Bye Sweet Carole Review – The Magic Slips Away

Bye Sweet Carole Review
The golden age of animation places Disney at its heart. Its hand-drawn artistry produced stunning animation that brought iconic characters to life on the big screen. As many of these stories form the bedrock of our childhoods, there’s a certain resonance people feel with that era of cartoons. Bye Sweet Carole, a game steeped in that same nostalgic magic, captures the aesthetic that once captivated young audiences with Walt’s magical tales. While its influences are clear, will it manage to combine its enchanting visuals with strong gameplay mechanics to deliver an adventure that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Disney adventures?

Set in the 1900s, you play as Lana, a young lady living in the Bunny Hall Orphanage. Life isn’t good. You are mistreated by the staff and bullied by the others who live there. The only person you can relate to is Carole, but that all changes when she suddenly vanishes. Suspecting that all is not what it seems, you begin to investigate the mystery, and soon shift between a twisted fantasy realm and the real world. Confused, you try to piece together the puzzle to learn about your friend and the secrets within the orphanage. While the premise is intriguing, its delivery is lacking. Scenarios feel stitched together rather than seamlessly intertwined, creating a jarring adventure.

Struggling to Find its Identity
Bye Sweet Carole takes elements of the point-and-click genre and combines them with puzzle-platforming. Unfortunately, it never manages to execute either gameplay style with the finesse seen in its peers. Movement feels slow and clunky, making traversal a chore. The simple platforming segments are tedious due to the stiff mechanics. Rather than adding to the experience, these moments create frustration, leaving you to wonder why they were included at all. Since the moment-to-moment gameplay focuses on puzzles, sticking purely with point-and-click mechanics might have improved the experience.

Puzzles are embedded within the environment, requiring you to move between several rooms to progress. These are generally well designed, with clear logic and purpose. Most involve searching for items that are stored in your inventory and then using them to interact with objects scattered throughout the world. The most original moments come when a second character is introduced. At these points, you can switch between characters to take advantage of their unique abilities. As the rabbit, you can reach higher areas, wall-jump, and move faster; as Baesy, you can be flattened to squeeze through gaps and even pass through fire. This mechanic adds a nice layer of variety, though I did encounter some bugs that prevented me from interacting with key items needed to complete certain puzzles. To fix this, I had to restart the game.

Bold and Beautiful
Visually, Bye Sweet Carole is stunning, capturing the magic of classic Disney animation. Each character is designed with care, featuring beautiful animations that enhance their personality. Sunlight pierces through windows, casting stark shadows that deepen the atmosphere. The backgrounds are filled with small details that evoke that signature flair Walt was renowned for. This artistry extends to the audio, which features a lovely orchestral score that heightens the cinematic presentation. Together, these elements create a magnificent aesthetic that will resonate with fans of classic Disney films.

While I wanted to love the game, there are an abundance of issues that continually stifle your enjoyment. Bugs, audio issues and stiff gameplay make what should be a magical adventure, a frustrating and uneven experience that never quite lives up to its enchanting presentation. Sequences where you’re being hunted are broken as you can simply run past rather than hide, removing the tension that should enshroud these moments. There are other moments like this, where narrative and gameplay inconsistencies hinder what was a promising tale.

Bye Sweet Carole is a promising adventure that needs some refinement. Platforming and general movement feel slow and clunky, making traversal a chore. Each area features a range of strong puzzles, though some bugs affect your ability to complete certain tasks. Narrative inconsistencies further diminish the enjoyment of what should have been a magical adventure. Despite its stunning presentation, with beautiful hand-drawn visuals, smooth animation, and a lovely orchestral score, it ultimately struggles to deliver an experience as magical as its visuals suggest.

***A PS5 code was provided for this review***

The Good

Incredible Visuals
Some Strong Puzzles
Lovely Score

65

The Bad

Clunky Controls
Platforming Segments
A Few Too Many Bugs