Franken is pure romp. This review will serve as a first hour and final review since the entire game takes less than one hour. It's a super fun hour though. Perfect for a morning coffee or lunch (which I did).
This one is on Itch.io, for free! By the way, I see complaints all the time on itch about games onto getting on steam or some other platform. Do yourself a favor, and get the itch.io app. It manages your downloads and you can easily search and read up on the games there.
Back to Franken.
It's a parody? Satire? No, I can't called this game a parody, even though it's humor and references to classic JRPGs sometimes come off as mocking. Rather, this game is an homage. A linear, simple, easy, joyful homage.
Battle
It exists, but only casually. Ultimately, it wants to be something else. And that something is a gate keeping mechanic for progressing through content. That's right, battle requires no thought, just finding the right item to enable victory. For example, you fight a dragon who kills you easily with a fireball, but nearby there's a cave with a fire-reflecting shield (spoilers!).
It works because the game is too short to tire of the mechanic and the game itself is about humor and enjoying a genre we love, not the fighting.
Progression
Your character levels up every time you win a fight, bar one. And you get a heart. That's it.
Art
Simple, retro, whimsical. Like an old school JRPG FF4 and Maisy the Mouse gave birth to a spritesheet. It works for what it is. It's a little inspiring.
Sound
The music is actually quite good. It's better or on par with the old games that Franken so lovingly mimics. I honestly think of all the free and affordable game assets out there, music has become the best. Sites like Pixabay make the world a better place.
Story
The story is... there? The most amazing thing Franken does is take a typical 20 hour JRPG story and smoosh it down to under an hour, even with 10 minutes of fying around looking for the right place to go. It's got twists, evil villains taking over the world, the first village gets razed. All the tropes! And super compact.
Conclusion
I give this game a Should Play because it's so fun and so short you won't spend too much time on it. But also because it is exactly the kind of game I wanted to talk about and promote when I started writing about games. It's super indie, on itch and free!
This is also the type of game that makes me refuse to have a rating system. This game would score low in almost every category. BUT IT'S SO GOOD.
I'd have to make up a new rating system whenever I encounter a game like this.
Do yourself a favor, this Saturday morning, make a fresh cup of coffee, start up Franken, and enjoy your morning.
