Carnival Hunt Review (PC)

It takes a tremendous amount of effort to power an asymmetrical horror game. Dead by Daylight, being one of a select few, has that momentum and loyal fan base to keep its core from developing an unpalatable crust. Though, there are countless others that have often tried to capture that same energy, only to have their nightmares diminished at the sight of their first fiscal years. Carnival Hunt, as one of the babies in the field, opts to take a swing from the plate with its own hand, with five key-operated bunnies, one all-seeing monster, and a fairground setting that makes a Tim Burton flick look impossibly childish.

Like Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Friday the 13th, or Dead by Daylight, Carnival Hunt knows where its target audience is, as does it know how to capitalize on the world of asymmetrical horror. Without needing to break into uncharted territory, it grapples a concept that has since been established as a powerhouse in the PvP community, and it rolls with its own twisted ideas in an effort to steal some of that all-important tinder.

The idea behind Carnival Hunt remains the same as most asymmetrical games of its kind, with five users who each fill the role of an innocent plaything, and a single user who courageously dons the claws to fulfill the role of a seemingly sadistic puppet master. As one of the innocents, your objective is to utilize the power of wind-up keys to progress through various tasks, as well as keep your teammates alive before knuckling in on a viable escape route. That, in short, is the ultimate solution. But for those who opt to swagger their status as a monster, the goal is to prevent the bunnies from fleeing, and to harvest enough keys to either diminish their life force or to provide yourself with the energy needed to thwart their advances.

The keys in Carnival Hunt form the backbone of the entire experience. Either as a mechanical bunny or as a lone monster, everything that you subject yourself to is heavily dependent on small wind-up keys, which effectively serve as batteries for both sides of the field. With a low supply of keys on each game board, you have the rather painful task of balancing out your power, deciding when and where to use your keys, and whether or not you should use them to keep your friends alive as you desperately search for an exit. The same applies for the monster, who, like the bunnies, requires keys to continue their quest to locate and quell their enemies.

Unsurprisingly, the bunnies in Carnival Hunt are about as tough and as action-minded as your typical bedroom mechanical plushie. Without the ability to fight or fabricate traps to keep their active predators at bay, their only choice is to sneak, hide, and make calculated sacrifices to ensure the safety of their kin. But of course, herein lies yet another problem: keys make a lot of noise, and by using them you essentially paint a target on your back, thus giving the monster an advantage over the battle.

The only saving grace to the above is that, as a rather nimble bunny, you can fake your own death and stow yourself away in various piles of corpses around each of the several procedurally generated biomes. Not that this is a perfect solution for every problem, mind you, given that the monster also has the ability to check the bodies at the expense of their own keys. Still, it makes for a great defense, and it definitely elevates the suspense in most situations.

In terms of gameplay, Carnival Hunt plays like your favorite asymmetrical horror, with a simple collection of objectives, a variety of themed maps, and of course, with an overpowered foe that has abilities that stretch far beyond the average villain. Regardless of who you choose to pledge your allegiance to, the journey itself unravels like a traditional escape room experience, with one faction vying to complete objectives under the cover of darkness, and another aiming to hunt, sabotage, and cause a little trouble on the battlefield.

While it’s certainly no secret that most short-term asymmetrical horrors are all the rage amongst PvP communities, Carnival Hunt does add a great deal of weight to the existing formula, with its own take on a fairground-themed horror, photorealistic elements, and a disturbingly dank atmosphere that dares to lift the veil from an otherwise innocent backdrop. From a visual standpoint, it delivers a striking image with a good sense of depth and playfulness. Atmospherically, it packs a weighty punch with a strong emphasis on child-like horror and unconventional storytelling.

To add to the above, Carnival Hunt adds a good deal of playability to the experience. For example, between rounds you have access to various customization options, including costumes and devilishly crafted skins that each represent different player attributes. What’s more, you have quite the handful of biomes to explore, with somewhere in the vicinity of thirty-two modular rooms across several carnival sites. And so, on that front, you have plenty to keep you occupied.

With all of the above said, there is an elephant to this room: the fact that Carnival Hunt is one of dozens of asymmetrical horrors. With that rather bleak outlook, there is a slight chance that the game will lose a lot of its forward momentum in the coming months. And of course, without an active player base to keep it afloat, the odds of it falling into the back of the abyss quickly become more and more likely. For the record, I hope that it doesn’t vanish, as it clearly has the potential to remain an active pawn in the market for the long term.

Verdict

Carnival Hunt adds its own mechanical components and cotton to the asymmetrical horror sphere with a delightfully barbaric take on a beloved format, all in the hopes of establishing a foundation that can single-handedly bring fresh ideas to the Dead by Daylight spectrum. With an engrossing twist that caters to the casual PvP community and a treasure trove of fresh gameplay hooks, abilities and suspenseful conflicts, Beer Night Studio delivers a memorable performance that, if all continues to go according to plan, will likely spearhead a standing ovation in the near future.

Although you are mostly spoiled for choice when it comes to Dead by Daylight doppelgängers, Carnival Hunt does stand its own ground as a genuinely great and thoroughly enjoyable asymmetrical horror. Of course, as it’s still in its teething period, there are still countless ways that it can evolve over various seasonal updates. At the time of writing, though, I’d say that there’s a solid foundation here that deserves to be recognized. Scoot over, Dead by Daylight — the bunnies are in town, and it appears that they’re here to stay.