This gorgeous horror game looks just like a retro Disney film and it's already messing with my head

Bye Sweet Carole
(Image credit: Just For Games)

Don't be fooled by this upcoming indie with its Disney-style animations, as it's closer to Little Nightmares than The Little Mermaid. 

Bye Sweet Carole is a dark fantasy horror game set in early 1900s Britain that was inspired by "the greatest animation movies" (think '90s Disney & Don Bluth's work).  I was immediately drawn to this game due to its charming art style and slightly spooky story, which was created by Remothered developer Chris Darril and is currently in development with Little Sewing Machine and Meangrip Studios. 

In the game, players will take on the role of Lana Benton who has just started staying at the eerie Bunny Hall orphanage. Our young protagonist is the only one to suspect that her best friend Carole didn't just run away and takes it upon herself to investigate her disappearance. Taking place in both the real world and the magical Kingdom of Corolla, Lana must search, explore, and hide in a sinister 2D world. 

This horror game reminds me a lot of two of my favorite mildly spooky games, American McGee's Alice and Little Nightmares. The setting, and the fact there's a bunch of evil bunnies roaming around, gives me real Alice in Wonderland vibes and the platforming and jump scares are definitely reminiscent of Tarsier Studios' 2.5D platformer. It's also a lot like another misleading horror game I wrote about last year, Little Goody Two Shoes, which looks like a Magical Girl anime.

I can't wait to see more of this indie and eventually play when it releases for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2024. If you're also excited about Sweet Carole, you can wishlist it now via Steam and follow its devs on Twitter to keep up to date with its progress. 

Find out what other hidden gems are on the way with our upcoming indie games list. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.