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When you think of characters in horror games, Barbie hardly is the first name that springs to mind. Yet individuals who played the pleasantly spooky 1998 PC game Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper knows that Barbie absolutely has final girl potential.

The Bizarre Setup

The setup is fittingly bizarre: Barbie and her companion Becky have just graduated from their area sleuthing college, as obviously that's a real concept. A "seasonal fundraising festival" is in town, and Ken is somehow the festival head, even though he and Barbie are indicated as teenagers. But the night before the carnival opens, misfortune hits: Ken goes missing via a sorcery performance error, and the benefit cash disappears with him! Naturally, it's up to Detective Barbie, her friend Becky (who acts as her "support operator"), and the player to unravel the puzzle of his absence.

Detective Barbie was uttering user names verbally far earlier than Fallout 4 and Starfield tried the gimmick — and she could pronounce nearly any name.

The Strangeness Begins

The peculiarity emerges nearly instantly. After booting up the game, users are prompted to select their name from a list, and Barbie will speak to the player by name throughout the game. I must underline how comprehensive and complete this list of names is. Should you be a person who has often struggled discovering trinkets with your name on them at gift shops, you might believe you're unlucky here, but you're wrong. There are thousands of names on the list, which seems to list nearly every variation of every feminine forename in existence, from incredibly common to unexpectedly uncommon. While Barbie speaks the player's name with a frankly terrifying amount of bubbly enthusiasm, it isn't similar to text-to-speech, which has me questioning how long Barbie actress Chris Anthony Lansdowne remained in the studio rattling off virtually each feminine name under the sun.

Roaming the Festival

After users input their name, they assume control over Barbie as she investigates the location of the crime. The time is late, and she's completely by herself (except for Becky, who occasionally checks in via the Crime Computer). Reflecting now, I can't overcome how much roaming about the game's creepy carnival grounds is similar to playing Silent Hill 3. Admittedly, this carnival doesn't feature blood and rust, or infested with 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 roaming the grounds. Turns out she's accompanied after all.

It's hard to beat a nerve-wracking pursuit down a absurdly lengthy chute to get your blood pumping.

Unsettling Rides and Chases

While controlling Barbie through progressively disturbing rides and attractions (the spooky decoration closet still gives me nightmares), the player will discover hints, which she transmits to Becky to analyze. The clues finally direct Barbie to the mysterious figure's location, and it's up to her to track them down, following Ken's captor through a variety of fairground classics including dodgem cars, an enormous slide with diverging routes, and a faintly lit romance passage. These chases were authentically exciting — the music becomes intense, and an incorrect action could lead to the suspect fleeing.

Surprising Depth

Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper had a surprising level of depth, especially for a end-of-the-century interactive title targeted at girl youths. Instead of outfitting Barbie, or engaging with her equines, Detective Barbie centered on real game mechanics, had a engaging narrative, and was creepy as hell. It even had certain replayability — each playthrough altered the types of clues 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 young sleuth emblem to display for ultimate peer respect.

The earliest scare! The clues in this room creak loudly or emerge unexpectedly as players investigate them.

Influence and Successors

Certainly, after a few replays, you'd eventually see everything the game had to offer, but it was remarkable back then, and even produced two follow-ups: 1999's Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery, and 2000's Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise. The brand remains producing Barbie video games currently — the forthcoming game is Barbie Horse Tails (yes, another horse riding/accessorizing game), which comes out later this month. Although the visuals are a definite improvement over Detective Barbie, I question Barbie Horse Tails contains the same level of gameplay depth, replayability, or typical creepiness as its end-of-century ancestors, which is kind of a shame.

A Gateway to Horror

Regardless of the brand's primary aims for the game, Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper ended up becoming my entry point for frightful entertainment, and I'd appreciate observing Detective Barbie star in another playful-yet-eerie game that extends past dress-up and horse-riding. The globe contains plenty of horse girls, but it could definitely use more hard-boiled Junior Detectives cracking important fundraising fair mysteries.