So, like with most games, I opted to watch a Let's Plays of it. I watched Jacksepticeye's playthrough, since he's a lively player and gives decent commentary. Yes, I know CinnamonToastKen did a playthrough for Fran Bow as well, but as much as I like Kenpai, I don't think I could stay awake during a lengthy game series with the Bob Ross of video gaming as the narrator. I prefer him for short games like Boiling OSSAN Eggs and Crazy Hangover parts 1 and 2.
Anyway, I usually am left indifferent with a lot of games that YouTubers play, but Fran Bow is definitely one of the exceptions. From the moment I saw Markiplier play the demo, I was hooked. It wasn't a jumpscare fest or a run of the mill shoot-em-up testosterone fest for sure. I was even more excited when I found out that it became a full length game! However, things got a lot more twisted and surreal in the full game.
For those who don't know, Fran Bow is a point-and-click style adventure game about a little girl whose parents are mysteriously and brutally murdered and she escapes her house only to end up in a mental asylum. The game details her journey to escape the asylum and find her beloved cat, Mr. Midnight.
Firstly, I love the story. It is dark and at times fairly gruesome (I've read some reviews that grossly exaggerate the nature of the imagery. It's absolutely mild compared to most horror movies. At least the horrific imagery has a purpose, and isn't just for shits and giggles like in pretty much every Tarantino film!), but it is also incredibly cute and whimsical. If I had to compare it to something else...and I really cannot believe I'm making this comparison...I would say it's like a love child between the movies Coraline and Suckerpunch. Now, this may seem like an outlandish comparison, but I have my reasons for drawing these parallels. It has the "young girl in an extraordinary circumstance that gets herself through life-destroying changes by using her imagination" theme that Suckerpunch has, along with the whimsical imagery and the blurred lines between imagination and reality that Coraline has.
The art style is also very adorable, just like in Coraline. Fran is a lot more polite, meek, and mild than Coraline, but she is still brave. There are also many references to Alice in Wonderland in the game, which only adds to the trippy atmosphere. I also enjoy the steampunk touches in the game, combining a bygone era (if I recall correctly, Fran Bow takes place in the 1930's/1940's) with bizarre technology, creating what is in some parts almost like an homage to Terry Gilliam, The Neverending Story (I swear, Palontras could very well be Falcor's cousin), and other fantasy books/films. As another review explained, the children's storybook whimsy makes the horror all the more striking in contrast, since you're seeing it from the innocent perspective of a child.
The most engrossing part is probably the suspense of the Who Dunnit. Fran Bow weaves an intricate web, one so convoluted that the lines between "reality" and the other parallel dimensions blur together very well. I was literally on the edge of my seat when I watched the final episode and saw the absolutely bizarre ending. *SPOILERS GALORE PAST THIS POINT!* The ending is very much open to interpretation, and here is mine:
I don't think Fran killed her parents, at least not intentionally. I think that demon guy (whose name escapes me but Jack refers to him as "the Lamia demon") may have possessed her, since it's said a few times over the course of the game that he is her weakness. I definitely think that Fran passes within alternate realities and I don't think she's actually insane. She does have a vivid imagination, yet I don't think she could have cooked up something as incredible as Ithersta, since Ithersta is a highly developed world and unlike in stories like Labyrinth, it doesn't seem based on anything she could have read elsewhere. I think Fran is able to fluidly go between these realities not just because of the red pills that she took, but also because she is a child and hasn't been beaten down, so to speak, and lost the curiosity and wonder that so many of us have when we're young. Some people might see the ending as Fran either dying or fully snapping and losing any shred of sanity that she had, but in a game where the wisest character says that death is only what happens when you have no love, it's hard to say for sure. I'm just glad that Fran and Mr. Midnight go back to Ithersta and live happily ever after, because once that plotline about Aunt Grace and the doctor who owned the asylum being in cahoots came into play, I didn't want her to stay in a reality where (as mentioned by the creatures in Ithersta) she is considered dead and really has nothing there for her. In the closing scene, Fran says, "Between grief and fear, there is happiness. I choose happiness", and really, after seeing her parents' bodies butchered on their bedroom floor, losing her beloved cat at least half a dozen times, and traveling to 4 other dimensions, who could begrudge Fran some happiness? In many ways, I really do consider Fran Bow to be the epitome of the perfect cinnamon roll, too pure, too good for this world.
In conclusion, I think it's probably for the best that the creator of this game left the ending so open to interpretation. This way, people can take from it whatever they want. The more cynical and logical people can say that it's a morality story about how living in a fantasy world is detrimental after the death of a loved one and an example of how far we've come in psychotherapy from the days of lobotomies and abusive asylums (though I think Duotine and the red pills that turned out to not be Duotine after all are probably a lot safer than some of the psych drugs that are out there now, which isn't saying much). Other people with more of a whimsical, spiritual, and sensitive nature will appreciate Fran's never-ending sense of wonder, and how instead of being horrified at everything like most people would be, she just sees everything as odd and charming, or just dismisses stuff as bizarre. Her creative streak is also a lot of fun to watch, which I can tell enriches the puzzle solving parts of the game.
Even though I haven't played it, I would highly recommend it, and may even play it myself some time in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment