Bye Sweet Carole PS5 Review. There is definitely a certain charm that can’t be matched when it comes to the animated movies produced by Disney from the 60’s all the way to the millennium. The style remains unmatched to this day, and the visual fidelity has contributed significantly to Disney’s current success.
Bye Sweet Carole takes that style of art and animation and adapts it into a horror game with a heartbreaking story that it tells in some cryptic and at times confusing ways.
Bye Sweet Carole PS5 Review
A Heartbreaking Story
Bye Sweet Carole puts you in the role of Lana Benton, a young girl living at the Bunny Hall Orphanage, as she searches for her missing friend Carole. While searching, Lana is hunted by dark shadows that eventually take shape. These shadows are led by Mr. Kyn, who is trying to take control of a mysterious kingdom called Corolla.
The story features plenty of fantasy and mystical beings throughout, such as Mr. Baesie, a long being with a detachable head who is trying to aid Lana in her endeavor.
I wish I could discuss the story further, but doing so would spoil what I felt was a horrifying tale, given its themes and discussions. A lot of these situations and circumstances are very prevalent today, just as they are in the game’s 20th-century London setting.
Although it is hard to follow at times, by the time the credits roll, everything will be explained, and it left this reviewer with tears in his eyes.
A Double-Edged Sword
When you look at Bye Sweet Carole, the visuals are what stand out. It’s almost like playing a game that Disney animation approved a company to make. They are quite staggering throughout the game. Even the animations have some of those wonky frames that you would see in some old movies, as if they are missing keys of animation.
Although the visuals are as great as they are, they come at a price. The first is that they are inconsistent. At times, they look great; at other times, they appear to be running in standard definition, particularly during cutscenes, and can become blurry at times.
The other major issues is how they affect the gameplay. In this case, the game is really slow. Almost all aspects of the game feel like it’s moving in slow motion. Lana walks at a snail’s pace and runs at a turtle’s pace.
Outrun To Survive
Gameplay in Bye Sweet Carole is your standard 2D puzzle-solving experience while you avoid various stalkers looking to stop you. The difference here is just how easy it all is. The stalkers vary from chapter to chapter, from a doppelganger of Lana made out of Tar, to a giant bunny chef with a large Meat tenderizer.
These stalkers aren’t hard to avoid. You can choose to hide in lookers or dark corners and hold your breath as they approach, not to make any noise, or you can easily outrun them. You can even run right past with ease because it takes them so long to react to attack you, you’ll be long gone.
What helps with these encounters is that, unlike other games of its type, you have a health bar, and the stalkers mainly just attack you until your health is drained. There are moments where they will catch you, and you’ll get a restart, but those moments are scripted and very few.
Easy To Solve Yet Plentiful Puzzles
Puzzles are often presented in the form of exploring your environment, finding various items, and using them when required. It’s not rocket science and poses almost no challenge. There are a few puzzles in the game that may require you to use some visual memory, though.
Environment puzzles are the ones that take up most of the puzzles in the game. Lana can transform into a Bunny, allowing her to run faster and jump higher to reach high ledges and navigate through small areas, such as vents.
Mr. Baesie is also playable during select parts of the game. His long stature doesn’t really do him much outside of using his umbrella to break through debris that may be blocking your path. More importantly, he can detach his head, and it works like a conductor.
Mr. Baesie’s head can be electrified to bring power to generators, set on fire, or even squished to get around even small paths that Lana can’t access, even as a Bunny.
Unique Mechanics In Each Chapter
The game features numerous unique environments, each one vastly different from the next. Across the game’s ten chapters, each chapter features a unique mechanic that isn’t found in other chapters.
One of which is time travel, allowing you to move from the past to the future, which also involves some of the better puzzles in the game.
Unfortunately, the game has numerous issues, some of which may be game-breaking for certain players. As I mentioned, the art style and animations are a double-edged sword.
One of the most prominent examples of the game’s animations working against it is the unresponsive controls, which are caused by the character’s animations.
Numerous Issues Hold The Game Back
If Lana’s animation isn’t in the right frame, she isn’t going to do the command you want her to. I failed many times in the game because Lana wouldn’t jump when I told her to.
Another example is during Bunny form, which gives Lana the ability to bounce off walls to scale high areas. However, I failed these moments the most because the bunny animation hitting the wall just isn’t perfect enough to trigger the wall bounce. Everything has to be precise.
There were also two instances where I thought my game was done, and I would have to start the entire game from scratch. I encountered two cases where a prompt to activate a switch wouldn’t appear. I couldn’t reload an earlier save because the game auto-saves every time you enter a new room.
Fortunately I was able to circumvent the glitches by essentially transforming into a bunny form and back to human form, and then pressing the action button simultaneously, which triggered the action.
I found out from reading online that many people have been stuck in the same areas as I was, and the glitch workaround that worked for me wasn’t effective for them.
A View To Die For
Bye, Sweet Carole has the visuals; it’s a gorgeous experience, even with some of its visual hiccups. It truly feels like an animated movie from the early ’90s. The game’s character designs are great, in particular Mr. Kyn, who has a devious Jack the Ripper look to him.
The game’s soundtrack complements the visuals nicely. Another fantastic product of the time, the developers were clearly attempting to create a magical soundtrack with a dark undertone. Even the game’s voice work mimics the inspiration; from the good, cheesy or bad, it all works really well. The game’s narrator and Mr. Kyn take center stage again.
Bye Sweet Carole has a lot going for it. Its visuals and sound design carry the entire game on its back, but it’s just a shame the weight is too much to keep it from reaching the top of the mountain.
I loved the characters and the story I experienced, I just wish the game wasn’t bogged down with various bugs, easy puzzles, and stalkers that are so easy to avoid you can almost forget they even exist.
Bye Sweet Carole is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Bye Sweet Carole review code kindly provided by PR