History VideoGame / FranBow

The narrative that follows [[{{Applicability}} was deliberately crafted]] to be interpreted as either a magical adventure, or one girl's journey through madness, or possibly as something in between.

* WorldOfSymbolism: The entire game is essentially just a trip into Fran's psyche. Maybe.

* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler: One of the Valokas]] that Fran talks to implies that the truth of her parents' deaths is too terrible for her to understand. [[spoiler: Remor shows her a vision where she was the one who killed her parents under Remor's influence]]. Whether this is true or not is up for speculation.

* BrownNote: The cry of the babies that Fran finds in [[spoiler:the house of the evil sisters.]]

* DeadPersonConversation: [[spoiler: Clara and Mia]] play this trope straight as you realize more about [[spoiler: them.]]
** [[spoiler: Mr. Midnight, depending on how you view the graveyard scene.]]

* GuideDangIt: Having trouble [[ItMakesSenseInContext getting to Spring to get the dancer's shoes]] in Chapter 3? You can skip to a specific season without having to wait for the animation to complete, if you click the clock fast enough. Nowhere else in the game is it required [[spoiler: since it's the last part of the Great Wizard's Memories FetchQuest.]]

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Mr. Midnight to Fran. [[spoiler: Only to turn straight into MindScrew land when entering Mabuka's realm]].

* SelfHarm: [[spoiler: The girl who was sexually assaulted does it, and asks Fran to get her something to stop the bleeding.]]

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: [[spoiler: Fran, potentially.]] If this is true, then this means that the character is an UnreliableNarrator.

* RougeAnglesOfSatin: A possibly intentional version in the credits. Yes, Egnlish Proof Raeding is very serious business.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Mr. Midnight to Fran.

** Given it takes place in the 1940's, it was A LOT harsher back then...Lobotomy and Shock Therapy were common back then, while public realization of abuse and mistreatment of patients were only just being revealed.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: If [[spoilers: Aunt Grace had not thrown Mr. Midnight into the void at the end of the game then it's possible Fran would've gone along with her and Oswald's plan until it was too late.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The whole plot scenario. Is it all a magical journey being carried out by Fran, or is it [[AllJustADream all in her head]]?

* BloodyHandprint: When Fran takes the pills in the room of the girl who is drawing, some can be seen [[FridgeHorror on her bed]].

* SkullForAHead: Remor, Fran's nemesis, who has a goat skull for a head.

* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler: Itward, who helps Fran escape the house of the sisters.]]

* FantasticDrug: The Duotine that Fran takes, though its actual effects are never elaborated upon. A quick check in a covered box in the asylum's basement says that the pills might not actually be Duotine since some of the bottles' labels are stated to have been "scraped off". [[spoiler:Later conversations implies that the pills might not even be a drug to begin with.]]

* GoodShepherd: Well, doctor, but Dr. Deern is the only adult who seems to care about Fran and wants to help her recover. Sure, he didn't seem to care that she might need some food after trying her new dosage of duotine, but he does get significantly better as the game progresses.

* LoonWithAHeartOfGold: Fran.

* GuideDangIt: Having trouble [[ItMakesSenseInContext getting to Spring to get the dancer's shoes]] in Chapter 3? You can skip to a specific season without having to wait for the animation to complete, if you click the clock fast enough. Nowhere in the game does it tell you this, and nowhere else is it required [[spoiler: since it's the last part of the Great Wizard's Memories FetchQuest.]]

* GuideDangIt: Having trouble getting to Spring to get the dancer's shoes in Chapter 3? You can skip to a specific season without having to wait for the animation to complete, if you click the clock fast enough. Nowhere in the game does it tell you this, and nowhere else is it required [[spoiler: since it's the last part of the Great Wizard's Memories FetchQuest.]]

* SurrealHorror: Coupled with the intense amounts of gore.

After witnessing the gruesome and mysterious loss of her parents, found dismembered at their home, Fran rushes into the woods, together with her only friend, Mr. Midnight, a black cat that Fran had previously received as a present from her parents. In the forest, Fran goes into shock over the loss of her parents and when she recovers, she’s at Oswald Asylum, an oppressive mental institution for children, and Mr. Midnight is nowhere to be found.

After having a dream about her beloved cat, Fran decides to escape from the mental institution to find him and go back home to Aunt Grace, her only living relative.

* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler: One of the Valokas]] that Fran talks to implies that the truth of her parents' deaths is too terrible for her to understand. [[spoiler:It turns out that Fran herself was the one who killed her parents, under Remor's influence, because he was working for Dr. Oswald, who had been planning to experiment on Fran ever since she was born.]]

* MadScientist: [[spoiler:Dr. Oswald, who depending on where you side on the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane debate, is either responsible for experiments that drove a ten-year-old girl to insanity or left her at the mercy of malevolent supernatural forces, all to further his knowledge. He's not a nice man.]]

* WorldOfSymbolism: The entire game is essentially just a trip into Fran's psyche.

Fran Bow is a point-and-click AdventureGame developed by Killmonday. It tells the story of Fran, a young girl struggling with a mental disorder and an unfair destiny.

* FantasticDrug: The Duotine that Fran takes, though its actual effects are never elaborated upon. A quick check in a covered box in the asylum's basement says that the pills might not actually be Duotine since some of the bottles' labels are stated to have been "scraped off". [[spoiler:Later conversations implies that the pills might not even a drug to begin with.]]

* AffablyEvil: Mabuka [[spoiler:the Queen of Darkness, leader of the Kamala, and [[BigBad Remor]]'s mother]] is very courteous and polite despite Fran intrudding her den and forcibly waking her up with an alarm that explicitly said as something she hates.
* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler: One of the Valokas]] that Fran talks to implies that the truth of her parents' deaths is too terrible for her to understand. [[spoiler:Turns out, Fran herself was the one who killed her parents, under influence of Remor, who works for Dr. Oswald who is planning to experiment on Fran since she was born.]]

* BedlamHouse: Oswald Asylum, where Fran is taken after her parents' deaths.
** Given it takes place in the 1940's, it was A LOT harsher back then...Lobotomy and Shock Therapy were common back then. And public realization of abuse and mistreatment of patients were just revealed.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: Itward]] does this near the end.
* BigFancyHouse: The house of the sisters.

* BloodyHandprint: When Fran takes the pills in the room of the girl who is drawing, some can be seen [[FridgeHorror on her bed.]]
* BodyHorror: Can be seen all throughout the game. One striking moment is the discovery that [[spoiler: the twin sisters arent naturally conjoined; they were forcibly sewn together.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: When using Duotine, Fran can see shadows looming over the children in the asylum. Interacting with these shadows will give snippets of the children's reason of why they're in the asylum in the first place. [[spoiler:We later find out these shadows are the Kamalas, creatures who feed on people's misery, and that they're not latching exclusively on children, as Dr. Deern can attest.]]

** The inhabitants of Mabuka's Den, apart from [[BigBad Remor and the Kamalas]], are all pretty nice for being creatures of utter shadow and despair [[spoiler:including Mabuka herself.]] They're just [[BlueAndOrangeMorality weird]].

* EldritchLocation: All the places Fran goes after leaving the mental hospital, and ''everywhere'' when she takes the pills.
* FantasticDrug: The Duotine that Fran takes, though its actual effects are never elaborated upon. A quick check on the asylum's basement says that the pills might not the Duotine. [[spoiler:Later conversation implies that the pills might not even a drug to begin with.]]
* FetchQuest: Most of the game has Fran collecting items to give to people so they can give her more items to proceed. Especially notable is the Great Wizard part of Ithersta, of which he gives a fetch quest (the magic stones) within a fetch quest (the Stars of Ithersta), itself consists of four different fetch quests. You can only get that chain of fetch quest by doing a fetch quest (his memories) consists of another four quests.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Palontrus, the doctor of Ithersta, is a flying axolotl as large as a whale. No other Itherstans even similar to him, who are divided into plant-like creatures and antropormophic insects.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Very near the start of the game Fran will find an empty wheelchair and, in the desk near the wheelchair, a gun she refuses to touch as she's afraid of it. At the very end of the game both the wheelchair, now occupied by Doctor Oswald, and the gun make a sudden return...]]