The Memory Lingers by the Eerie Barbie Adventure That Used My Name.

When considering leads in scary games, Barbie isn't the primary idea that springs to mind. However, those who played the pleasantly spooky 1998 PC game Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper recognizes that Barbie truly possesses final girl potential.

The Bizarre Setup

The premise is suitably strange: Barbie and her pal Becky have newly finished from their local detective academy, because of course that's a thing. A "autumn benefit fair" is happening nearby, and Ken is strangely the chairman of the event, although he and Barbie are suggested to be teenagers. Yet the nighttime before the carnival starts, disaster occurs: Ken goes missing via a magic show mishap, and the benefit cash goes missing with him! As expected, it's up to Detective Barbie, her friend Becky (who serves as her "mission control"), and the player to unravel the puzzle of his absence.

Sleuth Barbie was speaking player names aloud well before Fallout 4 and Starfield attempted the trick — and she could articulate virtually all names.

The Strangeness Begins

The peculiarity emerges almost right away. When launching the game, users are prompted to select their name from a list, and Barbie will verbally refer to the player by name during the entire adventure. I must underline how comprehensive and complete this selection of names is. If you're someone who has often struggled locating souvenirs with your name on them at souvenir stores, you might think you're out of luck here, but you're mistaken. There are thousands of names on the list, which appears to catalogue almost all versions of every girl's given name in existence, from extremely popular to surprisingly rare. Although Barbie says the player's name with a truly unsettling amount of cheerful excitement, it doesn't seem like text-to-speech, which has me wondering how long Barbie actress Chris Anthony Lansdowne stayed in the sound room rattling off almost all girl's name under the sun.

Exploring the Carnival

Once players have entered their name, they take command of Barbie as she explores the scene of the crime. It's after dark, and she's totally solitary (except for Becky, who periodically contacts via the Crime Computer). In retrospect, I can't move past how much exploring the game's spooky festival site resembles playing Silent Hill 3. Sure, this carnival doesn't feature blood and rust, or overrun by horrifying beings like Lakeside Amusement Park, but the feel is unquestionably eerie. It only grows more paranoia-inducing when Barbie begins observing a shadowy form prowling the park. Turns out she's accompanied after all.

There's nothing like a tense chase down a absurdly lengthy chute to raise your heart rate.

Eerie Attractions and Pursuits

As you guide Barbie through increasingly unsettling amusements and displays (the spooky decoration closet still gives me nightmares), the player will discover hints, which she sends to Becky to analyze. The clues eventually point Barbie to the unknown person's location, and it's up to her to track them down, following Ken's captor through a variety of carnival/theme park staples including collision vehicles, an huge slider with diverging routes, and a dimly lit tunnel of love. These chases were truly thrilling — the music turns suspenseful, and one wrong move could result in the suspect escaping.

Remarkable Detail

Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper had a surprising level of depth, especially for a end-of-the-century interactive title aimed at female children. Instead of outfitting Barbie, or engaging with her equines, Detective Barbie focused on actual gameplay, had a compelling story, and was incredibly eerie. It even had certain replayability — each run-through switched up the varieties of hints players would come upon, and concerning Ken's kidnapper, there were several persons of interest — the culprit's name changed each time you played. After the case was cracked, players could even print out a young sleuth emblem to exhibit for ultimate peer respect.

Baby's first jumpscare! The clues in this room creak loudly or pop up suddenly as players scrutinize them.

Influence and Successors

Certainly, after a handful of reruns, you'd ultimately experience everything the game had to offer, but it was incredible for its time, and even produced two follow-ups: 1999's Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery, and 2000's Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise. Mattel is still producing Barbie video games nowadays — the upcoming title is Barbie Horse Tails (yes, another equestrian/customizing adventure), which releases in the coming weeks. While the graphics are a certain upgrade over Detective Barbie, I doubt Barbie Horse Tails contains the same degree of interactive complexity, repeat appeal, or general spookiness as its 1990s forerunners, which is somewhat disappointing.

An Introduction to Scares

Regardless of the brand's primary aims for the game, Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper ultimately turned into my gateway to the horror genre, and I'd appreciate observing Detective Barbie appear in another lighthearted-yet-creepy game that involves more than dress-up and horse-riding. The world has plenty of horse girls, but it could absolutely employ more resilient kid investigators cracking important fundraising fair mysteries.