Hey, everyone!
This is our first Early Access Patch Note, which was a little delayed but now includes everything that happened in the first few days after release.
The Sisters
Through the combined efforts of all Carnival Hunt visitors, the new circus Monster, the Sisters, have been awakened after collecting a terrifying 100,000,000 XP in just 48 hours!
What an incredible pace!
While The Sisters are still getting the hang of the circus and there isn't a tutorial for them yet, we invite you to check out our detailed Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks №1
Alongside the Sisters, Carnival Hunt introduced a new status effect for bunnies - "Stunned". While stunned, bunnies are unable to get back up from ragdoll for a short time.
When using the Scissors, the Sisters’ ranged ability, you can simply click LMB to throw them and either grab a bunny that is already down or briefly stun one that is standing.
If you hold LMB and hit a standing bunny, you will need to complete a quick skill check to pull the victim towards you (release LMB in time). If you fail, the target will still be stunned, but only for a very short time.
Tips & Tricks №2
Scream of Pain is the Nice Sister’s unique ability. It stuns nearby bunnies for an extended period and knocks them away, which can easily send them falling from ledges when used at the right moment.
You can also take advantage of the synergy between the Sisters. Keep the Scissors embedded in a wall by holding LMB, then use Scream of Pain to make them resonate at the point of impact. This will remotely stun and knock back any nearby bunnies.
Tips & Tricks №3
Mannequin Control is another unique ability, this time belonging to the Evil Sister.
Mannequins spawn in random locations on every floor, waiting to be awakened and given their orders.
In these early iterations (and things will be changing very quickly) controlling mannequins has no cooldown, so you can activate them rapidly even during a chase. Simply aim at a mannequin and press Q.
As soon as a mannequin wakes up, it immediately enters Guard Mode. From there, you can either:
- Set one Guard Point with LMB, telling the mannequin where to stay and protect.
- Set 2–3 Patrol Points with LMB to create a patrol route.
Once the command is ready, confirm it with RMB, and the mannequin will begin carrying it out.
If you already have activated mannequins, pressing Q without aiming at a target will select the most recently activated mannequin, allowing you to issue new commands.
If you have already given commands to a mannequin and want to update them, activating Mannequin Control (Q) again will put the selected mannequin into Guard Mode, where it will wait for new instructions.
If you prepare new instructions but decide not to apply them, simply press Q again, and the mannequin will return to following its previous commands.
Activated mannequins remain under your control indefinitely.
There are countless tactical ways to use them, but here are a few obvious examples:
- Order a mannequin to move to and guard a specific location or passage.
- Even during a chase, you can activate mannequins far ahead of you and send them to block an escape route.
- Patrolling mannequins can move between several points, allowing them to cover a much larger area.
In these first iterations, mannequins are still fairly weak, but very soon they will receive three aggression modes:
Passive — follows the assigned patrol route and ignores everything around it.
Aggressive — follows the patrol route, but may break away and begin chasing Rabbits that pass nearby.
Highly Aggressive — patrols its assigned route while actively searching for Rabbits at range. Even if Rabbits attempt to slip past across open areas, the mannequin will begin the hunt.
Tips & Tricks №4
Basic Differences Between the Sisters and the Magician:
- Due to their unusual body structure, including two torsos and two left legs, the Sisters move noticeably slower. However, most action-related movement penalties simply do not apply to them. For example, using the Scissors does not slow you down at all, unlike the Magician when using his Hat Trick. Carrying a Rabbit corpse in your hands as a projectile also comes with no movement speed penalty, which is another major strength of the Sisters.
- Activating and commanding mannequins requires no cooldown, consumes no energy, and does not lock you out of other actions.
- The Sisters perform their grab from left to right.
- The Sisters move almost on their tiptoes, making significantly less noise while moving.
- Soon, you will also be able to use abilities without having to strictly switch between them first. This will make it possible to combine abilities more freely and handle multiple actions at once, allowing experienced players to push the Sisters' potential even further.
Tips & Tricks №5
Using the Small Mirror, the Sisters move around the circus in a similar way to the Magician.
However, instead of becoming invisible, the Sisters leave behind a mannequin when they teleport. You can return to this mannequin later through a Large Mirror or by using the same ability again.
Only one copy can exist on the level at a time. If you teleport to another Large Mirror using the ability, a new copy will be created and the previous one will be destroyed.
To avoid searching through every Large Mirror for your copy, you can press RMB while inside a mirror or while using the Small Mirror. This will automatically teleport you directly to the mannequin you left behind.
Keep in mind that some of the Sisters’ mechanics may change as they continue to evolve!
Hotfix:
- LeBox and cages are highlighted again.
- Fixed rabbit corpse replication issues.
- Improved the tutorial.
- Fixed an issue where players could see the level before generation was complete.
- Gates no longer open in Easy Mode.
- Added automatic reconnection after a “Connection Lost” error.
- Fixed the Hat indicator highlighting on LeBox.
- The Panic skill check now completes automatically for everyone, as it provided little value early on and became too easy during later stages.
- Fixed several collision issues across the maps.
- Voice Chat volume settings are working again.
- Fixed a collision issue when using Impostor Catch on rabbit corpses.
- Fixed the lighting in the main menu.
- Added several crash fixes.
- Improved localization across all supported languages.
- Optimized navigation mesh generation.
- Reduced high ping at the beginning of matches.
- The Magician now enters invisibility slightly faster.
- Various other minor fixes and improvements.
- Trap mannequins can now detect bunnies in smoke
- Sisters not spawning in the center fixed
- Fixed the mannequin control indicator colliding with mannequins
- Mannequins now have a cooldown before they can catch again after deactivation
- Activate mirror ability -> open gameplay menu -> black shader is gone fixed
- Sisters not receiving divine powers when completing all hunter tasks fixed
- Awakening widget fixed
- Voice chat micro setting fixed
- Mannequin's point selection improved
- Sisters animations improved
- Sisters catch distance improved
- Charging and using mirror issue fixed
- Traces fixed (ticketman, feet, etc)
- Scissors not catching dead bunnies fixed
- Bunny stun status effect does not remove panic effect
- Bunny can't be stunned while in panic
- Bunny can get caught with scissors while jumping into rabbit hole fixed
- Voice chat settings fixed
- Panic skill check completes itself billion times fixed
- Sisters are stuck after different actions fixed
- Fixed players falling out of the map after being released from a mannequin
- Improved activated mannequins' ability to catch bunnies running past them
- Fixed mannequins catching the rope on the 2nd floor when a bunny starts climbing up
- Sisters' win and defeat animations being swapped fixed
- Mannequin flag duplicating in solo custom mode fixed
- High ping issue fixed
- Nocturne 1F unreachable behind the conveyor spot has been blocked off
- Sisters sound minor improvement
- Sister random grunts more variations configured
- Sisters coming out of the mirror sound not playing fixed
- Sisters footsteps can't be heard to bunnies fix
- Ring 2F chest overlap with bench fixed
- Chess Court sticking to crack on wall fixed
- Puppet Master Wishes are optimized according to player statistics.
- Localization text code fixed
- The Lost Hat a humming sound fixed
- Organ 2F hanging cage removed
- Ring 1F rabbit hole overlapping fixed
- Chess Court collision fix
- Sisters annoying on air cloth sound removed
- Sisters annoying light land sound removed
- Bunny inventory text changed to "Your Inventory"
- Lil sis eye emissive configured
- Sisters cornea shader configured
- Ring 2F another skip fixed
- An option to turn off Key Validation
- Gamepad Item interactions UI made more intuitive
- Gamepad Magician problems fixed
- Mannequin points can no longer be placed where the mannequin has no valid path
- Hunter spawn on the 2 floor fixed
- Fixed mannequins being able to catch through gates
- Increased trap mannequin's catch cooldown after being deactivated
- Corrupted replays might be fixed
- Sisters stuck after throwing scissors and rotating in-place fixed (many other stuck related to rotation in-place fixed too)
- Rabbit holes teleport you in front of Sisters fixed
- Entry fee fixed (The accumulation and subtraction of MMR have been fixed)
- Recycle item button temporarily removed
- Sisters can equip almost all common gears
- Lagging cursor fixed
- Items are spawned based on average players MMR in match. Higher MMR -> less items for Bunnies. (from 100% to 75%). Most of the items will also be hidden in chests.
- The ranks were shifted
What should I do if the game crashes?
We are receiving crash reports from some of you with descriptions of the issue, but unfortunately, we are unable to provide assistance because no contact information is included.
If your game crashes and you would like us to help you as quickly as possible, please do not close the crash reporter immediately. Instead, use the field (1*) to describe in detail when the crash occurred and under what circumstances. Then, provide any contact information that is convenient for you so we can reach out and assist you directly.
Please also remember to click Send and Close or Send and Restart (2*)
Connection Issues for Players in Russia
We are aware that some players located in Russia are unable to connect to Carnival Hunt game sessions or lose their connection shortly after joining a match.
Carnival Hunt uses Amazon GameLift. Once a game session has been created, the game client connects directly to the assigned game server using its IP address and port.
Based on the information currently available, the most likely explanation is a routing or traffic-filtering issue somewhere between certain Russian internet providers and AWS infrastructure in Europe. This would explain why the problem affects only some players and may vary depending on their provider, location, and the network route used to reach the server.
However, this remains our current working theory rather than a confirmed root cause. A similar issue involving Russian players and GameLift sessions in the eu-central-1 Frankfurt region has also been reported publicly, but that report alone does not establish the exact cause or confirm any regional restriction by AWS.
We are continuing to investigate the issue and explore possible solutions on our side, including alternative server regions and connection routes. As a temporary workaround, trying another internet connection, a mobile hotspot, or a VPN may help by changing the route to the server, although this is not guaranteed to resolve the problem.
Additional servers
We also have some good news for anyone experiencing issues with consistently high ping: region selection will be added very soon (1-2 days), together with additional servers in US East (N. Virginia) and Asia Pacific (Seoul).
Support & Feedback
If you need help resolving a specific issue, feel free to contact our support team.
Also, if you encounter any issues while playing the game, you can always leave feedback in the Early Access Feedback on our Discord. This is the best place to report an issue, which we will fix as soon as possible based on its priority!
Closing remarks
Carnival Hunt is still in active development, and our small team is working incredibly hard to improve the game and take it to the next level!
The game is constantly being updated, and many critical issues have already been fixed. And we also plan to continue making adjustments on a daily basis and let you focus on enjoying Carnival Hunt instead of fighting frustrating bugs.
And all this is thanks to the feedback and suggestions from so many of you! We truly appreciate the time and effort you put into helping us improve the game!
And in the end,
If you’ve played the game, we’d be very grateful if you considered leaving an honest Steam review.
Every review matters to us like a piece of a puzzle, helping us see the bigger picture.
See you in the next updates!
The Upgrade Gear menu has been significantly improved and now provides much more information about your gears and their properties.
Match Summary has been significantly redesigned to provide more information and give the entire screen a more complete and polished presentation.
Player Statistics now shows which players are grouped together.
Tooltips have been added to the Inventory and many other parts of the game to make systems and information easier to understand.
All noises in the game now display the room and floor where the noise occurred.
The game now automatically highlights relevant interactable objects around you.
Daily rewards for logging into the game have been added.
Fracture is a Sisters-specific room.
Opened small gates now display a shortcut icon that Bunnies can always see.
