8/15/2023 0 Comments Fran bow charactersThere’s nothing particularly unusual about the mechanics of Fran Bow. Truly heartbreaking, skin-crawling work, packed with allegory and metaphors. With an ending that, on its surface, is uplifting and positive but leaves a slew of questions in its wake - questions whose answers could turn this happiness into a boiling grease-fire of despair - and a load of lore beyond the main game, Fran Bow has built a world up to the player’s interpretation on top of the bones of expert storytelling. While there’s a degree of vagueness to the story, I can say with full certainty I’ve never seen an indie game build a world so elegantly. I felt protective of her, as her relentless optimism, faith in herself and evolving willingness to engage in brutality blossomed before my eyes. I learned to love Fran by the time our journey came to a close. There’s an intriguing subtext about the misuse of medical experiments, including a character I perceive as an analog for Nazi death-doctor Josef Mengele, and a boatload of allegorical references, but the core narrative of Fran’s battle against herself is the high point of this tale. Ultimately, Fran Bow is a story of indescribable trauma and the lengths to which a young mind will go to cope. Along the way, Fran meets plenty of Wonderland-ish characters with problems to solve and their own plans for the girl and Mr. There’s even a section of the game that reminded me of Where The Wild Things Are. Midnight, spirals through worlds fantastical and horrific, but rarely both at the same time. Shortly after the demo ends, Fran’s journey to escape a mental hospital and locate her lost cat, Mr. The first segments of Fran Bow deal almost entirely in horror-themed mindfuckery, but largely are rooted in what appears to be reality. In summary, a young girl in the mid-1940s must escape captivity in a mental hospital and learn the truth about her parents’ horrific murder. In fact, I feel it’s safe to say the demo is somewhat misleading. You might expect plenty of bloody imagery, off-putting characters and deadly situations.įran Bow offers much, more more. If you played the demo, you may expect Fran Bow to be a Silent Hill-esque horror story about a damaged little girl and her quest for freedom. These posts may be viewed at and are, in order: In addition, I wrote several running commentaries as I played through the game. Though I will, of course, attempt to remain vague as to specific details, some plot spoilers may lie ahead. Let’s take the red pill and see where this rabbit hole goes. She’s one of my favorite protagonists of the year, with plenty of character depth and an endearing attitude.Īt the risk of spoiling the rest of the review, I must set us off on this psychological journey by proclaiming:įran Bow sets a benchmark for adventure game narratives. At the time, I thought it was an interesting-looking little point and click that had, at best, an hour or two of potential content before it would run its course.Īfter purchasing the full version and playing all the way through, I can safely say those initial impressions missed the mark by a country mile.įran Bow, the love child of two-person development team KillMonday Games, is a point-and-click horror/adventure game starring a 10/11-year-old orphan of murdered parents named Fran Bow.įran is an interesting little goth pixie of a character, at once sunny and precious sorrowful and wryly observant. I’ve followed the evolution of Fran Bow since Markiplier’s playthrough of the demo quite a while back. I’m not crazy! It’s you, you’re the crazy one! Mommy, daddy? Is that you? Was that you? Kitty?
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