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Games Like Fran Bow and Sally Face: Dark Hand-Drawn Adventures

Fran Bow and Sally Face are hand-drawn horror adventures that look almost like picture books and tell stories of murder, madness and ghosts. These games share that mix of a storybook look, puzzles and a dark heart, from Fran Bow's own studio to Rusty Lake and DISTRAINT.

The games

5 of the 16 games in this guide are outside your choice (GOG) and are left out. Show them all.

  1. Fran Bow key art: Fran, blood running from one eye, holds her black cat before a red-eyed creature, with a skeleton in a top hat and masked figures on the left PsychologicalFran BowThe starting point: a girl escapes a 1944 children's asylum to find her cat, and her pills show her a hidden world of gore and creatures.
  2. Little Misfortune key art: a little girl in a red beret and green coat looks back over a golden autumn hillside, with a fox holding a crackling staff and a Missing poster on a tree PsychologicalLittle MisfortuneThe same studio's next game: an eight-year-old follows a voice only she hears into the woods, in a sweet storybook that turns darker with every choice.
  3. Sally Face store header: Sal with blue pigtails and his white prosthetic face, between a long-haired teen and a figure in bloody bandages PsychologicalSally FaceA boy with a prosthetic face talks to ghosts with his handheld and looks into murders in his apartment block, across five hand-drawn episodes.
  4. Children of Silentown key art: a girl and child silhouettes with glowing white eyes before a pale moon, between red foliage and teal village houses 2D horrorChildren of SilentownA girl in a village ringed by a forest of monsters looks into the disappearances, solving puzzles and learning songs.
  5. DISTRAINT: Deluxe Edition key art: Price in a shirt and tie among a couple with teacups, an old woman in a wheelchair with a rabbit and three bald men, under a looming red elephant PsychologicalDISTRAINT: Deluxe EditionA bailiff seizes an old woman's home for a promotion, and his conscience turns the world into a 2D nightmare; short and grim.
  6. DISTRAINT 2 key art: Price in a white shirt and loose red tie between a hooded old man with a huge pack and a grinning man in a suit, a horned shadow behind them PsychologicalDISTRAINT 2Price walks surreal places built from his guilt, collecting items and solving puzzles, with dread and dark humour.
  7. Whispering Willows key art: Elena's face split between a glowing cyan spirit and her hooded human half, before a dark mansion at night 2D horrorWhispering WillowsA girl searches a mansion for her missing father, her spirit leaving her body to talk with the dead and solve its puzzles.
  8. Rusty Lake Paradise art: a man in a mosquito mask with insect wings hovers in a bare grey forest above a white rabbit beside a hole PsychologicalRusty Lake ParadiseA son returns to his family's island to find it cursed by the ten plagues, in Rusty Lake's grim, surreal puzzle style.
  9. Rusty Lake Hotel key art: the grey gothic hotel on a small island in a still green lake, with mountains and a cloudy sky behind PsychologicalRusty Lake HotelServe five animal-headed guests a week of dinners, each one solved from the puzzles in their rooms and meant to be worth dying for.
  10. Bad Dream: Coma key art: crows perch on cracked yellow paper with ink-drawn glimpses of a hospital bed, a house and a table with a bloody cleaver PsychologicalBad Dream: ComaA sparse ink-drawn point-and-click through a disturbing dreamland where you cannot die but can suffer, and your choices decide the end.
  11. Slender Threads key art: a frightened Harvey by a campfire in a night forest, masked hooded figures behind him and a mustached man aiming a revolver near a red-lit totem Puzzle horrorSlender ThreadsA travelling salesman in a seaside town where horrific deaths begin, and his recurring nightmare says he is next.

Fran Bow follows a girl who escapes a children's asylum in 1944 to find her cat, and the pills she takes show her a hidden world of gore and creatures she has to use to get by. Sally Face, in five episodes, follows Sal Fisher, a boy with a prosthetic face who talks to ghosts through his handheld and looks into the murders around his apartment block. Both are drawn by hand, both are puzzle adventures, and both are much darker than they look. The games here share some of that.

Little Misfortune is the obvious next step after Fran Bow: the same studio, Killmonday Games, follows an imaginative eight-year-old into the woods after a voice only she can hear, in a storybook that grows darker with every choice. Creepy Tale 3: Ingrid Penance drops a spoiled girl into a hand-drawn hell of creatures that want to eat her, and Children of Silentown is a girl's investigation into the disappearances in a village ringed by a monster-filled forest. Before The Night turns a cute animal village into monsters every night, and My Beautiful Paper Smile is a black-and-white escape from a mad king's facility where children are made to smile.

If it was the ghosts and the mystery of Sally Face you liked, Whispering Willows sends a girl's spirit out of her body to talk with the dead of a mansion while she searches for her father, and Slender Threads puts a travelling salesman in a seaside town where horrific deaths begin and his nightmare says he is next.

If it was the guilt and the madness, DISTRAINT and DISTRAINT 2 follow a bailiff whose conscience turns the world into a nightmare after he takes an old woman's home, and Masochisia shows a troubled young man, through crude hand-drawn hallucinations, what he will grow up to become. Bad Dream: Coma is drawn in sparse ink, a dreamland where you cannot die but can suffer.

For the puzzles, Rusty Lake's games are the closest in their mix of the surreal and the gruesome: Rusty Lake Paradise curses a family's island with the ten plagues, Rusty Lake Hotel has you prepare deadly dinners for animal-headed guests, and Cube Escape: Paradox is free to start.

If you only try one, play Little Misfortune after Fran Bow, or Whispering Willows after Sally Face.

Questions

What games are like Fran Bow?

Little Misfortune, from the same studio, is the closest. Creepy Tale 3: Ingrid Penance and Children of Silentown share its hand-drawn look and dark fairy-tale stories.

What games are like Sally Face?

Whispering Willows shares its ghosts and mystery, Slender Threads its small-town deaths and visions, and Fran Bow its hand-drawn look and grim story.

Are there free games like Fran Bow?

Cube Escape: Paradox's first chapter is free; the others here are paid.

Are these games for children?

No. They look like picture books, but Fran Bow, Sally Face and most of these games have gore, murder, self-harm or other dark themes; check each game's content notes.

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