Dark Arcana: The Carnival

Dark Arcana: The Carnival
by Artifex Mundi - October, 2012

Available at:
Alawar as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
Big Fish for PC ("Standard Edition" only)
GameHouse as Premium Edition / Standard Edition
Steam



Find the missing woman lost in a mysterious Carnival of Horrors in Dark Arcana: The Carnival. Investigate two worlds: the one you know and an alternate plane existing behind the Hall of Mirrors. There you'll discover the secret of an ancient being known as the Evil One. Travel through dimensions, reveal the story of star-crossed lovers, and stop the Evil One from breaking its magical chains and invading our world in this exciting Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game!

• Befriend a cute monkey helper
  
• Clever and unique mini-games
  
• Beautifully designed and crafted worlds
  

Click images to enlarge

Dark Arcana: The Carnival (IHOG)

This is a truly dark and eerie game with some disturbing moments in it. There is no gore -- this is darkness of a different kind. We get breaks from the intensity of the story via our sweet little monkey helper. The devs did a beautiful job with that monkey, I'm very impressed

There are separate sliders for music and sound, plus options for custom cursor, voice overs, and full-screen. Wide-screen adjustments are done automatically. We also have THREE difficulty levels, and the differences are very clearly explained. For example, for Casual mode "HINT and SKIP buttons refill quickly, Active zones glimmer frequently, Hidden Object scenes are indicated, there is no mis-click penalty on Hidden Object Scenes, (and) Locations with an available action are indicated on the Map".

Yes, we do have a MAP, although I didn't have any trouble remembering where I needed to be (how unusual!), and didn't use it. Likewise with the Journal (Diary), didn't use it. It has tabs for story and objectives, but there's no extra story in the Notes section, and it didn't mention things I really needed to know (for puzzles, etc). I didn't need help remembering objectives, so the diary was pretty much forgotten along with the map.

There were some interestingly different mini-games scattered throughout the game, but of course there were some of the old standbys, as well. Still, I appreciate the fact that they took the time to make some truly original minis!

We have a couple of great extras that one will not usually find in a non-collector's edition: Achievements and a bonus chapter! Awesome! More bang for the buck, can't beat that! The extra chapter nicely wrapped up a loose thread (so to speak) left over from the main game.

The developers handled the story very well. Our little helper kept things from getting too dark, and the progression of the story kept me interested throughout. It's always great when a tale is not predictable, and this one certainly isn't. I truly enjoyed playing this game all the way through, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys spooky games.

snip from the Game-news thread

genkicoll wrote:
GameHouse now has the PE of Dark Arcana: The Carnival, but what I want to know is what extras are in this premium edition (which BF didn't get!) >_< Great game, btw!

I'm not sure there really is a difference as every review I've read so far (yours and the others at the Pub) mention the bonus chapter being in the BFG / SE version. GH lists: "This Premium Edition includes an Extra Chapter, a bonus Hidden Object mode, Wallpapers, Concept Art, Musical Soundtrack, and more."
So if you still have it installed from BFG, you can check for the other extras.

Walt Disney Meets Salvador Dali  
  

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

I think this is just about the most creepy and surreal cartoon animation-style carnival game I’ve seen. And there are a lot of them.

This game is pretty much what you’d expect from the description. Finding the missing woman involves game play in this world and a bizarre and grotesque universe in which the carnival is distorted  and freakish.

It’s pretty good for what it is, and I spent an enjoyable few hours playing it. It is HOs heavy, with easy puzzles and mini-games. There are achievements, so there’s an incentive to make the effort with them.

As an alternative to the HOs, you can play a card game called Monaco, which I am not familiar with, but seems very simple. I like having the choice, even if I don’t use it.

Another attraction is a cheeky little monkey who helps you out along the way. There are few other characters to meet, but there’s plenty of interesting clues about what’s going on.

You have maps for both the real and the surreal worlds, but I found it easy enough to get around without them. You also have objectives to meet, and a diary.

Never going to set the world on fire, this game is an agreeable HO game without pretences.

I recommend this game!