Bye Sweet Carole Review

Have you missed the Golden age of Western hand drawn animation? Do you like your horror more on the atmosphere rather than straight up scares? Bye Sweet Carole might be an interesting game for you.

Bye Sweet Carole (or BSC as I'll call it) aims to recapture the fantasy and adventure of those classic hand-drawn Western animated movies. However, BSC might have aimed a bit too high with its ambitions, forgetting that the enduring quality of those old stories lies in their excellent writing. Let's dive right in.

Story:

BSC tells the story of a young girl named Lana searching for her missing best friend, Carole. Lana wakes up in a flowery garden and spots a mysterious letter on the ground. When she tries to pick it up, it flies away, prompting a chase. After successfully retrieving the letter, she realizes it's from Carole but is addressed to someone Lana doesn't know. Before she can fully grasp the contents, a rabbit steals the letter and leads her out of the garden into a dark forest, all while a mysterious figure stalks her.

BSC focuses on building a genuine mystery around Carole's fate and Lana's struggle with her disappearance. It's revealed early on that Lana lives in the Bunny Hall orphanage for girls after losing her mother, and her classmates are unkind. To make matters worse, her strict teacher is determined to mold her (and the other girls) into the "ideal young women of modern society".

The game takes place in the age of industrialization in Britain, amidst the early years of the women's right movement, with a spin of fantasy thrown into the mix. It becomes apparent early on that these girls are being trained to be the ideal women for men, I would say it even goes quite heavy handed on that front. This puts extra pressure on Lana, who is already dealing with the her feelings over the missing Carole. 

Whenever Lana starts to doubt herself or her beliefs, the mysterious stalker appears and reveals himself to be Mr. Kyn. He has been following her since the start and puts her in immense danger. He seems otherworldly and supernatural, controlling monstrous-looking rabbits and wielding a red-eyed pet owl. He serves as the main villain, consistently keeping Lana in danger, making her question her choices, and tempting her with his powers. Honestly, he is the best part of this game's story; he carries a real sense of intimidation, and the narrative becomes far more interesting every time he appears.

However, Lana isn't without allies! Occasionally, she is saved by a cartoonish figure named Baesie, who claims to be her knight because she is the Princess of Corolla. Lana doesn't understand why he or the strangely talking birds at the start of the game make this claim, as in her mind, she is just a small, inadequate girl. This becomes yet another mystery for Lana to figure out amid the chaos and change in her life. One thing could explain her royal status: she can transform into a rabbit. She doesn't fully understand why this is possible, but it is the best explanation she's got. Lana needs this rabbit form because she ends up being hunted by various monsters quite often

This, dear reader, is mostly the early part of the story. I enjoyed the first half quite a bit because BSC is genuinely good at setting up a mysterious and intimidating atmosphere. You're constantly on edge, wondering about the mystery and Carole's fate. While it was occasionally heavy-handed on the Women's Rights Movement topic, it felt fitting with Lana's arc, and her journey of growing up, defining her identity, and confronting the struggles women faced during that historical era.

However, the second half... I'll be brutally honest: it fell off a cliff with a nuke. Without getting into actual spoilers, I mentioned the game sometimes handled topics heavily, but it worked within the story, right? Well, in the second half, it stops treating those sensitive topics with respect. Let me offer a metaphor: it's like you're having a pleasant conversation with your weird aunt at a family gathering, but after a few glasses later into the night, she suddenly starts loudly shouting that she hates all men and that women are the only good people left. You would likely try to slowly walk away and leave her to ramble.

You may think I'm joking, but I seriously wish I was. Up to this point, the story had great momentum and a compelling mystery. I was invested in seeing how Lana would develop, how she would process her grief, and how she would handle being a princess from a fantasy land. But after a certain late game point, I honestly stopped caring due to how comically bad the story escalated.

The story lacks both nuance and subtlety.

When handling serious topics in storytelling, it's vital not to come across as "preachy." If handled poorly, the writing risks seeming not only childish but also downright offensive to thoughtful readers and those simply trying to enjoy the narrative. Nuance and subtlety are essential tools to convey a message without being heavy-handed. And no writer gets away with simply having one character say, I know not all men are like that. That is a poor and offensive excuse for poor writing.

This is truly disappointing because I genuinely enjoyed the first half, and I dislike being overly negative, especially toward a smaller team with a clear vision. The game seriously needed about two to four more chapters to flesh out the story and characters. The second half was not only poorly handled from a thematic perspective; it felt rushed.

Gameplay:

I've focused heavily on the story because BSC is primarily a story driven game with numerous cutscenes and dialogue. So, what is the actual game about?

Bye Sweet Carole is a puzzle platforming horror game. The game divides itself into chapters, and in each chapter, you'll be exploring, finding items, and figuring out where and when to use them all while being hunted by some kind of monster.

As Lana, you gain the early ability to transform into a rabbit, which lets you perform wall jumps, run fast, and survive large falls. Meanwhile, in human form, you can take more hits and recharge your health meter faster. Occasionally, you're joined by Baesie as a second playable character for both puzzles and combat (there isn't a lot of it and it's very simple). He is used fairly sparingly in both the gameplay and the story. 

It sounds fairly basic, and well, that is because it is. The real challenge and interesting gameplay comes from having to find ways to lure a monster away from the area you need to explore, all without accidentally drawing its attention back, intentional or not. The game features some genuinely intense chase moments and clever puzzles (the alchemy section stands out).

However, the game is held back by a control system that feels a tad clunky in both character movement and platforming. It's hard to articulate, but in my experience, the movement felt unpolished, especially the wall jumping in rabbit form. It wasn't game breaking, but it never really felt "good."

Some puzzles also feature convoluted solutions, such as needing to understand how invisible ink works without any prior in game setup. While I was personally able to deduce the presence of invisible ink and a blank piece of paper, I ended up "brute forcing" the solution using classic point and click game logic: test the item on everything you can interact with. This is just one example, but a few sections in BSC could have benefited from a hint or tip system, perhaps allowing Lana to examine an item and give a more thorough comment about it.

Pros and Cons:

Let's start with the pros. The game utilizes a hand drawn animated look reminiscent of early to late 1990s Western animated movies. It is downright gorgeous to look at and to play! It truly feels like you're controlling an animated movie. As a big fan of animation from that era, I seriously hope this style makes a broader comeback.

The music score is not only very well done, but it also expertly sets the right mood and atmosphere. It perfectly captures that classic animated movie feel and is executed flawlessly. I have nothing more to add than to say you should go and give it a listen.

As much as I've harped on the second half of the story, one element remained consistently strong: Mr. Kyn. He is a well-written main villain who is a constant threat to the very end and keeps Lana on her toes.

Now, let's talk about the cons. I don't think I need to repeat myself too much, but the second half of the story left much to be desired, especially after the strong start. I understand the ultimate message the writer was aiming for; however, it was poorly planned, coming off as heavy handed and at times, downright offensive. It seriously lacked nuance and subtlety. The story would have benefited greatly from more chapters to allow time for a proper build up to the climax.

As beautiful as it is to control a hand animated movie, the controls are clunky and not as polished as they should be. While there are a handful of well made puzzles, others feel... well, clunky is the word. Even the mini game dragged on a bit too long, becoming boring (though thankfully, there are only a handful of them).

Closing Thoughts:

Bye Sweet Carole ultimately leaves me disappointed. It had so much potential to be a modern classic but fumbled the writing so hard in the second half that it only made me laugh. The gameplay is at times interesting and intense but often feels unpolished and clunky. It is a truly beautiful looking game with an amazing soundtrack. However, visuals and music alone aren't enough to carry a game. It truly saddens me that I can't recommend it, because I genuinely wanted to love this game that reminded me of my favorite childhood movies.

Despite everything, this is just my opinion. If you're still curios to check the game out, you can find it on: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and on its Steam page.

Verdict: Not Recommended
Played on PC
Review Copy was Provided

Trailer: