Carnival of Shadows

I love this so much: the characters, the art, the music, but I especially wanted to appreciate that yummy yummy GUI!! It's so polished and cool (really loved the ticket stub-look of the dialogue box) and the little animations when opening the menu or when making choices are so great.

Also, I know the symbolism is probs unintentional given how far-reaching it is. But when Micah talked about not wanting to leave out of fear of what's waiting for him out there, that hits me hard unexpectedly because it is so similar to my worries as someone currently inflicted with one of those major illness with a low survival rate. It got me stuck at home for the better part of the year and while cognitively, anyone would want to be cured, I can't help but worry about what's waiting for me after survival, like if I stop dissociating from the real world, with its shitty and frustrating politics and climate crisis, etc.

So yeah!! A really big tangent but I guess thank you specifically for making a character I can relate to. It kinda help made my fears feel normal since a lot of people I'd confide to can't understand because, who wouldn't want to live, right? Things like that

I hope that's not too awkward!! I just wanted to show how such a minor thing can connect deeply with the right person SDNFKANFK

its the way i didnt even play it yet and i know its gonna be good ^^

Thank you for this game! I like the atmosphere, mystery and visual style. It's very beautiful! Aurel is my favorite without a doubt. This man deserves the whole world, all the love and warmth. Lark is also a wonderful character, literally personifying a person who is in an abusive relationship, but does not see it in his route. But I can't help but wonder... why his good ending is achieved if you don't attempt to interfere, but rather show fear and a desire to run away? And the bad ending is the one, where you protect him and stand up for him. I didn't understand this. Especially his "pet" at the end. OK, you can call them like that if MC is weak-willed, can't stand up for themselves and does nothing, but the opposite left me in confusion. Can you please explain?

(Putting a link to the whole playlist for my playthrough here!)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlN8vAkzsnt3TOtVRILeFWHkeMczeP-8S

Now that I've gotten all of the endings and gone down all of the routes, I wanted to leave a comment!

[Some spoilers ahead]

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This was a sincerely lovely game. First and foremost, helping the vampires escape someone who is emotionally manipulative and abusive just feels really damn good. (Although, those bad endings were brutal!)
The story overall was really creative, and getting to see how the different character's routes played out was a hell of a lot of fun. 

It's somewhat difficult for me to say which route and ending I liked the best. I feel like, in a lot of ways, Lark's ended up the most satisfying when we got the good end (helping him escape his abuser was rather cathartic.)
However, I really enjoyed Aurel's good ending— it was just so comfy, and after all the isolation he had to deal with at the carnival it was nice to see him getting plenty of love.
And in Micah's route, it felt nice to show him that the outside world can be a good place with good people. Particularly giving him a life where those who accept him for who he is and he can be much more open about it if he so chooses (and, as a trans person as well, that feels really freakin' good.)
I think I just really enjoyed all of the routes, and I was able to empathize with and understand the LIs in different ways.

Other than the fantastic (and quite emotional) story, the art was gorgeous. The artists did an amazing job, and I really enjoyed how expressive the sprites were with both their expressions, and their small animations.
Plus, the end CGs were really nice. They really  captured the joy that each of the characters must have felt after leaving the carnival (and after leaving Isadora)

Thank you all for working so hard on Carnival of Shadows. I look forward to playing it again once the voice acting is added! 

I enjoyed this game quite a bit!

The art is charming, the characters are surprisingly deep for such a short game, and the music is very well composed; it did a perfect job of delivering an atmosphere befitting of such an uneasy, mysterious carnival. I look forward to playing it again when the voiced update releases. There was quite a lot of creative use of sprite animations as well—for example, bobbing an entire sprite up and down to simulate nodding—which I thought was quite clever. Lots of fun visuals with the menus and menu transitions as well.

It's hard to pick a favorite LI, they're all charming in their own way. Micah is a delight (and canonically a trans man like myself which means the world to me) I felt some accomplishment making Lark smile (even if it was going to happen by virtue of playing his route anyway) and Aurel is genuinely sweet. However I think I enjoyed Lark's route the best, which surprised me—based on the character designs, (which are all fantastic, by the way) I had expected Micah or Aurel to be more my type. (and granted, Aurel is also my type, and comes at a close second) Can't judge a book by it's cover, as they say.

I will say, I almost passed up this game because of the lack of ability to change the player character's pronouns—because while neutral pronouns are certainly better than being forced into a set of gendered pronouns that aren't accurate for me (as is the case with a large majority of VNs) as a trans person who does not use neutral pronouns, it still often feels like misgendering to be referred to with they/them, and I felt that a bit with this game.  I do still wish I could change the pronouns, however I'm glad I decided to play it despite my reservation, since it turned out to be a fun time!

I adore this game. It's one of those ones where I can't stop thinking about it after I've finished playing it. It's also a dating sim where I loved all three LIs SO MUCH. Still, if I had to choose, I would pick Micah, which is weird because my type in dating sims is usually dark and brooding. Still, Micah's joy was written so well that it was impossible for me not to want to kiss him all over his face every time he smiled. Also, it was such an immersive experience; I DID have a buttery popcorn candle burning while playing, which definitely helped, but the music was also something that I absolutely adored while playing. I have to admit to trying to find the soundtrack immediately after playing. All in all, I really loved this experience. After this, I will be thinking about Micah's wonderful smile for a good while.

loved this game !! started with micah and then went with aurel and lastly lark <33 loved all the routes so much but i do actually think i prefer larks route cuz it felt deeper somehow? and all the kisses lolz <33

ALSO *SPOILER*!!

was so sad that andy died in michas route :(( like actually was about to cry cuz thats awful, happy that they didnt die in the other routes, but i wonder why they did in michas? maybe i missed something or it was just for the plot lolz.

anyways this was such a great game and ill definitely play it again in the future!! lots of love from me to u mwah <333

Super fun game! Loved the characters, the art was great, and I was obsessed with the GUI! Also love the shorter length as it was perfect to sit down and enjoy in one night! 

GREAT GAME the guys are all so good (i cant even choose a fave, all their routes were great!) and the writing and everything else was incredible but also omg. can we give it up for the UI design and art because this game looks SO gorgeous my god!! absolutely incredible job <3

Did I stay up until 4am to play every single route? Yessiree.

SO, first off, GUI slaps and the little animations are giving me LIFE, I legit want to sit down with y'all and have you walk me through them because they're SUPERB.

To me music usually goes in one ear, out another but the soundtrack for this is something else. The TENSION you guys, it's magnificent 😍 It rang deep in my stomach and chest and kept me on edge the entire time. 

*Spoilers ahead (prolly)* 

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I went for Micah first because he's a sweet cinnamon roll baby boy who deserves EVERYTHINF and that bad end walloped me HARD, I wasn't prepared. I had to  take a deep breath and cuddle my cat for a hot second because wow oh wow. Ngl I'm a sucker for bad endings and I usually try getting them first and this did not disappoint.

Then it was Aurel and jfc I love the man with a goddamned passion, I'd marry the shit out of him. The fact that he's a nerd only makes me love him more. Honestly he just made me feel very, very safe in pretty much every route - love me a man who can Latin his way out of a sticky contract.

Fhdhdjs falling into Lark's arms and the whole subsequent scene legit had my heart hammering HARD. The entire route was... Beautifully written and the bad end was gorgeous in the best-worst possible way. Same for the good end (but again, sucker for those bad endings and this game had the BEST bad endings I've seen in a good while).

Honestly, guys, this is an IMPECCABLE game. It's short, sweet, really well-written, the art is lovely, the music fucks and I'm just... The vibes you guys, the ✨vibes✨ are immaculate. Knife's edge between cosy and uncomfortable, borderline scary sometimes but never scary enough that I felt the need to close my computer and go hide in bed like the chicken I am. 

It was just the RIGHT amount of scary and just the right amount of sweet and bitter and salty and I love that I got to play it. 

Thank you for making this!! Big hugs to everyone, you all did an amazing job ❤️❤️❤️

edit: I'd advise adding a rate button to the page, just so it's easier for people to leave one - the button on the side is sneaky and it doesn't show up in mobile so if you're me and it's 5am and you're writing this in bed, you need to come back down and actually rate the thing on your laptop 😅