Just this morning, I tweeted about how July is going to be a great month for games. Well, it’s about to get even better, as rotoscoped narrative adventure game Frake and Drake will also be released next month for PC and Nintendo Switch (with other console versions coming soon after that). The game has some pretty solid people behind it: it’s from the developer of the gorgeous Stay and the console publisher of Coffee Talk.
The game follows an unlikely pair of roommates solving a conspiracy. It’s a modern gothic tale set in a fictional mid-Atlantic city: the lovingly rotoscoped Oriole City. There are over 8,000 hand-drawn frames of traditional 2D art overlaying filmed footage. The result is quite stunning.
The non-linear branching narrative follows, well, Frank and Drake. Frank is recovering from an amnesiac episode a year ago and runs a ramshackle apartment block during the day. He also cares for Underdog, a scrappy one-eyed wheelchair-riding dog. Drake has a solar allergy, and can only go out at night. He’s a bartender who communes with his dead mother from her grave sight after his shifts. Lately, he’s been dealing with visions of unhorsed people protecting him from someone rather unsavoury.
The pair find themselves enmeshed in a conspiracy teeming with riddles. Players take on the role of Frank by day and Drake by night. They communicate via sticky notes left in the apartment, working together to solve the mystery of Frank’s missing memories, Drakes visions, and an unseen puppet master.
The game lasts seven (in-game) days, and each choice guides the story down branching paths. There are multiple endings, puzzles to solve, and mini-games to complete.
Developed by Appnormals and published by Chorus Worldwide, Frake and Drake will be released for PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch on July 20. Versions for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, and Xbox One will launch later on.
