Bye Sweet Carole Review
Summary: Bye Sweet Carole is a daring but not perfect game. It tries to replicate the tones and aesthetics of classic animated films but can’t reach to the high standard made by them neither technically nor narratively.
3
Authenthic But Underwhelming
Bye Sweet Carole is perhaps a step into the unknown for Little Sewing Machine. As the creator of the Remothered series, Chris Darril is experienced with narrative-driven horror games. But his new game is a side-scrolling puzzle horror game with hand-drawn aesthetics that look like an animated film from Disney’s golden era. The game is a blend of horror, magic, and colours that is hard to fit together, especially when you are working with a new team in a new studio. The question is, was Little Sewing Machine successful in pulling it off?
Bye Sweet Carole follows Lana, an orphan girl living in a girls’ orphanage called Bunny Hall, who is searching for her lost friend Carole. Throughout her journey, Lana travels between the real world and the magical world of Corolla, where a sinister old man pursues her, aiming to not only rule over the magical world but also take over the real world using his army of tar monstrosities. Mystery is perhaps the main driving force of the game. The plot and characters of the game lack enough depth to do that without that sense of mystery. Trying to find answers about the reason behind all that is happening and the fate of Carole is what helps the players sit through the predictive plot twists of the game. But the final chapter of the game is redeeming and rewards those who are patient enough to follow the clues to the end.
Bye Sweet Carole plays like a 2D puzzle interactive drama with minimal platforming and combat. Most of the gameplay is about finding the right tool to get past the current obstacle blocking Lana’s path to the next obstacle! There are few and far between combat sections, but unfortunately, they are nothing but button-mashing scenarios. There are other gameplay sections where a stalking monster tries to catch Lana, and players need to find a hiding spot to get away from it. Such sections are the most challenging aspect of the game, as they are more frequent, too. Neither puzzles nor combat is something to remember Bye Sweet Carole by, but since the game is around seven hours long, it does not overstay its welcome.
The game struggles a bit with its identity. Though the hand-drawn animation is what makes the game unique, it’s not executed perfectly. There are several instances throughout the game in which repetitive animation loops are used in cutscenes and dialogues to portray character movements. The face and lip animations never sync with the words that the characters utter. And in the final episode of the game, the audio quality is noticeably decreased to the point that I felt the audio was recorded in single-channel node (Mono), not stereo.
There is a similar situation when it comes to the game’s themes and tone. Though the colourful world of Bye Sweet Carole, its generic characters and its not-so-challenging gameplay make it perfect for a younger audience and children, the horror elements in the game prevent it from being suitable for them. Of course, there are slightly scary pieces in a lot of children’s stories, but here we have some visceral scenarios such as a little girl’s head falling off her neck and rolling on the ground, turning into a spider monster, another girl falling from stairway, hitting the railing and breaking her back or humans tearing their mouth off, shedding their skin and showing that there is a monster underneath. Such depictions of death and disfigurement are not something most parents are willing to have their children sit through. As already mentioned, Chris Darril is experienced with horror tones in his stories, but the horror in Bye Sweet Carole is too soft for adults and too harsh for children.
Thematically, Bye Sweet Carole is about not being afraid of letting go; to move on from the past for the sake of a better future. That is the main struggle of the game’s protagonist while she also faces some external challenges as well, such as the misogynistic social norms of the early 20th century. The game tries to show how a patriarchal society suppresses women and reduces them to “housewives”. Of course, going through liberal themes nowadays is like walking on thin ice, as such themes have been extensively exploited by the corporate media to advance their far-left ideologies. But Little Sewing Machine takes an unbiased and moderate position, admitting that even some women exploited the misogynistic norms for their own benefits and how “women against women” is also part of the problem; thus, not considering all women as the blameless victims of evil men.
Bye Sweet Carole is a daring but not perfect game. It tries to replicate the tones and aesthetics of classic animated films but can’t reach the high standard made by them neither technically nor narratively. The game can be recommended to teenagers due to its horror and fantasy elements but it’s too underwhelming for adults and too overwhelming for children.
Related Posts
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers Review (PC) →
Battlefield 6 PC Review →
WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers PC Review →
