Finding Frankie Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

I’ll be frank with you, I hate, no, loathe Frankie. It’s not that I dislike mascot horrors, or even that I think that they’re small cogs on a much, much bigger wheel; it’s that characters like Frankie or, for the sake of being more inclusive, Henry Hotline, are prone to being overtly burdensome and irritatingly hostile. For instance, in one chapter of Finding Frankie—a game that openly pokes fun at both Fall Guys and Poppy Playtime, funnily enough—the game requires you to flip maintenance switches in a timely manner whilst also outrunning an oversized animatronic that, for some absurd reason, is a heck of a lot faster than you. It isn’t that it’s conceptually tough; it’s that the game makes a habit of demoralizing the players by turning simple things into bittersweet curveballs and then ultimately rewarding their perseverance with the smallest of tongue-in-cheek gestures.

As it turns out, Finding Frankie is, regrettably, made up of the aforementioned moments and more. And I don’t just mean that it peppers its playground with a couple of tricky obstacles and gimmicky switches; I mean that it literally fleshes out its entire hour-long campaign with a spiraling trajectory of grimace-invoking, mind-sweltering, to-the-point animatronic anarchy. And you know, while I despise Frankie and, to be clear, most of the characters that populate this cereal box, I can’t help but applaud the collective and just about everything that Finding Frankie stands for. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, I guess.

I’d Rather Not Find Frankie, Thanks

Poppy Playtime left something of an itch in its brief but noticeable absence, and so, I had it in my mind that Finding Frankie—the lesser known of the mascot bunch, sadly—would be the perfect glue to bridge the gaps and, with any luck, gauge a chunk out of my undying desire for stupid yet annoyingly addictive jack-in-the-box horrors. And to my honest surprise, I was able to find everything that I wanted in Finding Frankie, from the insanely tense chase sequences to the painfully punishing obstacle courses, the oddly memorable catchphrases to the well-orchestrated jump scares. As it turned out, Finding Frankie had all of that — and then some.

Of course, I mentioned the crossbreed of Fall Guys and Poppy Playtime earlier for a good reason. Believe it or not, Finding Frankie is exactly that: a perfectly balanced illegitimate brainchild of two beloved IPs—a two-for-one experience, if you will, that waxes the vibrant imagination of Fall Guys’ ludicrously bouncy trials and the tampered mascots of Poppy Playtime and, for good measure, Five Nights at Freddy’s. The only thing that sets this world apart from its peers, of course, is that it incorporates parkour into the mix. And, to give credit where it’s due, the idea of merging parkour with chase sequences is Finding Frankie’s smoking gun here. It’s just a shame that said chase sequences are painfully taxing on the senses. Can’t win ‘em all though, I suppose.

A Fever Dream for the Senses

Finding Frankie casts its focus on a live game show—a multi-million dollar saga that offers a small group of “lucky” fans of a dated children’s franchise the chance to accrue immeasurable rewards. True to the nature of mascot horrors, however, that very game show quickly goes awry in the wake of your arrival, and the beloved characters, as joyous and as inviting as they initially seem to be, become detached from their hospitable personalities to succumb to a slightly more hostile way of thinking. From there, it’s a textbook routine; the player embarks on a noble quest to survive the trials that the show puts out before them, and does all in their power to avoid a rather daunting fate.

Story-wise, Finding Frankie doesn’t have too much going for it. In fact, it more or less follows a similar path as My Friendly Neighborhood (or any other mascot-based horror, for that matter). By that I mean, it almost immediately discards the jargon and small talk, and instead pivots into a fast-paced introduction that, quite frankly, doesn’t take the time to walk you through the motions and hold you hand. With that, it tells you that you can run, slide, and jump — and then drops you into a sadistic world where obstacles can, and often will kill you. But I sort of enjoy that approach; it means less time reading and analyzing, and more time butting heads with the breadth of the game and its characters’ annoyingly compelling traits.

I’d Rather Quit

I won’t pretend that Finding Frankie is an absolute doddle to work through, because it isn’t anything of the sort. Much like your usual obstacle course, in fact, the biggest challenge you have to face here is the one that plagues your mind. Sadly, Finding Frankie is a game that doesn’t accept anything other than absolute perfection. In other words, if you mess up on even the smallest obstacle, then the game punishes you by rewinding the clock and forcing you to attempt it again…and again…and again. And that general rule of thumb applies in its chase sequences, too, which, depressingly, make up roughly forty percent of the campaign. Go figure. But it’s fun, right? Right?

Thankfully, Finding Frankie does make an admirable attempt at keeping you on tenterhooks by juggling its painfully long chase sequences and unforgiving trials with a great deal of genuinely interesting characters and catchphrases. Sure, the cast may be tighter than you bottomless pit of ragtag rogue animatronics, but where it lacks in its sizable roster it generously makes up for in creative design elements and characteristics. That counts for a great deal, truly.

Verdict

Finding Frankie keeps the mascot horror scene alive with a slept-on parkour-based thrill fest that pays tribute and simultaneously pokes fun at the likes of Fall Guys and Poppy Playtime in the best possible way. With its own share of unique animatronics and horrifically intense chase sequences, complex obstacle courses and nail-biting encounters, it quickly becomes a standout experience that is, in spite of all its minor flaws, deserving of that all-important cult classic branding.

Suffice it to say that, if you do enjoy rogue mascots who adore pummeling you and testing your patience in the most barbaric ways imaginable, then you will love just about everything that fleshes out Finding Frankie. It’ll certainly drive you nuts, but that doesn’t mean that you should give it the cold shoulder.