Developer: Little Sewing Machine
Publisher: Maximum Entertainment, Just For Games
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
Bye Sweet Carole – Review
When thinking back to those old-school animated Disney movies, we don’t immediately envision horror tales, even though a few of the really old cartoons did get a bit dark at times. When we first saw footage of Bye Sweet Carole, we got a glimpse of what a horror Disney movie could look like, and our interest was piqued, to say the least. It took some time before we finally got our hands on the game, but our excitement didn’t dwindle, and for the most part, that excitement was justified. We played through Bye Sweet Carole for our review, and while not perfect in all areas, it’s certainly a great entry in the horror genre.
Story
We’re not going to lie, even though Bye Sweet Carole has a captivating story, it did take us some time to figure out what was actually going on. You’ll be playing as Lana, one of the orphans at the Bunny Hall orphanage. The other orphans sadly bully Lana, and she is often mistreated by the staff as well. Lana misses her friend Carole, who mysteriously disappeared, and she believes it’s a case of foul play. The staff tells her that Carole ran away, but Lana is having none of it, especially when she discovers that Carole had been corresponding with a mysterious figure. Things turn a bit spooky when Lana sees strange beings and is also dragged into the perishing fantasy kingdom of Corolla. It’s a lot to take in at first, but eventually the dots will start to connect and things will become clearer.
Graphics
When we saw the early footage of Bye Sweet Carole, we were immediately enamored by the visuals, as it reminded us a bit of a classic Disney animated movie, albeit with a darker theme. When we were able to finally play the game, we were quite amazed by the different character designs, the backdrops, and all the little details. We were always curious to see what the next chapter would bring, and while we were often stuck in fairly small areas, we still uncovered more and more details while backtracking. That being said, not everything is perfect, as some character animations are repeated a bit too often, and not all movement feels very fluid at times. These are, of course, only minor remarks, as Bye Sweet Carole is a gorgeous game from start to finish.
Sound
All in all, Bye Sweet Carole continues its great presentation in the audio department as well. The voice acting is decent, and especially the narrator is the highlight of the experience here. Animals that talk to Lana don’t have voice acting and are represented by animal sounds. The supporting soundtrack also does a formidable job setting the mood, and the music can get really tense during some segments, which ramps up the mood in some of the spookier parts of the game. The SFX are decent, but the volume mixing isn’t always on point, as some sounds are very loud, even with the volume turned down quite a bit.
Gameplay
Bye Sweet Carole is a narrative-driven horror game that feels more like a traditional point-and-click title in a lot of areas. You’ll be playing as Lana through ten chapters, where you’ll need to explore different surroundings, solve puzzles, and even try to run away from ghastly enemies. For the most part, things are fairly straightforward, but some puzzles may require some effort to figure out. Solutions aren’t always logical, and several other technical issues stand in the way of a smooth experience. We encountered issues where button prompts disappeared, making it hard to see where some items or objectives were. Luckily, the developer is releasing patches and bug fixes at a steady pace, making sure the game receives more polish.
Truth be told, there is not that much more to tell. Chapters are fairly short, and you’ll probably be done with the game in roughly five to six hours, depending on how long it takes to solve certain puzzles. All in all, the game doesn’t overstay its welcome, which is a good thing, as there is quite a bit of backtracking during each chapter, and the controls sometimes feel a bit clunky for longer gaming sessions. Even so, the content itself is great, and we did quite enjoy the different puzzles, even if some of them didn’t always have the most obvious solutions. As a whole, the game is well-crafted but in need of some extra polish.
Conclusion
Bye Sweet Carole does a lot of things right, and as a result, it’s certainly worth playing if you’re looking for a Disney-esque horror experience with quite a few puzzles to solve. We were absolutely in love with the visuals, and the sound design was also quite decent. While the gameplay dropped the ball a few times, especially due to some technical issues, this bite-sized grim fairytale adventure did have us captivated from start to finish. If you’re looking for something different within an oversaturated genre, it might be interesting to check out what Bye Sweet Carole has to offer.
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