Bye Sweet Carole

“Even on PlayStation 5, Bye Sweet Carole performs admirably, with truly exciting artistic, narrative and musical direction.”

“Bye Sweet Carole is beautiful to look at, but a little tough to get through. The inconsistencies may not be enough to turn survival gamers off, but they may be too much to validate a full playthrough. If you love escape rooms, and not Dragon's Lair, hop to it.”

“Ultimately, I admire the ambition of Bye Sweet Carole but I can’t help but feel the execution falls flat. The Disney art style really carries a lot of the game’s good will but I feel like it doesn’t live up to its own hype.”

“Bye Sweet Carole is a curate's egg of a game, with the presentation being truly superb and the storytelling excellent, but the bulk of the game experience just isn't fun. The frustrating platforming and stealth, combined with the review build being quite buggy, led to me finishing the game with gritted teeth rather than enjoyment. The bugs can be fixed (and the devs are working on patches) but the imbalance between the two gameplay styles is a more fundamental issue. If you can see past this then the game has a lot to offer in terms of aesthetic and story but, ironically, these can be enjoyed through watching a playthrough without subjecting yourself to the frustration.”

“No small flaw can detract from the invigorating brilliance of Bye Sweet Carole, a game that finds in its obvious inspirations the breath of creativity and identity that the horror genre so desperately needs. With mesmerizing art, sound, and animation, and a script full of subtleties and layers of insight, the point-and-click exploration and puzzle-solving mechanics serve a captivating protagonist well on her personal journey of self-discovery and growth.”

“Unfolding like a classic Disney tale, this is a beautifully animated adventure that weaves a deeply personal tale. Bye Sweet Carole is driven by its art style and a brilliant musical score, but occasionally stumbles due to stiff controls and frustrating mechanics.”

“Bye Sweet Carole is a good reminder of why indie developers have a special place in the horror genre. We are faced with a game that brings a different experience of fear thanks to its own unique presentation. Relying on the artistic approach of classic animations, utilizing attractive fantasy horror elements and creating creative puzzles, this work has definitely made it memorable and distinctive. Of course, we are not necessarily facing a perfect game; there are various potentials in the gameplay that have not been used, and also some story dimensions are sometimes confusing or redundant. Nevertheless, Bye Sweet Carole is a risky and very respectable experience in the horror genre that is especially recommended to fans of titles like Clock Tower.”

“Bye Sweet Carole delivers on the promise of a narrative-driven horror experience with the visual inspiration for classic Disney cartoons. Though it succeeds in this endeavor, it falls short of keeping you engaged with frustratingly unresponsive controls and easy stalker encounters.”

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“Clearly the game is taking aim at the Disney Princess archetype, but the shots fired are all so clunky and obvious: One girl accidentally drops her manifesto for women’s liberation in front of the teacher, and later she reads from a book that just lists the names of accomplished women throughout history. If horror is meant to elicit strong emotions, the most that Bye Sweet Carole can manage is cringe.”

“Whether you're looking for a heartfelt story, puzzles to solve, or beautiful visual design, Bye Sweet Carole has it all.”

“If you've watched the trailer for Bye Sweet Carole, you've seen the best parts of Bye Sweet Carole. The game takes a demo's worth of content and stretches it out over four painfully long hours.”

“Bye Sweet Carole is a delightful marriage of classic Disney films and the best horror adventure games of the past. Some maps have a punishing level design, and a few bottlenecks pop up, but the execution is consistently excellent.”

“Bye Sweet Carole is a different, addictive, fresh story worthy of applause in a world where taking risks deserves to be applauded. A truly unforgettable experience that proves you can do different things without needing massive budgets. Chris Darril has created something unique that masterfully blends the nostalgia of classic animation with modern mechanics.”

“"Bye Sweet Carole is an ambitious game that shoots for the moon and ends up among the stars. The Disney-style presentation is damn near flawless and evokes a sense of childish nostalgia that hardly any game has managed to do before. Not to mention, it's a pretty competent puzzler that feels cut from the same cloth as LucasArts classics in many ways. However, due to a slew of technical issues and some of the most cumbersome and unsatisfying platforming, stealth, and action sequences I can recall enduring, the game undoes a lot of its fine work to ultimately end up being a unique, but rather average experience."”