Carnival Hunt is a first-person horror multiplayer game in development by Beer Night Studio.
Carnival Hunt will launch on Steam in early access late in 2023, and probably in the future for Playstation and Xbox too. Born as a kickstarter, the campaign reached 71k $ of 50k $ with 930 followers and still almost 16 days remaining.
Mechanics and gameplay
It’s a survival horror game where players can choose to play as the Carnival monster and hunt players or Bunnies and seek freedom.
As Bunny: player has to overcome difficulties without being chased, like solving puzzles, gambling, simply hiding or battling some environmental levels planned by the Magician. Once he finishes he can assist others or open some shortcuts in the map. When the first floors are completed only two players will be able to escape, the last two players will then enter the intense “Hiding” stage of the game.
Some other functions, like customization, grants players to personalize the bunny with their own preferences and flexibility thanks to the gears. We have three types of gears: active, passive and skills. The first two are chosen before starting the game, the last one instead is the buff of the bunny. According to Beer Night Studio those gears build the bunny more offensive or defensive by personal choice.
As Hunter: player can’t eliminate the target directly, only buzz in and scare bunnies or interrupt them until the final stage. Once bunnies go through 4th level, the Carnival hunter is able to get rid of them with some debuffs on.
Concept of the Map, Monsters and Items
The concept of the game is a bit similar to Five Nights at Freddy’s, drawn in a dark atmosphere reminiscent of a Victorianesque circus with old fashioned but innovative puzzles, plus the map is divided into four floors. Each level presents unique challenges and objectives that players must overcome to progress and test their luck on every floor. Also each level has a Key character and its item to help players in the match.
The only info we got is the key character on the first floor, Jack and his slot machines. Players can gamble with candies and obtain items like bikes or balloons for speed, evasion or jump buffs.
Puppet Monster and The Magician are the only leaked characters at the moment. The first one is a neutral and non playable character. Through the game we can obtain pieces of his story, no idea if it’s relevant to the run but surely unveil some mysteries of the circus.
The Magician is one of the hunters, he has some passive abilities and items that permit him to vanish, teleport and grab bunnies. Some items are randoms, the hunter can teleport only with magical boots found in the map while he steals items players find on their gameplay with command grab. During the operation the hunter can be helped by some monsters with different intentions each.
