Franz: Scary Interactive Story

Ice-Pick Lodge

In-app purchases

About this game

Dive into an interactive story game in the mystery horror genre with Franz — the enigmatic creature in your phone.

Imagine that your device is haunted by a mysterious creature named Franz, who has her own will, character and desires. Through face-to-face communication with Franz, visual novel gameplay and phone notifications, you can find out who she really is and what she truly desires. Moral choices form the narrative foundation of the story. The decisions that you make as this interactive story game progresses determine whether you become the rightful owner of Franz or turn into her puppet.

The gameplay of Franz is based on a text-rich story and tactile interaction with the character. Your smartphone is Franz herself, so you need to be much more careful with the device. Franz is unpredictable and touchy, but is very much into you. She is susceptible to physical interaction, just like any real person. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the consequences of your choices when communicating with her, even those that may seem insignificant.

This visual novel is based on physical interaction with a smartphone, namely:

● Word puzzle solving game
One of the main ways of interacting with Franz is by solving various puzzles that illustrate the complexity of communication between people. Like in real dialogue, you can misunderstand something or miss an important detail, which can affect future interactions. Words in this text-rich story game, like in real life, are an important tool of communication, and should be handled with care.

● Touches and choices
You can express your attitude towards Franz through tactile contact, using gentle or aggressive touches. Franz can both ask for your affection and try to provoke you. It is up to you whether to submit to Franz or resist her manipulations as you go through the scary visual novel.

● The interactive story game with a time factor
Franz can kick you out of the app and lock you out of it for a certain period of time. You can choose whether to wait until Franz lets you back into the game or be the one who makes the choices of your own. For example, you may attempt to interrupt the waiting time, but it can hurt Franz in the process.

● Response to notifications
Franz can send notifications when she wants you back in the game. Depending on how quickly you open the app after receiving the notification, Franz will either be offended or delighted.

● Non-linear narrative in the puzzle solving game
Franz is a living entity that reacts differently to every action of yours, whether it's touching her, solving puzzles, ignoring her desires, or indulging her emotional manipulations. Therefore, depending on your behavior and choices, this scary interactive story will change.

Plunge into the scary interactive story game about a choice between tenderness and severity. Discover this visual novel and horror simulation game. Become Franz’s friend or reject her feelings.

Ratings and reviews

The concept and art are original, quirky, and dark. Great sound design. The jump scares work for a short time. The needy notifications fit the character and add to the experience of interaction. I think it gets a bit tedious after a while. There's potential to add more story to the game and adding a bit more "growth" to the character and interaction would be a possible improvement.

It actually was an uncomfortable but immersive game so far, that it's piqued a lot of my curiosity as I kept playing, but like other Android users, there's a bug that's been particularly ignored and not patched yet which is the part where she said she would "hug you," and there's a phrase she obviously wants you to say, but it goes back to where the narrator says "careful, you might scare her off" constantly. I do hope that the developers can get back to updating the game, but it'll be a while.

It's really interesting, but not something I think of as a "game." If you're looking for a game, this isn't it. This is what you "play" if you're patient and fueled by curiosity. It's creepy, unique, and almost certain to make you uncomfortable. My problem is the "ending." At a certain point, with no warning, there's just no more game. You open the app, can't do or interact with anything, and nothing changes. For a game with so much buildup and time invested to go nowhere... I'm disappointed