Bye Sweet Carole

Disney after Dark

While Chris Darril is likely going to be remembered for his work on the Remothered series, developed by Stormind Games, I would hope that Bye Sweet Carole, developed by Little Sewing Machine, would be a title right up there in the conversation. Darril is back with quite a different take on horror this time around as Bye Sweet Carole is the perfect mix of Don Bluth, Disney, and countless aduventure games of the past. 

Bye Sweet Carole started its life as an unfinished prototype of Remothered before it was lost to a technical error on Darril’s PC. While it was finally recovered some years later, it was repurposed here for Bye Sweet Carole. What may have been an unfortunate scenario back then, has tremendously paid off here to bring life to not only a new IP but a stunning work of art. 

Bye Sweet Carole is a love letter to the origins of Disney animation and especially that of Don Bluth. The animations, cutscenes, and look of this game captures its inspirations almost flawlessly. Cutscenes look ripped out of a feature-lenght animated movie with some truly spectacular directing and musical score. Honestly, if you had told me that this was a direct-to-movie tie in where they injected the actual movie into gameplay, I would totally have believed you, it looks that good. 

Where there are some moments of some stiff animations during gameplay, the presentation of this game is its best quality, as its gameplay doesn’t quite stick the landing. Sure, some of the puzzles are fairly well put-together, but there is a lot of rinse and repeat in how to progress most areas that does drag on a bit too much at times. This can cause the pacing of dire story moments to feel drawn out when the solution escapes your thoughts. 

Bye Sweet Carole is set in the early 1900s, during an era when the feminist political movement had begun to change within Britain. You play as Lana Benton, a guest of the Bunny Hall Orphange. During her time there, her best friend Carole disappeared under mysterious circumstances. While it was simply assumed that she ran away, Lana isn’t so sure, and is convinced that something truly did happen to her. However, Lana has more to worry about as she is targeted by a man named Mr. Kyn, who resembles a man from her nightmares, an evil force who is attempting to take control of the Kingdom of Corolla, a place that Lana is connected to in significant ways. 

There is a lot going on storywise that works well when you view the story as a whole. It also helps that the story does tie into the feminist movement during this time as the various instructors around the Orphange are attempting to teach these women about the important things the men around them are doing and how to be a good wife to potential suitors who are aiming to claim a bride from the possible candidates here at the Orphange. While that is certainly at the forefront of much of the story, the reality of what is actually going on is quite bizarre and feels remarkably well suited to the style of animation on offer here. Frankly, I don’t think this story would have worked with modern graphics or even what Darril had done with Remothered. 

Lana also has to contend with a new student who is constantly teased by the other girls, who Lana is attempting to distance herself from them as well. However, the teasing and ridicule from these ladies, at least one in particular, is the least of Lana’s problems as she is attempting to get to the bottom of what happened to her dear friend Carole, why Mr. Kyn and his owl are out to get her, and while various horrors and nightmares are attempting to hunt her down. Combine that with the tall and lanky Mr Baesie who seems to be a trusted ally, despite Lana having no memory of their friendship. While the game is roughly around 6 hours, there is a lot of story here with enough compelling characters and gorgeous animations, not to mention fully voiced dialogue that remains engaging from start to end. 

As I mentioned before, the presentation of this game is impeccable, but that isn’t always the case with its gameplay. Taking cues from numerous point and click and adventure games, QTEs, and plenty of trial and error in its instant fail encounters, several of the issues that plague those inspirations are present and accounted for here. Most puzzles revolve around finding an item to get an item that then unlocks another item to progress. Occasionally, you do get some more clever things to do like powering a series of devices by electrical current, or rerouting the water through the pipes from floor to floor, but these moments are sadly far too infrequent. 

Where the gameplay really drags is the trial and error encounters. These usually revolve around you hiding from some sort of monster, using pockets of darkess or closets to hide in, holding your breath in hopes you won’t be discovered. While the first encounter allows you to freely get away, several others just ‘game over’ you to death at the slightest glimpse of what is following you. Eventually, Lana can turn into a bunny, and this transformation is simply a button press away. You’ll be able to use this form to get to places where Lana cannot go, but even that won’t stop some of these encounters from ending your run. 

Despite this transformation, these moments of stealth don’t quite work, mainly since dying has you attempting the whole ordeal all over again. I had an encounter where a red-eyed monster was stalking me, and that if you were even sharing the same room as it, you would die. I knew I had to get to the shutter that it could come out of, and while I attempted to find my own way, which did work mind you, the game broke and wouldn’t progress; my character just stood there as the game didn’t know what to do. I checked walkthroughs and found the solution, but any time I even got close to where I had to go, I would die. I tried again after some ten attempts and oddly enough it finally worked. Still, it was a vastly frustrating experience because I was a pixel too far towards him and it would end my turn right then and there for no good reason. 

While Lana cannot enter into combat, apart from one vastly engaging scenario, this is where her protector, Mr. Baesis, comes into play, swinging his umbrella at various monsters and creatures. These segments reminded me a great deal of Cuphead, due to the quirky animation of his proportions and the overall style of animation. Still, I do wish combat had a bigger focus, especially via the instant fail encounters. 

Composer Luca Balboni shines here as the score is exactly the type you would imagine an animated film would offer, and really helps set up a lot of the emotional moments, especially in the games final moments. It really is the prime example of all the tools prepared for this game working in unison to creatie a visually and audibly work of art. 

Bye Sweet Carole has all the hallmarks of classic adventure games and the countless point and click games of the past. It handles horror in such a unique way due to its Disney-like presentation, and frankly, the whole experience feels like a truly interactive animated film. While the gameplay can be a bit uneven at times, Bye Sweet Carole is nonetheless a fascinating experience that looks incredible, sounds incredible, and has a truly memorable, yet tragic story, about an era where women were vastly under appreciated. 

Developer - Little Sewing Machine
Publisher - Maximum Entertainment, Just for Games S.A.S. Released - October 9th, 2025. Available On - Xbox One/Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated - (E) - Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch.
Review Access - Review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.