🔗 Share this article

When you think of horror game protagonists, Barbie hardly is the initial thought that comes to mind. However, those who experienced the charmingly eerie 1998 PC game Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper knows that Barbie absolutely has final girl potential.

The Bizarre Setup

The storyline is appropriately absurd: Barbie and her companion Becky have recently completed from their area sleuthing college, because of course that's a thing. A "seasonal fundraising festival" is taking place locally, and Ken is inexplicably the chairman of the event, even though he and Barbie are indicated as teenagers. But the night before the carnival opens, disaster occurs: Ken vanishes via a sorcery performance error, and the charity money disappears with him! As expected, it's up to Detective Barbie, her friend Becky (who functions as her "mission control"), and the player to crack the case of his disappearance.

Investigator Barbie was saying gamer names verbally well before Fallout 4 and Starfield used the feature — and she could say almost every name.

The Strangeness Begins

Things get weird pretty much immediately. After booting up the game, users are prompted to select their name from a list, and Barbie will address the player by name throughout the game. It's hard to stress how long and thorough this list of names is. Should you be a person who has often struggled finding keychains with your name on them at gift shops, you might assume you're unfortunate here, but you're mistaken. There are thousands of names on the list, which appears to catalogue almost all versions of every feminine forename in existence, from extremely popular to unexpectedly uncommon. Although Barbie says the player's name with a truly unsettling amount of bubbly enthusiasm, it isn't similar to text-to-speech, which has me questioning how long Barbie voice actress Chris Anthony Lansdowne stayed in the sound room reciting virtually each feminine name under the sun.

Exploring the Carnival

Once players have entered their name, they take command of Barbie as she investigates the location of the crime. The time is late, and she's totally solitary (except for Becky, who sometimes updates via the Crime Computer). In retrospect, I can't overcome how much exploring the game's spooky festival site is similar to playing Silent Hill 3. Certainly, this carnival doesn't feature blood and rust, or plagued by horrifying beings like Lakeside Amusement Park, but the feel is unquestionably eerie. It only grows more suspicion-raising when Barbie starts noticing a mysterious silhouette prowling the park. It appears she's accompanied after all.

Nothing like a nerve-wracking pursuit down a absurdly lengthy chute to boost your adrenaline.

Unsettling Rides and Chases

While controlling Barbie through more and more creepy amusements and displays (the festive item stockroom still gives me nightmares), the player will come across clues, which she forwards to Becky to scrutinize. The clues finally direct Barbie to the enigmatic character's location, and it's her duty to hunt them down, chasing Ken's kidnapper through a assortment of fairground classics including dodgem cars, an enormous slide with diverging routes, and a poorly illuminated love tunnel. These chases were genuinely heart-pounding — the music gets tense, and one wrong move could lead to the suspect escaping.

Unexpected Complexity

Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper had a surprising level of depth, especially for a 1990s click-based adventure designed for female children. Instead of outfitting Barbie, or interacting with her ponies, Detective Barbie focused on actual gameplay, had a engaging narrative, and was extremely spooky. It even had some replay value — every game session changed the kinds of evidence players would stumble across, and when it came to Ken's kidnapper, there were several persons of interest — the culprit's name changed each time you played. When the puzzle was unraveled, players could even produce a apprentice investigator insignia to show off for top-tier social status.

The earliest scare! The clues in this room groan audibly or pop up suddenly as players investigate them.

Heritage and Follow-ups

Of course, after a handful of reruns, you'd finally encounter everything the game had to offer, but it was amazing in its era, and even spawned two sequels: 1999's Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery, and 2000's Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise. The company continues releasing Barbie video games nowadays — the upcoming title is Barbie Horse Tails (yes, another equestrian/customizing adventure), which releases soon. Even though the images are a certain upgrade over Detective Barbie, I am skeptical Barbie Horse Tails contains the same level of gameplay depth, replay value, or overall eeriness as its 1990s forerunners, which is somewhat disappointing.

An Introduction to Scares

Despite Mattel's original intentions for the game, Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper ultimately turned into my entry point for frightful entertainment, and I'd love to see Detective Barbie star in another fun-but-spooky game that extends past dress-up and horse-riding. Society possesses many equestrian enthusiasts, but it could definitely use more hard-boiled Junior Detectives unraveling critical benefit festival cases.