Striking art style and atmosphere
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“From the very moment I started it, there was this constant feeling of unease that never really disappeared.”
Steam review · 8 h played ↗
Fran Bow
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 97%Killmonday Games AB2015Psychological Horror · Point & Click · Puzzle
$14.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 6 h ago
The verdict
A striking hand-drawn point-and-click horror about childhood trauma, with great atmosphere and story but obscure puzzles and an ambiguous ending. Skip it if you want clear logic or closure.
Great for
Fans of dark fairy-tale stories, mental-health themes and classic point-and-click puzzles
Main risk
Later chapters get illogical, puzzles need guides, and the ending leaves questions unanswered
What players love
Nostalgic, replayable favorite
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“No matter how many times I replay this game, its atmosphere and story never cease to amaze me.”
Steam review · 9.3 h played ↗
Memorable characters and Mr. Midnight
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“I became genuinely attached to Fran and Mr. Midnight.”
Steam review · 7.2 h played ↗
Fun, fair puzzles
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“It also is very fair, it provides enough information for the player to logically figure out what to do next.”
Steam review · 13.7 h played ↗
Powerful story about trauma and mental health
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“It remains one of the best representations of childhood trauma & mental health struggles in video games.”
Steam review · 10.3 h played ↗
Horror without jumpscares
Mentioned in ~1 in 38 positive reviews
“There are basically no jumpscares, as far as i know, because the player can mostly "control" when they want to see the "other side"”
Steam review · 7.6 h played ↗
What players complain about
Illogical, obscure puzzles needing a guide
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Puzzles are illogical and a lot of progress is made just by guessing, the game will waste your time if you are not using a walkthrough”
Steam review · 8.1 h played ↗
Quality drops after chapter 2
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“the thrid chapter kills ALL of that.”
Steam review · 6.9 h played ↗
Unsatisfying, unresolved ending
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“there was no resolution of any kind in any way to any of the "mysteries" the game puts in front of you”
Steam review · 9 h played ↗
Incoherent, tonally inconsistent story
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“By the second chapter, Fran Bow has completely lost the plot.”
Steam review · 5.8 h played ↗
Overlong, repetitive, childish dialogue
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“it becomes nonstop dialogue- and it's so poorly written. Every single person talks like they're a child”
Steam review · 10.2 h played ↗
Too gory or disturbing for some
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 negative reviews
“first couple of minites there's a gore feast with chopped up bodies and chopped off heads.”
Steam review · 0.1 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Verified5 GB
Minimum
OS7+
Processor1.7 GHz Dual Core
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, ATI Radeon 4870 HD, or equivalent card with at least 512 MB VRAM
Storage5 GB available space
OS7+
Processor1.7 GHz Dual Core
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, ATI Radeon 4870 HD, or equivalent card with at least 512 MB VRAM
Storage5 GB available space
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