthroughs with different ways you want to setup the MC or girls you want to focus on.

Truly is one of the gems on this site.

My only single dislike of the game is the protagonist's looks, but… I came here for the ladys!

Highly recommended.

This is it.
Seriously, This is it. This is what One should call an Experience.
This is the example of one of the most Outstanding Adult Games I've ever played that not only uses the Adult Themes to titilate, but incorporates them in plot, dives deep into debauchery and perversion, yet maintains a heart and humor which makes you connect to every character in different way because the worldbuilding is just so excellent.
Its Rare to see This Excellent Level of Choices leading to different Paths. Rare to see a MC that is being corrupted into the story instead of just being a shallow bigdik idiot. Fantastic Characters with so many layers that I want to play through this story over and over to see where every path takes it.
Yes, the character models and graphics won't look the most amazing at the very start, but it quickly grows on you, and then you're too immersed to care. And that Graphics do improve as we proceed through the story.

This is one of my Absolute Favorite games existing in Adult Genre, Big Kudos to the Devs. I can't wait for where things move forward. Masterful.

This game is on another level and easily one of the best I've ever played. The story is quite compelling and has me wondering where it will all go in the end. It feels like there's actually meaning between different decisions you make and the whole game is definitely setup for multiple playthroughs with different ways you want to setup the MC or girls you want to focus on. How is it that they've managed to want to make you devote yourself fully to each of the main girls all for their own reasons?

The character design is fantastic. Each main character has an interesting background and as far as aesthetics goes, the art is beautiful. Sometimes with older games you can see a steady progression in terms of animation as they perfect their craft, but this game has never left me wanting from the start as far as animation quality goes.

The level of polish is also something to be admired. As far as I can remember, I haven't ran across any typos or major bugs. There's at least the one point in the game where you have to clarify a decision that was previously made but that doesn't take anything away from the enjoyment of the game.

This game truly is one of the gems on this site.

The core story is pretty original in my opinion. The main character essentially gets an offer he can't refuse (well...in the good way) and finds himself working as a helper in a sex club. Said sex club has a yearly, month long competition running in which three women (the eponymous Carnations) have to fulfill sexual tasks - often enough in front of an audience - to win a price at the end.

And while that sounds kinda cheap and cheesy at first, the writing does and excellent job of making a really interesting and compelling story out of this. All three women have their own reasons to compete and in addition to the club activities the private life of the MC quickly becomes entangled into the story as well.

In its core the story seems to be about "two-facedness". Pretty much every character in this game has a "public" and a "hidden" side to him/her, including the MC. And the club itself also stands for the "two-facedness" of society as a whole with seemingly upstanding pillars of the community engaging in a perverted sex competition in a brothel.

In terms of gameplay it is a relatively standard linear VN. It has decisions every once in a while that will shape the story and the relationships the MC has. There are a few free roam events, but those are pretty short.

The audio of the game does a good job of enhancing the immersion. The soundtrack might not be the absolute best, but it is clearly one of the better ones and overall very good. The sound effects are a bit rare but get the job done well enough.

Now one of the "elephants in the room" are generally the visuals since that is what pretty much everybody here will see first on the provided screenshots and the banner. I can understand that the slight "Manga look" it has going might not be for every one. In fact I originally thought it wouldn't be for me either.
But the visuals ended up being another absolute strength of this game. For one this is easily the best looking HS 1 game I have ever played.

But even overall it is an absolutely great looking game. The animations and the way movements of the characters flow even from static to static...easily conveying movement when no actual animations take place...it is absolutely superb. Add to that some of the best facial expressions in a VN I have ever seen, great lighting and so on and so forth and you have one of the best looking VNs you can find here.

Bottom line: A pretty cheesy story premise that is exceptionally well executed with very good audio and superb visuals: 5/5.

Incredible writing, great attention to detail and realistic characters. You play as a student studying to get into med school who gets roped into working at a high end brothel thanks to his friend who is the nephew of one of the club owners.

This game has one of the best examples of a morality system I have seen in an adult game. The main character struggles to maintain his decency with all the depravity around him caused by the environment in the brothel. The player can make choices that nudge the MC towards being a decent person or make him fall into the depths of his depravity.

The highlight of this VN for me has to be the characters. All of them are well written and have their own motivations for doing what they do. The game focuses on an event held by the brothel where 3 whores are pitted against each other and are forced to do depraved things for the entertainment of the clients. There are some side events with some of the other characters but the game mainly focuses on the competition. There is also an overarching plot in the background involving illegal drugs but this has not been explored so far.

The only thing I wish this novel did differently was focus on the overarching plot a bit more. But even so this is an excellent game that I would recommend even to more vanilla players due to its high quality. This is a 5/5 for me.

Generic Visual Novel with click-to-see-next-slide gameplay, unique, well-written story and no dialogue options but impactful choices in almost every scene. You can also shape MC backstory and traits (opening other possibilities) which encourages replayability.
Pale Carnations is one of the most well-written visual novels with immersive story based off a simple but genius premise that's exploring a pretty unique subject (extreme BDSM).
The luxury brothel setting is a stroke of pure genius and also very refreshing one: instead of using the same setup of "young man finds himself living with his step-mother's best friend's landlady's neighbour" cliche story over and over again in every single game with grinding step by step toward some adult content, you get the kinkiest possible sex from the very beginning.
It's a high quality VN that takes you for a wild ride. Only problem is graphics style (weird, off-putting Honey Select models) but it grows on you.

Easily top 3 games on this site. Good art, original scenes, likeable characters... More than enough H-scenes to please everyone (and I do mean everyone) and I'm not even close to the end yet

The story and theme are really good as well. There's this scene where a batshit crazy character talks to the player character about accepting the darker side of your personality and how most people never really find themselves and stuff, and it felt more like she was talking to me than to my character. Never thought a porn game would make me think about my life mid-fap but here we are

Probably one of my favorite AVN, if not my favorite. In my opinion the best writing in the genre, also one of the best MC and I love that the game doesn't compromise on its themes. I'm not usually into this kind of graphics but the devs really made it fit the game perfectly.

The story is super intriguing and a lot of characters' fates depend on what's going to happen. Even now that there's a significant amount of content, it's super hard to discern where the story is going, who you can trust or not. Beats most AVN whose stories either don't make sense or are just plainly predictable.

One of the best porn games ive ever played - it somehow turns sex into art, while having amazing writing. And the scenes are extremely explicit and long, which scratched an itch no other game has before.

I also love the theme of the game; the philosophy of the human ego and our darkest desires.

Its truly one on a kind.

Also major bonus points for Hana

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.

This review is a single playthrough until the end of the update.

The game started as a 2/5 but slowly bumped up to a 4/5 as of now. I'm not a multiple playthrough person, so I don't know all the routes and secret choices. Initially I wasn't impressed because the male models are generic and the female models were good. It wasn't a good first impression but the characters saved the game in my opinion. I don't think the game will every become a 5/5 since the game is only carried by its characters as of now.

The game is polished, I haven't ran into any bugs or errors. However I do think the best parts of the game is when the characters are just hanging out. When they get to the actual competition, I just want it to be over with since I don't really care for the competition itself. When a game has a large cast of characters male and female, the game needs to have good character relationships to carry it. The best is usually character interactions and this game excels at it. Every character feels unique and consistent.

The MC feels consistent because it feels like he can go either good or evil and still be believable. Its hard to believe they are the same character and they don't feel like the same character. Meanwhile good and evil MC is believable in this because we actually see the darkness swaying him if we pick the good route.

Amazing VN, writing elevates what would be a formulaic hentai VN setup into a surprisingly thrilling experience. Most important characters are multi-layered, you could actually imagine a person being in that situation and making the same choices and mistakes as them, give in to the same temptations.
But it's not only writing that deserves praise; models, animations, camera work, they are all great. Sometimes I would catch myself thinking that it would make a good TV show, if done correctly.
It's an actual mature and sometimes dark work, which is somewhat rare here, on this website, not only because of all the sex and debauchery, but because of it's themes, it's pacing and characters; their dilemmas and troubles. Top tier for sure, deserves it's spot in ratings.