Bye Sweet Carole is coming out tomorrow on basically all possible systems and though it's not perfect by any means, it's a beautiful adventure game that deserves a bit of attention on your part.
The problem is that the scenes where Lana is being hunted by an enemy while she has to solve puzzles don't really all work as they should. It's not so much that they are difficult, as escape is generally quite easy, especially since the heroine quickly acquires the ability to transform herself into a rabbit, which makes her both a little faster and more agile (she can then jump, including from wall to wall). Hiding places also allow her to take shelter, provided she holds her breath when her pursuer gets close to her. The problem is that these sequences end up being more annoying and cumbersome than scary. You find yourself forced to go back and forth (which may already be necessary to solve puzzles) to, for example, ring little bells that will attract the demonic maid to the area you're in so you can return to your previous location, or to run away to the next screen to find a hiding place before you can backtrack and resume your activities. It's a shame, because even though we fully understand the value of such sequences from a narrative point of view, we don't find them very fun to play in practice. However, it's worth noting the effort made to offer a bit of variety at this level, since most enemies can be “countered” in different ways. Thankfully, we won't go so far as to say that this ruins the overall experience, but since you encounter these kinds of passages as early as Chapter 3, it does dampen the enthusiasm you might feel at the beginning. In the end, we often preferred the few more scripted moments where Lana is pursued by a threat she must escape from until she reaches a certain spot, as these sequences are more story-driven than gameplay oriented.
However, most of the experience remains focused on point-and-click mechanics, where we are asked to move objects around, combine them, climb onto them to reach mechanisms, move along ledges while maintaining our balance through a mini-game, transform into a rabbit to access certain inaccessible areas, or take control of Baesie, our companion in misfortune. When his head is separated from his body, the latter can, for example, be flattened completely to allow him to slip through certain areas, pass through flames (and catch fire, to start a fire and scare off a threat, for example), conduct electricity, and thus help Lana progress when she faces certain obstacles. Switching between the two is done using the right button on the directional pad, and with the transformation into a rabbit (B button), this adds a welcome touch of variety early on in the adventure. Bye Sweet Carole also offers a few slightly different passages, one of which, musical in its approach, occurs several times, with relatively average results in our opinion. While these sequences bring a breath of fresh air when you first encounter them, they are sometimes a little too long for their own good and would have benefited from being shortened somewhat. Once again, however, this does not detract from the charm of the adventure, which manages to make you forget these few flaws. The final sequence, which is also rather daring in the way it pays tribute to another genre of game, is so carefully staged that it's easy to forgive its lack of challenge or depth, for example. Bye Sweet Carole is not perfect, but its graphics, universe, story, horrific atmosphere, and its adventure mechanics make it well worth its price tag ($19.99), while keeping in mind that its main theme could have been tackled with a bit more subtlety.
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