Fran Bow

The game was a very memorable experience, having both some of the most pleasing and the most creepy art I've seen in any game. Didn't expect to feel so uneasy in a hand drawn (or styled as such) world, nor to smile so many times out of pure joy for the world and its presentation. This juxtaposition of both sadness and pain with joy and compassion gives Fran Bow a feel that's pretty lifelike, like the developers wanted to express something out of their own experience with the game. That's a pretty great achievement in any medium, and I warmly recommend Fran Bow to anyone who feels even a bit attracted to it based on the store page. The reason I docked one star is, for one, that there are a few sections where it feels like the game is making you run from one end of an area to the next just to make you spend more time with the game. For example, in one area there are three bodies of water at a fair distance from one another and numerous quests where your only hint is to go find thing x in water, which forces you to check out all of these places and spent a lot of time transitioning. A minor thing but it annoyed me. The other thing is that I felt like the ending had potential to be more if the developers had more time to deliver it - right now it felt a little rushed with how things were developing. Then again, I was playing the end in the wee hours of the morning wanting to see things through before going to bed, so maybe it was just my mental state at that moment. Oh, one more good thing to add: Fran's dialogue and inner dialogue sound like that of a child, which really helped to sell the character for me, and was a nice change of pace for how kids are often written in different stories.

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.