While every side quest in Once Human tends to be pretty unique and interesting, Carnival of Doom is undoubtedly one of the coolest. This easy-to-miss quest forces you into a game of Russian Roulette with a clown named Chuckles—and yes, it’s as absurd as it sounds.
Usually, you could expect one in six odds of success in Russian Roulette, which would mean you should be able to complete this quest with brute force by trying it a handful of times. Let me save you the wasted time now; Chuckles is cheating, and you’ll never win the game if you don’t play dirty as well. Read on to learn where to start Carnival of Doom in Once Human and how to beat Chuckles at his own game.
Once Human: How to start Carnival of Doom
Given the constantly popping world-chat in Once Human, it’s possible you haven’t actually met Chuckles yet, and have simply seen other players going on and on about how great this quest is. Don’t worry: Starting Carnival of Doom is simple.
To begin, head to Rift Anchor Junkyard, which is west and ever-so-slightly south of Meyer’s Market at map coordinates (3583, -7066). Junkyard is a level 19 zone full of Rosetta Agents, but Carnival of Doom can easily be completed at any level if you’re able to handle five or so Agents to make it to the start of the quest.
When you’re standing right on top of the Rift Anchor in the Junkyard, look left. You’ll see a large brick warehouse with numbers above the open archways. Past the entrance labelled 17, you can see a group of Rosetta Agents playing rock-paper-scissors next to a Gear Crate. Enter the warehouse and deal with the enemies, where you’ll notice a small highlighted revolver sitting on a box next to the Gear Crate.
Interacting with this revolver (which is actually named “Carnival of Doom”) will trigger a cutscene that starts the quest and introduces you to Chuckles.
How to beat Chuckles the Clown at roulette in Once Human
I don’t want to spoil what happens in the cutscene, but immediately after it concludes your task will be clear. There’s one bullet in the revolver, and you get to decide whether you’re going to pull the trigger yourself or let Chuckles do the honors. Here’s the thing—regardless of your choice, Chuckles will win.
Losing the game doesn’t actually have any consequences. After choosing, the cutscene will repeat and you’ll be right back where you were. You can dip out at any time by pressing Esc and choosing Leave Dungeon, but what fun is that?
If you use your Mayfly Senses to scan the area by pressing Q, V will ask you if you’ve noticed a mysterious black wire. It’s important you have your subtitles on because this is one of those fairly common moments in the beta where the dialogue isn’t actually voiced yet. Progressing in this quest (as well as several others) is almost impossible without subtitles.
Follow the black wire connected to the table in front of Chuckles, which will lead you to a separate room. There, V will point out there’s a man behind a glass wall, and that you should get out to speak with him.
I didn’t actually see anyone there, but that doesn’t matter. Return to Chuckles, and now when you speak to him, you’ll have a new dialogue option: “I need some fresh air.“
Select that option, and a large red door to the right of the table will suddenly open. This doorway leads around to the other side of the glass wall you saw when following the wire, and you’ll now be able to see a second clown hunched over a terminal back here. You aren’t able to use guns in the Carnival, but melee weapons are perfectly fine and the clown is only level five.
Kill the clown, and then interact with the terminal, which is aptly named “Roulette Cheating Device” (real subtle, Chuckles). Some thought-provoking dialogue with V about morality will play, and your new objective will be to “cheat successfully.”
There isn’t anything more you need to do at the specific terminal to ensure your cheating is a success—you’re ready to return to Chuckles and play the game again.
Should you pull the trigger or let Chuckles do it in Once Human?
Now, I’m not certain either option will assuredly win the game after you’ve gotten rid of the clown on the cheating device. Personally, I opted to be the one firing the gun, and this won the game for me. Because you can’t repeat quests in Once Human, I’m not entirely sure what happens if you let Chuckles hold the gun. If you want to play it safe and make sure you win the roulette, select the option “I’ll pull the trigger.” If you’re feeling lucky, go ahead and let Chuckles hold the gun… just don’t blame me if it blows up in your face.
The quest objective does say you need to “cheat successfully,” which leads me to believe it’s probably a step that can potentially be messed up.
What’s more, letting Chuckles hold the gun definitely makes it easy for him to cheat—let’s say he fires the gun at you and the bullet isn’t there… how likely is it that the already cheating clown isn’t just going to pull the trigger a second time?
With all this in mind, I highly suggest you pull the trigger yourself. Because the quest resets to the introductory cutscene when you lose, I suspect the same mechanic is in place here—but whether or not you actually want to put that theory to the test is up to you.
Once Human: Carnival of Doom quest reward
Sadly, despite the fact that a revolver is so heavily featured throughout this quest, you don’t get to keep the gun used to play roulette as a reward for completing this quest. In fact, you don’t even get a handgun of any sort.
After you beat Chuckles at roulette, your objective will say, “Secure deviation—red and black.” This absolutely makes it look like you’re getting a new Deviation as a reward for completing Carnival of Doom, but that isn’t the case. I’m fairly certain this is just one of those instances where the game’s translation to English isn’t entirely coherent just yet (we’re in a beta, after all).
To collect your reward, you need to interact with the box on the table next to Chuckles that the black wire was connected to. Doing so gives you the Blueprints for a semi-decent sniper rifle; not a revolver, and not a Deviation.
