The Franz Kafka Videogame

 PC
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. The Games Machine
    May 5, 2017
    70
    The Franz Kafka Videogame is a delicious mix between books and videogames, resulting in a unique and visionary work. The puzzles are decent, but not always clear, and usually require a deep knowledge of the author. Considering the "gestural" gameplay, we'd recommend you wait for the mobile version.
  2. COGconnected
    Apr 30, 2017
    70
    As frustrating as the puzzles were, I still appreciated the game overall. I commend the developer for taking on such an odd corner of literature and creating a unique story inspired by a Bohemian author. The art and music are so well done that I hope to see more of what comes from this developer; furthermore, I hope to maybe see more of these themes explored in other games as well.
  3. Areajugones
    Apr 21, 2017
    70
    The Franz Kafka Videogame is a smart, beautiful and challenging game. However, its very short duration makes it feel like it has wasted a lot of potential.
  5. SpazioGames
    Apr 4, 2017
    70
    A weird and pleasant puzzle game, which delivers a nice challenge. Too bad that game is rather short, and the difficulty level has some ups and downs.
  6. Digitally Downloaded
    Apr 3, 2017
    70
    The Franz Kafka Game is an interesting attempt at representing Kafka’s narrative style in an interactive medium. It’s not always going to be fun to play, but it’s a memorable experience which relies upon witty writing and clever design rather than technology or rewards systems. This is a game which is often confusing and unintuitive, but it gets away with it under the guise of being true to its source material. If you’re in a pensive mood and want to play something that’ll make you think, The Franz Kafka game will gently help you let go of reality and embrace the absurd.
  7. Everyeye.it
    Apr 6, 2017
    68
    Quotation forthcoming.
  8. GamingTrend
    Apr 4, 2017
    65
    The Franz Kafka Videogame is a unique adventure game experience, filled with unique art style and accessible puzzles. However, a baffling story that goes nowhere and a dreadfully short length make the game simply adequate rather than surreal.
  9. 4Players.de
    Apr 4, 2017
    65
    It sounds more promising than it really is. With all due respect to the solo development effort of Denis Galanin the picture puzzles become redundant after a while – especially since they are almost void of Kafka’esque elements.
  10. GameCritics
    Jul 13, 2017
    60
    Regardless of its visual design, The Franz Kafka Game fails to deliver a satisfying experience. Literary devotees of Kafka may find plenty of Easter eggs that reward their esoteric knowledge, but the average player will likely find irritating puzzles that are only slightly palatable thanks to the game’s appealing aesthetic.
  11. GameStar
    May 25, 2017
    60
    If you like puzzles, this may be for you. If you want some Kafka, stay away.
  12. The Overpowered Noobs
    May 7, 2017
    60
    While The Franz Kafka Videogame ends up feeling a tad pretentious in its use of Kafka’s name, the artwork and some of the puzzles are worth appreciating. Bits and pieces can be frustrating, and the short play time is a downside, but fans of experimental point-and-click adventures might still want to check this one out.
  13. Gameblog.fr
    May 1, 2017
    60
    The Franz Kafka Videogame is a surprising point and click which celebrates surrealism more than the author himself. Its delicious visuals and tricky puzzles will delight those who do not look for a real Kafka tribute. Unfortunately, its length and simplicity will prevent it from staying in your memories for long.
  14. InsideGamer.nl
    Apr 10, 2017
    60
    There are some ingredients there to be a good game, but this is not a game that completely honors Kafka. This did not turn out the way we hoped it would.
  15. JeuxActu
    Apr 4, 2017
    55
    If The Franz Kafka Videogame has some appeal, overall, the vast lack of content makes it look more like a smartphone enigma game, rather than a real PC game as you can beat it easily in under 2 hours.
  16. Adventure Gamers
    Nov 14, 2018
    50
    The Franz Kafka Videogame offers a highly surreal taste of the renowned author’s works in a linear puzzle-oriented experience, but lacks enough depth to truly do them justice.
  17. GameGrin
    Jul 10, 2017
    50
    The game encapsulates the frustration and confusion that I have often heard Kafka’s work draws upon. Unfortunately, these things work about as well in a videogame as a dollop of jam does in a classic novel. I’d avoid unless you really like the author.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 22
  3. Negative: 4 out of 22
  1. iseeall
    Aug 10, 2017
    7
    More like an "experience" than a real game, and it's hard to rate it or give thumbs up/down. Yet it can be classified as a puzzle game withMore like an "experience" than a real game, and it's hard to rate it or give thumbs up/down. Yet it can be classified as a puzzle game with hints.

    The good:
    - pleasant graphics and audio; it's a work of art, not entertainment
    - some of the puzzles are pretty imaginative

    The so-so:
    - the overall feel of pointlessness - that's what the game was actually trying to achieve, since it's about absurdist art. But from a gamer's perspective, it's just a collection of puzzles which aren't really connected with any story - as it should be in this case! After a certain amount of puzzles the game just ends, that's the end of the absurd adventure.
    - some puzzles are borderline schizophrenic. Without hints they are generally unsolvable. Some other puzzles are too obvious. Dunno, maybe it just depends on the player. At least there are hints.

    The bad:
    - the game is very short. I lacked imagination to solve many of the puzzles, so I had to wait for hints to appear (the 1st hint you get after 2 mins, and the second hint after 4 mins). Even with so much waiting, it took me 2.5 hours to complete the whole game.

    It's an artistic experience which, for adults, may be worth the $2-5 you might pay for this. Treat it not like playing a game but like visiting a museum of modern art. In fact, I'd like to see more games like this: pushing boundaries of the medium.    … Full Review »
  2. kamealex
    May 8, 2017
    7
    Althrough it has really good ideas and fun puzzles, it's so short that feels lazy, even for a 10 bucks title. I finished it in 1 hour and aAlthrough it has really good ideas and fun puzzles, it's so short that feels lazy, even for a 10 bucks title. I finished it in 1 hour and a half. The dialogue is poorly writen and it's no match for the puzzles; smart and weird as it has to be.

    A real shame, because this game has a potential they should have exploited way beyond, even if they had to go for a 20€ title: bigger and better.    … Full Review »
  3. mykk
    Oct 2, 2017
    2
    While Kafka was anything but random, this game sure is.

    It seems that the creator of the game had no clue what Kafka is really all about.    While Kafka was anything but random, this game sure is.

    It seems that the creator of the game had no clue what Kafka is really all about. Sure, there are plenty of absurdities in the writings of one of the best authors of all time, that one might find random, but they are grotesque and unsettling, they will make you feel insignificant, helpless and powerless against the weight of the system. They serve a purpose.

    Here everything is just random without any real purpose. What's the deal with the monkey-detective? Or the astronaut, that we never see again? A flying fish or a flying boat? Random things just happen and we're done with them forever. The whole game seems completely amateur and lacks focus. You can't just throw random things at us and pass that as Kafkaesque, it doesn't work that way. To top it off, there is also a pointless Twin Peaks reference that doesn't go anywhere and a cameo of some dude in a fighting minigame in a style of Mortal Kombat.

    The story has very little to do with Kafka, except that the protagonist of the story, named simply K. is involved in events that are beyond his own control and tries to find the way out of it (kind of, there are no clear motives for what he's doing), which is somewhat Kafkaesque, I must admit. There are some twists and turns, but overall, not too much of a story at all. The Kafka references are nothing but a pop-culture joke. Stretched over 4 chapters, the whole script probably took no more than 2 regular pages, including the dialog. The events don't connect to each other much or at all. Random things just happen and nothing really makes any sense or has any purpose.

    The characters are non existent, even the main protagonist has no personality whatsoever. I have hard time to say anything else about any of them, because there is nothing to say. There is also a companion dog, fallowing K. for some reason. Do I have to mention that there is zero interaction with the dog throughout the game?

    You might think that this is a short game and a single person effort, so how much of a story and character development I should expect?

    But short games, and even games that were made by a single person can be good or even great games: Milkmaid of the Milky Way is a great example, Gemini Rue is a single person effort, while not exactly short, Fran Bow was developed by a team of 2, I'm yet to play The Darkside Detective, but I've heard it's great. The thing is, I bought this game because I knew it's short, I love short games. If I have just one evening a month I can spend point-and-clicking, there is nothing better for me than a 2-4 hour game.

    Sure, short, small team games might not have it all, maybe the story is lacking, perhaps puzzles are somewhat weak, but there must be something that makes them worthwhile. I could forgive a lot if there is at least one aspect in the game that stands strong. In fact, I wouldn't mind anything that's wrong with this game, if at least puzzles were half decent.

    But the puzzles in this game are downright annoying and actually the worst part of the game! They have absolutely nothing to do with the game itself, they are just a very amateur way of dragging this game longer than it should have been. Of course, the number sliding puzzle has to be in there, how else are you going to show your lack of creativity? Oh, here is an idea: maybe instead of creating some real puzzles as obstacles to overcome, why not simply depict going somewhere as a simple board game?!

    Most of these puzzles can be solved simply by clicking and dragging things around. Sometimes you might not know exactly what you're supposed to be doing, but just click enough things around and eventually you'll get there.

    Other times, I failed to find the logic behind the puzzles whatsoever. Sure, there were hints for how to solve most of them, but they still made no sense. There was a puzzle with a toy monkey, you drag the string, the monkey plays the drums. Notice the number on the hat and play the drums to represent that number. I get it, but in what way does that make any sense whatsoever? Why would there be something when we played the correct sequence?

    Other times there were brute force puzzles: click on something, see what happens, rinse, repeat. Perhaps I just wasn't looking hard enough, but it looked like there's all there is to them. The hardest part of the most puzzles were to find things that you're able to click on, or find what obj    … Full Review »
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