FRANK AND DRAKE

Shelley you can’t be serious?

- Luke Kemp

You would not, perhaps, expect a game inspired by the legendary novels Frankenstein and Dracula to feature a David Hasselhoff mural and the ghost of Marvin Gaye. It’s already clear that this is a game keen to defy any expectations you may have, and the results are truly unique.

Although the exact time and place of the setting is unclear, it’s a grounded, prosaic world. The demo opens with ‘Frank’, clutching a bag of groceries to his chest, slowly making his way to his apartment via striking rotoscoped animation. Before long he’s sharing the apartment with ‘Drake’, although they will apparently never meet. Frank works days and Drake works nights – they communicate only via notes.

Frank and Drake is pleasingly difficult to kick into a genre pigeonhole. There are elements of visual novel, point-and-click and narrative choice-driven adventure that take turns to drive the experience. Sometimes, you’re doing nothing more than advancing text, or holding a button to move your character along. Other times, you’re solving puzzles or making a choice which will have consequences for the other character.