Press release:
VANCOUVER, Canada — June 20, 2023.
The London/Vancouver/Tokyo-based indie games publisher Chorus Worldwide Games and Barcelona-based (Spain) indie games developer Appnormals Team, today announced with great thrill and joy that their 2D point-and-click adventure “Frank and Drake”. is coming to PC (via Steam) and the Nintendo Switch (via the Nintendo Eshop) on July 29th, 2023, with versions for PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One coming soon.
The latest title from the award-winning developers of STAY alongside the console publishers of A Space for the Unbound and Coffee Talk tells a strange tale in a fictional mid-Atlantic city. Explore a branching tale of the eponymous, unlikely roommates set in the lovingly rotoscoped Oriole City, with more than 8,000 hand-drawn frames of traditional 2D art overlaying filmed footage.
Frank, still recovering from an amnesiac episode a year ago, runs a ramshackle apartment block as its superintendent during the day while taking care of Underdog, a scrappy one-eyed, wheelchair-riding dog. Drake’s solar allergy requires him to live the night life as a bartender, communing with his deceased mother from her gravesite under the moonlight after shifts. Lately, he deals with visions of unhoused people protecting him from an unsavory character.
The duo’s already odd circumstances intensify when the two find themselves enmeshed in a strange conspiracy teeming with riddles. Playing as Frank by day and Drake by night, communicating by sticky notes left in the apartment, the duo works asynchronously to get to the bottom of Frank’s missing memories, Drake’s visions, and the unseen puppet master pulling the strings.
Delve into the city’s secrets through a branching narrative across seven in-game days, where each choice guides the story down branching paths. Gain insights from multiple endings to uncover the true reality of Frank and Drake’s shared situation. Scrutinize the whole story across various paths with puzzles to solve and mini-games to complete.
“Frank and Drake really isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before from its look to how the story unfolds; it’s the kind of game where if it clicks with you, you’ll really love it,” said Shintaro Kanaoya, founder and CEO of Chorus Worldwide. “Everyone’s going to love Underdog, though. He’s a good dog.”
Frank and Drake releases Thursday, July 20 on Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam for $24.99 / €22.99 / £19.99. It is also coming soon to PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One. The game supports English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese language text. Physical versions for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 & 5 will arrive on store shelves later this year from Funstock.
For more information, follow Appnormals and Chorus Worldwide on Twitter, and visit the official Frank and Drake page on Chorus Worldwide’s website.
About Chorus Worldwide
Chorus Worldwide is a global publisher composed of gaming veterans with experience at world-renowned companies including Microsoft, Supermassive Games, and Electronic Arts. Originally created to guide indie developers into the rapidly growing Asian markets, Chorus now works with talented developers across the world, including Argentina, Indonesia, and Malaysia, finding huge success in titles like the acclaimed Coffee Talk, and the Asian releases of The Room and The Room Two.
About Appnormals
Appnormals is an indie game studio based in Barcelona, Spain with a penchant for innovative storytelling. They tell their narratives through the lens of multiple artistic stylings like pixel art (STAY), traditional Chinese paintings of guo ha (Terracotta), and rotoscoped capture (Frank and Drake).
Jonas “O.J” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround
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Tags: 2D, Adventure games, Appnormals, Chorus Worldwide, Frank and Drake, Funstock, Indie games, Nintendo Switch, Point-and-click, PS4, PS5