October Games Analysis: Fran Bow

          I have to admit something: I DO NOT fare well with horror games. I think it’s the mounting tension of being in a scary place awaiting the creepy monster guy who goes “ah-bloogy woogy woo.” You can just feel it building up so much that your neck hurts, and the anticipation far exceeds the horror itself. But I think the biggest reason I don’t enjoy horror games so much is that most of them rely heavily on jumpscares. Now there are tried and tested ways of executing a jump scare, but overdoing it turns the monsters from terrifying to obnoxious. The worst part is the volume on the sound effects they make tend to be louder than everything else! It’s like watching a movie in the theaters where the dialogue is spoken in near whispers so the audience has to listen closely, then a door explodes or something and somebody yells “WE”RE GETTING’ SHOT AT!” then your ears start to fall off and you have to pick them up off the floor. But enough about what horror games have done wrong; I want to look at what Fran Bow did right.

          Fran Bow is the only point-and-click game I’ve played in the horror genre. In Fran Bow, you play as the ten-year-old titular character as she sits in a bed in a mental hospital for children. She’s been diagnosed with psychosis, likely caused by seeing her parents brutally maimed before her. Fran doesn’t know what is happening and neither do you. All you find out is she needs to find her cat Midnight and her Aunt Grace. To do that, she needs to escape the hospital. This is where the game introduces the point-and-click mechanics. You find out that you can click on things to get items, you can use items on the environment, and you can ever combine items to make new things. Common mechanics for this kind of game, but then you obtain some pills (Duotine) that were locked away in a drawer. You can only get them after you master the basics and once you click the pill bottle icon, you transition into the alternate reality. The first time is always horrifying as the drastic change in scenery strikes you with fear. What the hell are these pills? They’re supposed to make you better, but they just give you hallucinations! But that’s not the weirdest part; the story strays far from reality.

          At the beginning of the game, you’re given information that Fran is quite possibly insane. At first, I believed them. Sure, she did see a spooky demon outside her window the night of her parents’ deaths, but that could have been her imagination. The medicine she’s taking is clearly giving her hallucinations. Yet, some parts of the game are accessible only whilst using the pills. Otherwise, you can’t progress. It convinces the player that maybe she does literally enter another reality when consuming the medicine. Over time, it becomes more easy to buy in to the fact that Fran can see a different world other than the one she inhabits. At one point, she enters a peaceful world that has magical creatures based on nature and insects. Seasons can change at the turn of a clock, everyone is exceptionally well-mannered, and virtually nothing goes wrong. To remind the player that they still aren’t safe, occasionally something dark happens such as seeing some of the demons and listening to their enticing words inviting Fran to take the easy way out and commit suicide. At the end of the game, the player is left with an ambiguous ending. Was Fran truly insane and everything that happened was part of her imagination? Did the events of her imagination then affect the real world and have real world consequences? Or was it all real and all the bad things went away suddenly and inexplicably? I would like to believe everything turned out fine, but the main themes of the game lead me to think otherwise.

          Fran Bow covers themes such as human psychology, mental health (specifically in children), love and loss, suicide, and the duality of mankind. They cover so much that I could not possibly write it all here. It’s some dark and heavy stuff to look at, let alone experience. And yet, we also have positive themes show up such as curiosity, enlightenment, hope, and acceptance. I would say duality is the most prominent theme as it plays out through the entire game. Towards the beginning, Fran’s skeptical of her surroundings, is more likely to do mischievous things, and has no problem being rude to everyone around her. As the game goes on, she becomes more polite and grateful. She learns to be more open to ideas and concepts. Towards the end, she goes back into a negative state of mind being filled with agony and hate. Then at the end of the game, she’s back to being happy.

          This game was amazing to play through. It made me think about things I normally wouldn’t such as how is the healthcare in mental hospitals? Are all patients treated this badly? What happens to someone who’s stuck in a sort of psychotic limbo where everything is real, and yet nothing is real? How would a child react to such vividly disgusting imagery? Fran takes it pretty well. She’s calm and collected seconds after seeing something disturbing like a skeleton with an umbilical cord hanging from its abdomen with the fetus still attached to the other end. Maybe she’s surprisingly strong willed… or maybe she thinks it’s not real.

          There’s just too many questions to ask and far too much to cover at once. The biggest point I wish to make with this analysis is this: horror games should be more like Fran Bow. Not necessarily a point-and-click, but something that prompts you to ask yourself what you should be afraid of. Something that doesn’t rely on jumpscares, but is subtle in how it presents its horror. Something that leaves the player with doubt on what just happened. Was any of that real? Were any of the characters real? Is the hero insane or gifted? I suppose not all monsters can be fought. And if they can, the fight will never truly end.