This is second of fourteen essays contained within the third issue of the Adult Analysis Anthology, a collection of longform writing that seeks to expand the breadth of critical discourse around adult games and adult game culture. If you’d like to support the creation of more high-quality writing about adult games the full anthology is available for purchase on Itch! Anthology logo by Pillow!

Written By: Amenyx

Madeby Infinity Alpha and published by SGArts, NU:Carnival is a Josei BL visual novel,. The plot revolves around the protagonist, Eiden, a (respectful) horndog of a sex toy maker leading a very corporate life before gettng isekai-ed into the world of Klein. Here, he meets his ‘clan members’: people tasked with maintaining one of the 6 altars across Klein through ‘regulating essence’ (getting their freak on). As the story progresses, we explore each of the 12 clan members, their pasts and their presents, what drives them and Eiden’s own connection with the land of Klein in this kinky-yet-wholesome game.

Free-to-play but not to the point of being pay-to-win, NU: walks the line between characters and items being attainable and extracting money from players. There are daily, weekly and monthly missions to gain the in-game currency which often coincide with monthly events that have limited cosmetics and characters. Some items that can only be attained through purchasing with real-world money, and acquiring new characters often requires you to whale (spending a large amount of money or in-game currency).

Visually, NU: is very well illustrated and includes an ‘undressing’ feature that has the characters in three different stages of undress depending on how much damage they take (also visible on the Home screen). Then there are the Intimacy Rooms that expand on the plot of the main character of a given event along with full illustrations including puppet animations after unlocking the scenes. There are (as of writing) twelve characters in the main cast, each with their own event variants, with a sliding scale of body types (that unfortunately only travels from twink to twunk). They can also be put on the Home screen with unlockable stickers (as of the new update) together with a character in whichever outfit (or lack thereof) of your choice.

 A trait that makes NU: unique among gatcha games is that rather than having an ever-expanding roster of characters, the new events instead give the existing cast unique outfits, battle skills, and Intimacy Rooms with storylines that expand on that event’s theme. An example would be the Astral Duo event, which centers around the past of one of the oldest clan members, Kuya, during which Eiden is thrown into the past with Quincy and Kuya. The circumstance of this plotline forces these two characters to have a personality shift; Kuya, a very ore-sama type (a character who is very overconfident and self-assured), is forced into a weakened state with his personality being impacted by his bruised ego. Throughout the Intimacy rooms, Eiden reassures Kuya and gently helps him with his inferiority complex caused by the temporary loss of power.

NU: has a battling aspect where players level up characters they pull (using in-game currency to get a random character) to battle and unlock more of the storyline. As the story progresses, players need to keep their characters powerful and occasionally exercise tactical thinking in order to pass through puzzle levels. Sometimes, depending on the current event, NU: will have simple minigames, such as rhythm games, running games or roulette to unlock unique saveable illustrations. A recent example is the Sweet ♡ Heart Attack minigame during the maid café event, wherein players must complete the building of a sundae, either by finishing the sundae with ice-cream or sending it back if any if the other two ingredients are missing (crucially, the game’s cast have all been forced into maid uniforms for the event).

Intimacy Rooms are only available to rare character variants obtained via the random gacha pulls. Each SSR (short for super super rare, referring to a character that have a lower chance of being pulled) brings with him five Intimacy Rooms that you need to max out by ascending levels and using Intimacy items obtained through specific daily stages. Each room unlocks a story scene with an animated sex scene with voice acting every first, third, and fifth room. These scenes are all unique to each variant and often will feature specific kinks in their Intimacy scene, from selfcest to sensational play, BDSM to breeding, each character’s H-scene bringing something different alongside the additional story content.

The rarity of the character impacts the amount of unlockable sex scenes, with SR (Super Rare) and SSR having one and two scenes respectively. Over the five rooms, Eiden and the chosen clan member go through a heart-to-heart over a personal issue that leads to sex. One of my personal favourites is Shadow Lineage Yakumo, with his rooms focusing on coming to terms with his greatest fears on how his heritage may influence who he is today leading to he and Eiden getting down and dirty on the forest floor with Eiden constricted by Yakumo’s shadow snakes. As of the most recent update, NU: has also added a top-down design-your-own-room feature called “The Cabin”. The Cabin allows you to decorate the room with craftable furniture and unlockable Intimacy and sex animations.

The game has a strong and thriving fanbase, full of artists, cosplayers, and video creators who routinely create amazing NU: content, with the game’s subreddit consistently ranking among the top 4% of subreddits. Fans get consistent updates and interaction with the official social media accounts. On Twitter and Bluesky, the official NU:Carnival accounts regularly release supplementary artworks, even posting official little 4-komas showcasing the characters and their antics. Raffles for fans to win in-game currency are held often, usually on their latest promotional video. Not only are fans enthusiastic about the visuals and storyline, but there’s also an avid fanbase for the tactical gameplay filled with many guides and strategies for optimization.

Though there are a lot of artists that do great fanart, some of my favourites being @ncvkdc (twitter/x), @NU_ffq (twitter/x), @06Littlemy (twitter/x) and @bel74603907 (twitter/x). There are also great cosplay artists like melodramatic_fujoshi (reddit) and @boxiaohei (twitter/x).

Overall, NU:Carnival is a great game for casual players who enjoy a colorful cast of characters with differing personalities and an avid fanbase that follows a proactive and sex-positive protagonist in a rich, linear storyline with lots of fun scenarios, sex scenes and surprisingly heartwarming moments about finding a sense of belonging. Just make sure to download the proper version from the site for all the +18 glory.

Ame (Amenyx) is a queer South-East Asian diasporic returnee illustrator as well as an avid visual novel, gatcha, jrpg and adult game enjoyer. With an obsession in these gaming genres going back a decade and a half, they aspire to share their opinions and passions through their art, whether through illustrations or creative writing.

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