Psychedelic art is a movement of art inspired by psychedelic experiences or hallucinations. Psychedelic art usually refers to those works that are created under the influence of drugs or describe drug effects.

The artistic movement of psychedelism has actively manifested itself not only in painting, animation, but also in video games. In this article I would like to dwell on one of the three manifestations of psychedelism that can be found in games and discuss it using the example of the game Fran Bow. And you can find out about the other two types of psychedelism in games in the video.

The distinctive features of psychedelism include the following:

1) bright colors (very bright);

2) rapidly blinking images that irritate the viewer’s eye;

3) reflection in the game of psychedelic images, on which the game Fran Bow is built.

The main character of the game is a 10-year-old girl, Fran. She wears a yellow dress and striped tights and is a bit reminiscent of typical outcast characters in Tim Burton’s works. Plus, the addition of black and white stripes to Fran’s costume design references the memorable costume of the main character from the movie Beetlejuice.

Being very young, the girl ends up https://noidverificationcasinos.co.uk/no-registration-casinos/ in a psychiatric hospital after the tragic death of her parents. Actually, the game becomes an illustration of her fears and mental experiences, which are embodied in the following psychedelic images:

1) various monsters generated by a sick psyche, one of which pursues the main character throughout the game;

2) bloody scenes of the death of Fran’s parents;

3) the use of psychotropic pills in gameplay mechanics, under the influence of which the main character can move between realities;

4) “meaty” visual aesthetics used in the design of locations (dismembered, bloodied, disfigured people and creatures), for example, in the design of the fourth reality of Senersady.

In general, the main character’s journey takes place under not the most favorable conditions. And despite the nightmares happening around the girl, she reacts to everything absolutely calmly, at ease. This character trait of Fran adds strangeness and psychedelicity to her image, and makes the main character herself a psychedelic image.

Thus, the entire game (the plot, the gameplay, the design of locations and characters) is a reflection of a broken psyche, a person’s experiences, his phobias, everything that comes out when the mind is not able to control the flow of the subconscious, and appears in monstrous images that embody the entirety of fears. But not only this characteristic is decisive for the direction of psychedelism; the main parameter is how these eerie images are drawn by the artist, in what style and manner. Therefore, let’s move on to analyzing the artistic style of Fran Bow.

For the game’s artistic design, the developers chose a stylized drawing style, which allows the game to move away from a realistic demonstration of images. This manner smoothes out the cruelty, bloodthirstiness and adds a touch of dark fairytale to the world of the game.

Fran Bow’s style can be compared to the works of artist Camille Rosa-Garcia, who works in the direction of psychedelic painting and dark pop surrealism. The main feature of the style in which the artist paints is the creation of disproportionate figures with large heads, that is, to put it mildly, unattractive people and animals. It is in this manner that the game is made – there is disproportion in the depiction of the characters (increased head size, large eyes, thin arms and legs), and images of creepy monsters.

As a result, Fran Bow can be called an example of psychedelism in games. Firstly, it demonstrates the mental experiences of the main character, and the entire world of the game is built on psychedelic images born as a result of psychological trauma and taking pills. Well, secondly, from an artistic point of view, the game is made in a stylized manner, which does not so much seek to scare the player as to create a gloomy, depressing atmosphere of psychedelic “children’s” stories reminiscent of a fairy tale or cartoon.

In conclusion, here are a few more examples of games that work according to the Fran Bow scheme:

Sally Face, Murasaki Baby, American McGee’s Alice.

P.S.: It’s important to understand the difference between surrealism and psychedelism, as these styles are often confused, so if you haven’t already, check out the previous article about surrealism in Rusty Lake games and watch a video about how games conceptualize surrealism.

Text and video: Irina Shedko – art critic, author of the community “Player Pattern – New Video Game Criticism”

We also have interactive episodes called Game About Games or Game About Games. You can play the first episode on STEAM.