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Dark Arcana: The Carnival 
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
Game System Requirements:
- OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/8
- CPU: 2.0 GHz
- RAM: 1024 MB
- DirectX: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 847 MB
Game Manager System Requirements:
- Browser: Internet Explorer 7 or later
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Dark Arcana: The Carnival
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Customer Reviews
Dark Arcana: The Carnival
119
119
Spooky fun in a carnival - although not very long. VG straight SE.
*My reviews are of finished gameplay*
This is a very good spooky easy straight SE perfect timing for halloween but it was obviously meant to be a CE so don?t forget after you finish to go into main menu and play the final chapter!
I am glad this was a straight release SE as it only took me just over 4hr on expert mode (hardest of 3) with no skipping, no hints on map so I do advise you to play it one level up than what you are used to as it?s a easy game.
The 3 levels are changeable during gameplay. There is a map but it?s not a transporter map. The hint button is arrows. There is also hints in the transporter map apparently, if you don?t play on expert.
It opens up to a child losing her parent (which is a nice change from the usual child going missing) and you as a detective have to find her. You soon discover that there is a dark force and there is a mirror universe which gives the game fantasy and fun. In the demo I thought there wouldn?t be that many HOS and be more adventure driven with quite a few puzzles: But as time went on the HOS increased and the adventure decreased especially in the last couple of hours. The ?bonus? chapter was just one puzzle and HOS after each other with no adventure, like they were just trying to pad the game out.
I do wish the ratio in the demo would be consistent throughout the game so people know what to expect, although the puzzle to HOS was even. I mostly loved this game, especially at the beginning but near the end it lost its joy.
Numbers are so you can see the game ratio to decide if it's for you or not.
29 HOS
All list type, mildly interactive. Toggle between card game or HOS. There is a random click penalty on expert. One you had to play 4 times, couple 3 times but mostly you had to play them twice. Playing twice is OK with me as you could play the card game. Sometimes in repeating the HOS it was the same interactions that I had just done.
29 PUZZLES
I think only two puzzles were medium the rest were easy to very easy. Mostly fun and didn?t matter but would have liked to see a couple of harder ones. Some old school ? rotating rings, simon says. There was a fun one in the demo and a couple of others.
PROS
-Good storyline although not original
-Lots of puzzles
-Great spooky fun
-Choice of match pair card game to toggle between the HOS
-Achievements
CONS
-Usually a SE would take me nearer to 5hrs so feel it?s a bit short
-Map wasn?t a transporter map
-Fair bit of backtracking
-Very easy puzzles
-Felt they lost steam near the end with the game, lost some of it?s fun spooky moments which a lot of was in the demo.
-Repeating of some of the HOS a few times and nearly back to back at the end
-Felt ?bitty? due to having to come to main menu and play the bonus chapter afterwards, felt there could be some work to make it seamless play
I do recommend it, if you are looking for an easy spooky game and don?t mind quite a few HOS and puzzles (29 is a lot in a 4hr period ? I got 7 in the demo if this helps any to show how many turn up later) If they kept the fun spooky throughout with the quality of the beginning, and had a transporter map I would give this 5 stars. (I don?t do love or like but out of 5 stars) But for a straight SE it's one of the best qualties you will find!!
October 8, 2012
MILES OF AWESOME FUN
This game had me captivated the whole time I was playing~
I played the game in one sitting (taking breaks)~
The game was so BIZARRE, weird,strange eerie and fighting~The storyline was great with a very good "twist"
~The scenery was incredible, eerie, strange, scary and at times rather frightening
~The sound was perfect for the game, again eerie and weird, but not to the point of being overwhelmed
~The "voice over" was really caught my attention as what to do next
~The "two mode" HOS was so much fun, I loved the challenge
All in all this was one of my favorite games and I have played over 75-80 games~
October 8, 2012
Walt Disney Meets Salvador Dali
GAME JUST COMPLETED
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 pretenses.
April 17, 2013
Great Game, especially for a Standard
Entertaining and fun -- good story line that moves quickly. Mini games are challenging enough, yet easy enough where you don't get frustrated and end up skipping them. Love Miles the monkey helper!! Hidden Object scenes are good - objects hidden well but not so small that you can't find them. Love the fact that its not a Collector's Edition. Highly recommend the game!
October 8, 2012
Great Way to Start the Week!
I love Carnivals and I love games that take place in Carnivals and we have had a few. In Dark Arcana, I take on the role as a detective and my mission is to find and rescue a missing mother who has suddenly disappeared inside a Carnival. The owner, a once famous knife-thrower with a tragic past, is playing a cat and mouse game with me and there is something very strange going on with the mirrors. I soon discover that the mirrors are a gate way into a desolate and horrific world where our victim is trapped and it is now up to me to save her by any means possible. The graphics are stunning as are the animation cut scenes and voice-overs are in sync which is rare. There are three difficulty modes and a list of achievements as well. You have a journal with a list of objectives, a map and to make things interesting, a cute little monkey that acts as your side-kick and retrieves objects that are out of reach. As you start maneuvering inside the carnival, there are puzzles to solve and excellent mini-games that are uniquely designed to play. The HO scenes are interactive and you have the option to switch over to a card game called Monaco which I have never played before. During the demo, gameplay was fairly easy but there was a fun factor and I loved the mini-games. The developers have executed an relatively good game that does offer you great visuals, fun game play and a creepy story-line. I also noticed that there is a 'bonus' chapter that is locked and can be played at the end which I found intriguing. I have to say I enjoyed the demo very much and although it was a very short trial, I am thrilled that we have what appears to be a very entertaining SE game to start off the week. Thankyou BFG.
October 8, 2012
AWESOME SE game. Creepy which is what I like.
You are a detective trying to help a little girl find her mom at a Dark Creepy Carnival because she was taken by a man and a dark entity. You also get a helper monkey early on in the game to help get those items jut out of your reach.
So far the games arent too challenging, but I did put it on casual. The story, graphics, sound effects and voice overs make up for the fairly easy games.
If you love creepy, you will love this game. You get a map and as far as I can tell there are no time penalties for too many wrong clicks, at least not on casual which is the difficulty level I played.
Sound and visuals are great in my opinion.A wonderful buy for 1 credit. I am going now to use one of my built up member credits on this.
October 8, 2012
Best Story In a Long While
This was worth buying. The storyline keeps you involved until the very finish...same ending, saves people in trouble but the bonus chapter really clinches it. You actually begin to feel sorry for the main man in this one. Graphics are good, easy to know where to go next (and if not the hint will guide you), music is good. Most importantly it leaves you feeling good when you finish. (That's how involved in the story you become. )
October 9, 2012
Unique - Had a lot of fun with this one! Well worth the SE Price!
This is based on completed game in advanced mode (the middle of 3 options).
So many things to like about this fun but short game.
First, the middle level of challenge - was just right, allowing the gamer the opportunity to look over each scene in peace, without a constant stream of VO, black bar hints at each click, and Incessant glimmers, shimmers, winking, and twinking covering the scene. If you want all that action check out the Margrave series.
What was nice and welcome were discrete indicators for each HOS, meaning no backtracking trying to stumble over a missed HOS as happens in Expert mode because nothing is marked. -Advanced mode offered the perfect balance. Great job developers!
There was a map showing current location and active areas but did not allow jumping to locations. There is also a rarely referenced journal that also kept track of objectives.
Any combinations or other info needed for game play were posted alongside the easy but clever and fun mini-games.
Most of the mini-games we've seen before, but these were dressed up very cleverly, so while they were a bit easy, they were also fun and fresh. There was a good balance between HOS and mini-games. It seemed like roughly 30+ of each.
There are awards but no need to spend time at each scene to seek out morphing objects, coins, or flowers to get them.
This game managed to balance mystery and Halloween style creepiness with tongue in cheek humor that kept things light and fun.
Graphics are crisp and clear, music was carnival style so it was turned down but I kept the sound effects including VO on.
The cut scenes were nice as they all served a purpose in the game, but were kept short and to the point.
As others have said, it's an easy game, completed within a few short hours, but I still recommend it for fun factor, holding to a strong storyline to the end, having a straight forward, easy to use interface, and some uniqueness.
This is one the whole family can play even though it bears a bit of the occult. It doesn't take itself too seriously, so while we get some minor scares and creepy scenery we also get plenty of smiles and laughs.
This one is just fun. I would not spring for CE if it came out, but SE is worth the price.
October 15, 2012
A Carnival Story Well Done!
With a story like this it's very easy to go down the road of cheesy versus scary. The developers of Nightmare at Sea has done creeoy carnival justice! As stated in other reviews, you are a detective not looking for a child this time, but her mother who has been taken by a sinister looking character into the mirror carnival which is quite creepy. The voice overs are good and the mini games are fun! I love that you have an adorable monkey to help you also. And they also threw in some romance with this creepy story. A great game to start the week. Well done!
October 8, 2012
Great fun game
This game has good puzzles & hidden object games. It is quite beautifully painted despite some macabre imagery. You pass between good & evil worlds where inventory is collected & used in both. It is so absorbing I had to buy this game, couldn't believe the trial was over so quickly.
October 8, 2012
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