Bye Sweet Carole

Once in a while I’m asked by close friends if I have any hobbies or interests outside of just video games. Do I do anything else aside from wake up, do what needs to be done, go home, and spend the rest of the day resting. To them I say, “Of course, because unlike some gamers I have good life balance skills.” Instead of doing something weird like I don’t know. Drill a sh*t bucket into my chair. That is a real thing I learned about last month. Look it up. I balance my life with other activities such as talking to family, exercising, and finding fun stuff to do aside from gaming. My biggest passion aside from video games is animation. I grew up watching an assortment of films and TV shows made by talented animators and cartoonists. My sense of humor is influenced by Regular Show, Adventure Time, Chowder, Gravity Falls, classic Spongebob, Venture Bros, etc. I love animation and much like video games I’m willing to defend as an artform. Especially now with the uncontrolled rise of AI, and the utilization of said technology to replace those who work in the industry. I’ve stated this a couple times in the past, and I’m gonna say it one last time just so we can move on. I f*cking hate AI. If you have to use AI to ‘improve’ your work then you’re not an artist in my opinion. You're a lazy selfish snob who cuts corners and steals others' work to get by. You have no respect for the people who create art.

With that rant out of the way, I love animation! I may not be as heavy into the animation scene as I am with video games, but I always enjoy hearing the good news. Of successes, triumphs, and of small projects going big. Animation is wonderful, and we’ve begun seeing traditional animation being more heavily incorporated into games. Now that game development engines have grown a lot stronger and allow developers to create whatever they want as long as they have the skills for it. Dozens of stylized games trying to contain or replicate a look that sets them apart from their competitors. Video games have become more expressive than ever in terms of gameplay, style, storytelling, and more. Especially in the indie scene, but I’ve blown this trumpet hard enough. A majority of you know indie games are awesome and are kicking a majority of Triple A titles in the ass right now. Hollow Knight, Hades, Ender Lilies, Chants of Sennaar, Nine Sols, Absolum, all are stylized games that maintain great game design. You got Cuphead and the upcoming FPS, Mouse: P.I For Hire, trying to replicate the look of 1930s rubberhose cartoons. Mullet Madjack, Signalis, and Neon White trying to replicate the style of classic anime. Then you have the subject matter of today, Bye Sweet Carole. Debut title for new indie studio Little Sewing Machine, and is directed by Chris Darril who prior to this served as lead director for the Remothered series. Yeah, remember the Remothered franchise!? Let's forget it never happened.

Bye Sweet Carole is the first animated game I’ve played that has attempted to replicate the feel & look of an old Disney film. The classics you and numerous other people born in the early 2000s or 1990s were raised on. Hercules, The Lion King, Aladdin, Peter Pan, you get the idea. Films that to this day remain iconic for good reason, and this is coming from someone who despises Disney. Bye Sweet Carole is not just a homage to those films, but a love letter to all the animators who’ve worked on them. I’ve seen test footage of this game amidst development, and couldn’t help but be impressed with the sweat and tears put into each authentic frame. This game would be a smash hit in my mind, but unfortunately that is not what happened. As performance issues and bugs plagued Bye Sweet Carole at launch especially on PC. Which is a shame, because as a debut title from a new studio a good chunk  of it is a beautiful work of art. It’s not perfect, as it stumbles when trying to be a game. However, there is thought put into the craft and with enough time you’ll see that Bye Sweet Carole is a subversion of the animated flicks it pays tribute to. Of the messages Disney taught us in favor of telling a story that’s darker and more mature. So today we will be talking about why I enjoyed Bye Sweet Carole and why it deserves your attention.

Story

It’s the early 1900s and women are still being mistreated by society. Being refused the basic right to vote, choose which industry they wish to work in, and deny being forced into marriage. All a poor girl can do is cross her fingers, and pray to god that maybe the next week isn’t as bad. Such is the case with Lana Simmons, a teenage girl who was orphaned at a young age and sent to live in Bunny Hall for the remainder of her youth. Quite a cruel place to live in. Surrounded by girls who constantly bully her for being different, neglected by her teacher, and forced to do dirty jobs no one else wants to. Every night becomes harder to sleep through, but that wasn’t until Lana had met another girl named Carole. She much like Lana was different and quickly they became best friends. Growing closer by the day, and sharing a bond no one around them possessed. All is well that ends well, but alas these happy days didn’t stay with Lana. An event occurred one night. Her best friend left, disappeared without a sight. No one knows exactly what happened to Carole and neither did they care. All aside from Lana, alone to be thrown about once more. She wanted her friend back. She couldn’t bear being in the darkness again, so she went looking.

Lana searched all around Bunny Hall for a trace or Carole, but nothing was found. She then went to sleep. Slowly losing hope that Carole would return. Within these dreams came nightmares. An assortment of creatures coming after Lana. Claiming she is the lost princess of Corolla, and she must hand her kingdom over to the dark presence that wishes to tame it. Lana is confused, unable to remember where she herald from and what her childhood was. Did she really hail from this kingdom, and what would happen if she let it fall into the wrong hands. However, the creatures which chase after Lana cannot be killed. Lana is forced to run. Understanding she lacks strength and courage to face the monsters around her. Rescued by a mysterious man and waking up once more. To bullies pushing and spitting in her face. To a teacher that scolds her for being tired. The world around her expects her to grow up fast and become what she ideally sees as a woman. It is too much for Lana to handle, but she knows it’ll be better. Once she learns more of Corolla, the dark forces at play, and locates the whereabouts of where Carole was taken. Only then can things return back to normal. The world Lana saw as worth living in. Time shall be undone.

Gameplay

I’ve never played a game quite like Bye Sweet Carole, but that doesn’t mean there’s no titles that are a bit similar to it. One game the devs drew huge inspirations from was Clock Tower. An old PC game that combined survival horror with click and point adventure games. Essentially being the first game to invent the run and hide horror format years before Amnesia came into existence. Clock Tower for a lot of hardcore horror game fans is an essential classic. The stress of trying to solve a list of puzzles while being stalked by a monster that freely roams around. Unsure of when it would appear and if you’d have to quickly change plans and high tail out of there. Now I have never played a Clock Tower game. I heard very good things about the series, but it never drew my interest despite being a massive click and point adventure enjoyer myself. Bye Sweet Carole is my first exposure to these kinds of games, and it certainly was an experience. Applying logic and lessons I’ve learned from titles like Old Skies and The Drifter to an all new format. You have an inventory space where you store items, and combine them if needed to solve a puzzle.

Shelves, doors, and places of interest can be inspected for clues. Sometimes they give you a hint or an item you’d normally pass by. Thinking is needed to progress further, but be vary that Lana is not your typical video game hero. She’s not Leon Kennedy or Alan Wake. Unequipped to face the monsters hurdling her way. Creatures who slash at her if within close range. Lana has health, and if that health bar drops below zero it’s game over. She can run from monsters & hide behind spaces in an attempt to lose their sight. When a monster is near you must hold your breath, as if you breathe normally you’ll alert them o. However, Lana can only hold her breath for so long. A meter shows how long you can hold it for, and when depleted….. Well actually I never figured out what happens when you run out of air when a monster is nearby. A criticism we’ll get to later so let’s assume you take a gasp and it alerts the monster. Lana also has the ability to transform into a bunny. The bunny can survive long falls Lana normally takes damage from. It can jump on walls, chain wall jumps together to reach higher areas, and fit under small spaces. Allowing you to have a slightly easier time avoiding the sight of monsters. Then there’s the occasional switch up for gameplay. Combat, rhythm minigame, and stealth sequence. Moments to keep the pacing along and journey varied. Aside from that there’s not much else I can do. Bye Sweet Carole is a pretty simple game, but that doesn’t hold it back from shining bright as a star.

Thoughts

I opened this review up by saying that Bye Sweet Carole is a game I really loved, and I do! There are a fair share of shortcomings, but what it does well is done well enough to balance out most of my criticisms. This is a debut indie game from a new studio, and they did a good job. That being said, Bye Sweet Carole is pretty weak as a video game and there’s a lot of room for Little Sewing Machine to improve in if they were to ever make a game similar to Bye Sweet Carole again. It’s not that the general ideas are bad, but rather the execution. The monster enemies remind me of the stalkers in games like Amnesia: The Bunker and Resident Evil 2. Foes you can’t predict when they would appear, but sometimes you can. Lana can sense when enemies are nearby, and soon you learn monsters are attracted by noise. There are objects you can accidentally knock over. It then lures the monster to your location, and this teaches you two things. One is that rushing may not be the greatest idea, but second is whether you hide or take a risk and dash to where you got to be. These run and hide sequences would be great if it weren’t for a couple factors. It’s great that games like Bye Sweet Carole experiment with what horror games can be, but unfortunately hiding from monsters isn’t actually that hard. When you hide and hold your breath you can hold it for just enough time for a monster to lose sight and walk away. There were moments when it felt like I would run out of air, but then the monster becomes curious and leaves. The monster AI in this game is also kinda bad. Whether be pursuing the player, navigating the environment, or leaving a room. I had one bit where I hid long enough, so the monster tried leaving. However, it kept walking back in forth in what I can tell was it attempting to choose between patrolling the room or enter the one next to it. It chose to do neither, so it waddled back in place for a bit until I came out and chose to chase again.

There’s multiple hiding spaces, so you never truly feel under pressure. After a while running into monsters is more annoying than scary. A few weeks ago I replayed the Resident Evil 2 remake, and even though I still really like that game I can’t help but have an unpopular opinion about the way Mr. X works. Forcing players to turn the way and run for a bit until they find a room where they can take advantage of X’s path tracing. Walking around him and running past. It removes a lot of the tension these enemies are supposed to create. When you’re dragged back to video game land and shown the downsides of artificial intelligence. Even if you do die in Bye Sweet Carole the punishment for doing so isn’t a lot. As autosaves occur frequently and you always respawn to where you entered from or after you solve a significant puzzle/set piece. As if you’ll die from the monsters, because Lana’s health regenerates after a few seconds. Health you’ll refill when you run for a short period of time. Most of my deaths were either from environmental hazards or by failing tiny platforming sections. The majority of which I wouldn’t have failed if the controls of this game were better. I’m not exactly sure if Bye Sweet Carole was designed around being PC focused. One interacting with objects and solving puzzles feels like a click and point. On the other hand you got these short platforming bits, levels with verticality, and combat.

Speaking of which, combat is certainly a thing in Bye Sweet Carole. There’s two sections in this game where you fight enemies or a boss and it’s really easy. Same goes with rhythm minigames, but yet again none of this stuff is the focus. Which is my main point in that Bye Sweet Carole just has things for the sake of having them. Good as it prevents repetition from kicking too soon. Bad as it’s not handled very well. It sucks that my first thoughts on this game are complaints, because as a puzzle game I think Bye Sweet Carole is fantastic! I love myself a good click and point title, and Bye Sweet Carole has excellent puzzle design! Giving the player enough although not too many clues on how to find a solution. Letting the pieces fall into place, and feel rewarded once you achieve. The solutions are pretty simple compared to a game like Monkey Island, but right kind of simple. Where every solution and work towards a solution makes sense. My favorite bit in the game, without story spoilers, is when you have to travel between two time periods. There are areas you can’t access in the future, so you need to do something in the past to change it. You even find a chemical solution you must mix together, but half the solution hasn’t been written in the past just yet. Your mind is keeping track of information so you may apply it later on.

This game excels at being a puzzle focused exploration game, so it leads me to wonder. Would it have been better for Bye Sweet Carole to be a click and point adventure rather than mesh it with run and hide horror as well as the other stuff I had mentioned. Last year there were two amazing click and point games. The first was Old Skies, a masterpiece I wrote a review for in the past so go check that out. Then there was The Drifter, which I played late last year and I’m kinda sad I didn’t write a review for. It’s basically what Bye Sweet Carole could’ve been. A point and click puzzle game with occasional high stake sequences. Puzzle where it’s possible to fail. Looping to where you started them, so each attempt is either a quick struggle to get it done faster or learn the solution to it. The Drifter is honestly a great game. I unpopularly love Old Skies more for how it hits me in the feels. Yet, The Drifter is a great example of how you can evolve a genre that a lot of people consider stale by today’s standards. I imagine Bye Sweet Carole could’ve been like this game. Contain the excellent puzzles that are already better and put them into a better game. This is criticism I hope Little Sewing Machine is willing to listen to and learn from.

As a video game, Bye Sweet Carole is weak but I did say I really like this game. What it lacks in good design it makes up for what was clearly the main focus. That being the art direction and the animation. I will always have the opinion that good art direction triumphs over realism. It’s why I opened this review by saying, “F*ck AI.” Hours of sweat and tears were poured into making this game feel like a classical Disney film. From beautiful hand painted backgrounds, the colors on display, and the way characters move and act. The animation doesn’t always look perfect, but I think it adds to the charm. Some moments it looks blurry, but that’s what it was like watching these movies back then. On a cruddy CR-TV placed upon a small stand in your living room. The warm carpet beneath you and a decent enough speaker to hear what you see. The animation has a few imperfections, but that’s what makes it human. Artists doing the best they can to illustrate each individual scene. When it does look good the animation is splendid. With movement that just flows like water. Elegant, majestic, and every other magical word you can think of. Plus the music, which I’m surprised wasn’t at least nominated for some awards. It too captures the soft soothing orchestra of those old films. Rising, falling, and rising again to capture the mood.

What really kept me around with Bye Sweet Carole was the narrative. A story a lot of people will glaze over at first, but once you get deep enough it becomes this dark and mature tale discussing womanhood. Last year Silent Hill F came out, and it’s a title I fear to review one day. Mainly for how people handled discussion of its themes and subject matters. Bye Sweet Carole contains the exact same message Silent Hill F has. A young girl whose life is quite miserable. Unable to have a childhood, and being forced to grow up quickly. Be forced into a world where women are then objectified and stripped of all human rights. To be unable to speak, be heard, and voice a single opinion on a just world. To have no influence on society, because that simply wasn’t the norm back then. If so it raises fear amongst the men. Fear that they are quick to act against and quiet. Shutdown any signs of righteous speech, but to fight fear with fear is interesting. The greatest monsters of all aren’t demons from another world. Rather ones from our own plain of existence. People we see as ordinary human beings transformed into disgusting horrid messes, because they choose to walk down a crude corrupting path. One fueled by misogyny, selfishness, and morals that are nonexistent unless it’s for self benefit. Truly evil, despicable people but I guess that this is the norm. We live in a male dominated world. Where men who create conflict get to be leaders of our country. To wash away all records and accusations of things they’ve done. The sad part is that the evidence and records are right there, but nothing is being done nor being learned. No one wants to face cruel power.

There are people who will blindly follow this society. Who goes along, because this is the norm. It is what we’ve lived with for the longest time, so why try and change it? A thought that floods the mind until eventually you stop caring. Something I’ve learned in recent memory is that men of my age aren’t willing to learn or take advice unless it’s coming from another man. If a woman were to tell them something they simply won’t learn or take it into consideration unless brought up by another man. I say this as someone who was born a man and identifies as one. So they go out and seek advice from dudebro podcasters or a man with a suit and mike. Learn awful takes and lessons from them, grow older, become ‘models’ themselves, and the cycle repeats. It’s why I often tell my friends I’m really disappointed in my generation of men. What they are, stand for, have become, and will transform any other male they form a bond with into. That’s why I try so very hard to recommend games with open mindsets. Games that challenge people not just in a gameplay sense, but think about ideas they normally wouldn’t question. Rethink what they have been raised on and maybe just maybe attempt to become better individuals.

Bye Sweet Carole is a game about a woman’s right to choose, live her life, and not be dictated by a society that hushes free speech. To deny the norm, critique its flaws, and strive to fix them. It’s a game that’s political with its feminist opinion. Surprise seeing the style, tone, and recapturing it’s trying to do. It’s also a story about the fear of growing up. Lana being forced to let go of what made her happy. Saying goodbye to those close to her, and the weight of adult responsibilities. A brilliant plot twist is later on revealed, and I don’t want to spoil it because it is truly something special. Making you question Lana’s psyche and what she did to cope with the reality she is now stuck in. An incredibly human moment, because we have been in Lana’s shoes at some point. I love Bye Sweet Carole despite its crippling gameplay flaws. The story, art style, music, pacing, and good puzzle design is just enough for me to ignore the other parts of this game. I will say it’s asking price is a bit too much. It’s a six hour long game and while I think it’s a perfect runtime it may not be worth twenty five dollars. Forty if you buy the physical copy, but it goes on discount often and recently I picked the physical up for twenty. Buy it then and enjoy what is offered. To conclude, I really enjoyed this game. I recommend checking it out at some point as it’s a work of art. In the end I am going to give Bye Sweet Carole a 9/10 for excellence at best.

9/10, Excellence