Fran Bow

Having played a few point and click advetures in my life I must say that Fran Bow does not break any new ground technically. The approach is the same, look around on the screen, see what you can talk to/interract with and don't forget your inventory. If stuck, hover with your mouse on the screen, see if you missed anything, visit all the places you can and talk to everyone multiple times, try combining things etc. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. But point and click adventures stand and fall by the story and atmosphere they generate and here Fran Bow excells. A very good horror aesthetic with a both nice (as in 'cute') and disturbing story at the same time. The take on the horror is pretty original, I cannot really spot any direct influences with the possible exception of Tim Burton. The characters are memorable, good and evil and the story takes you to both fun and disturbing places, sometimes even within the same screen. So, why not a 5? I guess I will withhold one star because I feel the game is a little too short (would have liked another chapter to flesh out the state of various realities), that some puzzles require guessing as to the techniques needed to solve them (like the impromtu chemistry lesson which suddenly requires dragging and not putting items in your inventory) and that the ending is a bit too light on explanations and 'closure' (although it does leave plenty of room for sequel). Nonetheless, if you like point and click adventures and are not put off by horror elements, definitely consider this!

I love this game. Story of this game is full of mysteries, it makes me think alot and try to think the possibilites of who the murderer is. I feel that the problem solving in this game is ok. Some took awhile to solve, some took just seconds. Great for excersing the brain. Solving some of the problem gives me some sense of achievement. As this is a horror game, they have succeded in giving me the chills and goosebumps. There are some jump scares, gore and creepiness. Overall in my personal view, I give a full star. It has successfully entertained me. Ps. Not suitable for young children.

Very clever adventure game ! With great art done. Originality in mechanisms known but well used. Great story ; lots is told and lots is left to your interpretation. Each chapter unfolds new layers and depth, with its own unique tone and theme (and game mechanics). Some horror, some fantasy, some investigation. Dark, psychological and fun ! Mind blowing journey. One of the best. A little gem.

It starts with the most horrifying mental hospital ever made. The game starts with the best atmosphere. The game goes on. It never stops being creepy or horrifying. If you ever wondered how horrible it was to have a mental illness or a history of abuse as a child just a few generations ago, then here you'll get a pretty accurate depiction. The story, makes sense. For the most part I understand the reasoning beghidn the images and the levels, but it very quickly drops downward after a few levels. I love most of this game. I hate hate most of the second half of this game. It just drags on and the puzzles just get obtuse. By the end i was just tired of playing it. And that was sad. Because I really really liked it. But some parts could have been cut and the game would have been better for it.

This game left unexpected impact on me. I wasn't expecting such development and screenshots/video trailer definitely do not spoil the game. Even if you aren't fan of Adventure Games this one is unique to such extent that it just can't disappoint which is very rare to say about and stand by it which I do in this case. Technically it works great on Linux, just make sure to install all 32bit libraries and most crucial one being libssl1.0.0_1.0.2n-1ubuntu5.7_i386 which you can download and install as .deb package. It isn't officially in the repo for 20.04 Ubuntu releases but it's available in archive as download and can be installed without any problems. There are other libraries too but all others can be downloaded through official repo at the moment hence reason why I singled this one out. 10/10