Fran Bow

From the moment you meet Fran, you want to help her. Her struggle to escape and find Mr Midnight is so heart felt. The game is a super quest, full of twists and turns, unlike anything I have played before. The graphics, sound and game play, stunning. You quickly get draw into the horrific story. It makes you want to read everything, interact with all the characters and objects. There are many wonderful puzzles though out the game. The game is divided into 5 Chapters, a living book. I loved every minute, from cover to cover. After I completed the game, I just had to start again. Wonderful!

Fran Bow it's a different game, is full of violence but also full of tenderness. Is a very sad story. It's beautiful and horrible at the same time. And the protagonist... an incredible girl. When you read what she says or thinks, you can only smile or feel how sadness comes over you. She sees the world in a totally different way, not only because she has ten years... A creepy psychological horror adventure with a pretty unique drawn 2D art-style, a spooky music, a great variety of puzzles (with different complexity), you can switch between two worlds to advance on the puzzles and find objects. It's a great point & click adventure, no doubt about it. Kinda old school. Needless to say, but the game is not suitable for children (depends of course of some factors). It deals with disturbing and violent issues, and show graphic violence in the form of drawings (you can see it in the trailer). Its story is complex and open to interpretations. Although, the game has numerous beautiful and adorable situations too. Fran Bow it's a game which reach your heart and leaves you emotionally drained. (I own the game in Steam)

The game was recently switched to UNITY engine and introduced the typical UNITY SPYWARE along with it. The game opens connections to various internet sites -cdp.cloud.unity3d.com -cdp.cloud.internal.unity3d.com with various subdomains. Not mentioned anywhere, no opt-out option available. Violates GDPR. AVOID!

I regret ever spending money on this waste of my time. First: It's pretty, but like most Burtonesque products it rather hits you over the head demanding to be seen as whimsical and creepy-cute. Second: The puzzles were mostly decent. Third: The thing that really annoyed me was the ending. It's like the designer just decided they were done with the story now and wanted to go do something else. A bunch of confusing stuff happens quickly with vague explanations, and then suddenly "oh it's over now." It's like if Lord of the Rings ended with Frodo and Sam going off in the rowboat, and Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli say they're going to go look for the other hobbits, and that's all there is. To be fair, the fact that I was so irritated by the lackluster ending must mean I was at least moderately invested in the story.

...and Fran Bow moved me. Depressing, whimsical, stirring, beautiful, disturbing, uplifting - these are all things this little game is. A experience worth undertaking, wrapped up in the skin of a point and click adventure game.