We are now 11 years into the era of mascot horror. Released in August of 2014, Five Nights at Freddy’s introduced the world to a new idea of what horror gaming could mean. Focusing on jump-scares and anachronistic environments, the series was perfect for the growing live-stream ecosystem on Twitch. Along came the popularity, the merchandise, and the broader cultural appeal (although the less said about the movie, the better). So of course, other creators looked upon this success and said, “Well I want that.”
Some “Freddy-likes” focused on expanding narratives, like Poppy’s Playtime or Garten of Banban. Others, like Choo-Choo Charles, focused on gimmicks to set themselves apart. But few have focused on tone and mechanics like Finding Frankie, released last year on PC and out April 15 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Finding Frankie takes the mascot horror genre and, instead of focusing on the spooky or the terrifying, places the focus purely on gameplay and goofiness.
It is a fun game before a horror game, with intricate platforming reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge and a tone more akin to Scream than The Ring. Does it all work? No, but outside of a few stumbles, Finding Frankie is a confident and welcome shake-up to the played genre.
Gotta Go Fast
In Finding Frankie, players are one of four contestants invited via a VHS tape cereal box prize to compete at Frankie’s Parkour Palace for $5,000,000. The idea, you are told, is to be the first contestant to make it to the top of Frankie’s Frozen Peaks. Naturally, things go awry immediately: Just as the countdown ends and the race begins, an animatronic Frankie bursts into the room, crushes a contestant to death, and begins a life-and-death chase through the trampoline park.
The story of Finding Frankie is pretty simple: Live, and you win. There are hints of bigger plots behind the scenes, of unseen hands guiding the competition for the benefit of a live audience watching via livestream. It’s meta without being too grand, instead keeping the focus on the actions within the park itself. Six distinct zones make up the park, with different parkour-based challenges inside. Each zone culminates in a chase, usually by Frankie himself, before moving on to the next area. About halfway through the game, the player is also given a Deputy Duck: a (friendly?) animatronic duck that can be used to flash a lightbulb in dark areas or as a radar to detect interactables in the environment. Unfortunately, these additions don’t really change the gameplay much besides giving you a ride-along companion, with few mechanics added that need Deputy Duck’s assistance.
Gameplay follows a relatively simple loop: Find power breakers on the wall to flip, flip them without touching the floor, and escape. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, until the game culminates in a final confrontation with Frankie in the Hexa-Havoc zone… which is essentially a carbon copy of the Hex-A-Gone finale in Fall Guys. In fact, the last two zones of Finding Frankie are just heavily inspired Fall Guys levels: Frankie’s Frozen Peaks being Slime Climb and the aforementioned Hexa-Havoc/Hex-A-Gone. While this isn’t a bad thing on its face, it does lead to some questions about where inspiration ends and copying begins. I certainly enjoyed those parts of Finding Frankie, but the lack of originality is a small bummer.
Speedrunning Dreams
Where Finding Frankie truly shines, however, is in its setup for speedrunning and player movement. Playing Finding Frankie is genuinely fun, and the platforming can be legitimately tricky. The levels are built for players to poke and prod at, figure out optimal paths, and find new ways to launch themselves across. The implementation of global leaderboards (a new addition for Finding Frankie’s console launch) amps up this feeling of speed, with a persistent play timer ticking in the bottom corner. You can turn the timer off if you’d like, but I found it added to the constant push and drive to move forward in the game. I wanted to be faster and get the path right, even when there was no present danger. The platforming can just be fun to mess with!
This isn’t to say the gameplay is all sunshine and roses. Running can feel sluggish, while the running-slide feels like an uncontrolled shot out of a cannon. The jumping swing is finicky, and I never quite got the grasp of it by the end. Trampolines can be hard to time, and imprecise. But even with those warts, I still found the moment-to-moment playing of Finding Frankie a good time.
Where It’s Always a Good Time
The tone of Finding Frankie is far goofier than I had imagined. While there are certainly some horrifying moments and genuine jump scares, the game itself has a far more whimsical feeling throughout. I found myself laughing out loud at exploding Noob-Noobs and the antics of Deputy Duck far more than feeling actual terror. Things get tense during chase sequences, but each failure was punctuated by a cheery death screen that, honestly, I sought out seeing. Sure, Frankie may have just pounded your mask-wearing character into the dirt, but look at this fun graphic!
The soundscape, on the other hand, is fantastic. Finding Frankie uses both silence and music as a weapon, dropping sound at various points so you can hear every creak of machinery while blasting music into your ears as Frankie sprints behind you. The sound design hits especially hard in the area dedicated to Henry Hotline, one of the other mascots. The dramatic silence and occasional distant thump of Henry’s shoes on the floor create a chilling atmosphere. The music itself on the other hand… well, the less said about the sudden dubstep drop in Hexa-Havoc, the better. It certainly adds to the goofy feeling throughout, but all tension flew right out the window.
Visually, Finding Frankie is a bright utopia covered in the black spatter of dried blood. Although the neon-drenched trampoline halls are set up to be at odds with the mutilation happening within, it never felt particularly scary or even asynchronous. Many of the chase sequences take place in dark corridors and back hallways, while the bright rooms are relatively safe platforming challenges. I wish the game spent more time having terrible things happen in front of the player in those spaces, rather than implying tragedy in the past. Instead, the two halves of the design just felt at odds with each other.
Final Thoughts: Mad Dash to the End
Finding Frankie is not a perfect package, with some genuine execution whiffs. The story is just sort of there, the implications are relatively shallow, and the gameplay loop is repetitive. Taken as just a horror game, Finding Frankie would probably rub folks the wrong way. But as an exhilarating parkour game, with genuine tension as your pursuer gets right behind you, it’s a blast.
If you come to Finding Frankie expecting to feel true terror, you’ll leave disappointed. Come wanting a good time with some horror elements, though, and there is a great package waiting for you.
Score: 7.3/10
Finding Frankie, developed and published by SUPERLOU, is available now on PC and releases April 15 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. MSRP: $14.99.
Disclaimer: A review code was provided by the developer.
Gary is a jack-of-all-trades video game enthusiast based in Boston, MA. A semi-professional fighting game player, even less professional Apex Legends player, and even less professional adult, he spends most of his time poking at strange indie gems and reading about the need for more diverse voices in gaming criticism. He invites anyone to recommend anything he's missed in the gaming world via Twitter or BlueSky, where he can found under the username @grtnpwrfl. When he isn't spending his time playing games, Gary is an avid New England Patriots fan and frequent hiker.
