If you’re a fan of horror video games, you may have already heard of Finding Frankie. After initially releasing in October 2024, it has been picking up some serious steam lately thanks to streamers and social media word-of-mouth. Whether you’re too spooked to play through the whole thing yourself, or just confused by the many twists and turns taken by the narrative, you might be interested in parsing through the game’s bizarre final moments. Luckily, we’ve got you covered, with a comprehensive guide to Finding Frankie‘s plot, gameplay loop and conclusion.
As you can imagine, we’ll be discussing heavy spoilers ahead, though Finding Frankie‘s play style should still leave your skin crawling even if you know what’s coming next. Either way, proceed with caution based on how much you’d like to know about the terrifying game’s narrative.
What Is ‘Finding Frankie’ All About?
Finding Frankie is a parkour-based mascot horror experience developed for Windows by a small team of indie developers known as SuperLou Games. Many fans have likened the horror elements, art direction and atmosphere to the massively popular Five Nights At Freddy’s, while others have drawn narrative comparisons to Squid Game, or a more horror-inspired Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The narrative begins with the playable protagonist joining a handful of NPCs for an interactive game show experience, where they will compete in a parkour competition for a prize of $5 million in cash. The event is being live streamed to an audience of thousands over the net, with a handful of wealthy benefactors donating money every time they’re pleased with the outcome.
In a shocking turn of events, several participants are murdered by an animatronic mascot as soon as the games begin, abruptly alerting the protagonist to the fact that this is a life or death competition. As you run, jump, duck, dive and dodge your way through a series of obstacles, you are chased down and attacked by three Chuck E. Cheese style mascots – Frankie, Deputy Duck and Henry Hotline. Though a narrator voice chimes in over the intercom to inform you that the actions of these animatronics are abnormal, you quickly come across a scene of carnage, showcasing the mangled corpses of contestants from previous seasons. This points to a larger conspiracy about the nature of the game, but there’s little time to weigh on this as your character is chased through a number of complex obstacle courses.
The Game Is Rigged Against You
After escaping from Frankie and crawling up into the vents, the player character encounters a room with written instructions asking them to call on Henry Hotline for assistance. Henry has a telephone for a head which constantly rings, causing him immense migraines throughout the day. Before you can make the decision to place the call, however, the protagonist stumbles across a note from a deceased player, warning you not to trust Henry. This makes it clear that the game masters have a hand in the sadistic nature of the game, and are trying to intentionally lure you to your demise. Still, something about the player character is special to the powers that be, since the man on the intercom quietly informs Frankie that he can’t kill you yet during one of the early encounters.
After progressing through the building, the player eventually stumbles across Deputy Duck, a police-themed tablet that can be taken and used in a variety of ways for a portion of the game. With Deputy Duck in hand, the player can scan objects, learn more about their surroundings and activate a flashlight to traverse through the darkness. While this comes in handy, the mascot is also part of the game, and frequently malfunctions, sometimes attacking the player or willfully powering down. Nevertheless, the duck is an invaluable asset in escaping from Henry Hotline, who shows up during a maze level to chase you through the labyrinth.
Unlocking the Secrets of the Park
Once the player character has progressed beyond Henry’s maze, they make it further into the bowels of the parkour park, and uncover a giant obstacle course placed atop an industrial meat grinder. Here, the blood stains and bodies are fewer and further between than they have been up to this point, suggesting that few survivors have made it this far. Progressing beyond the grinder allows the protagonist access to the facility’s control panel, but entering the security console means coming face to face with Frankie himself. After opening the door and suffering a jump scare at the sight of the mascot, however, it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t the same Frankie that has been chasing you throughout the whole game. This creature, known as the “Other,” is an ally to the player, and assists them on progressing to the end of the game.
While it’s nice to see a friendly face for the first time in the entire gameplay experience, it is suggested that the Other is not an entirely altruistic being. A glance at some of the details hidden throughout the control room reveals the nature of Frankie’s game, and peels back the curtain on the entire experience. Apparently, your character has survived much longer than the average player, and has become a hyper-valuable asset to some of the wealthy donors viewing the stream at home. As a result, the creatures who once hunted you for sport have now been reprogrammed with a vested interest in keeping you alive, while pushing you to continue performing death-defying stunts. We also learn that the parkour park was going out of business before this Squid Game-esque competition began, and that the game has been secretly running for a whopping 57 seasons.
How Does ‘Finding Frankie’ End?
After progressing through numerous obstacles, the protagonist finds themself in a zone titled Hexa-Havoc, which is billed as the game’s grand finale. According to documents reveals by the Other, this is the place where the player is intended to perish, no matter how well they perform. The game, which seems to be based on the same battle royale style as Fall Guys, sees the player standing on a series of hexagonal platforms as they slowly give out beneath him, dropping into an incinerator below. While navigating the room, Frankie shows up, and the two battle it out for the top position. After a while, a cannon loaded with tiny empties itself onto the hexagons, sending Frankie and the player plummeting into the incinerator below.
As far as anyone watching the live stream can tell, the player character has perished, having made it all the way to the edge of glory, and surpassing all previous contestants. Secretly though, it is revealed that the protagonist has survived, and been offered a proposition from the Frankies’ team that’s impossible to pass up. The intercom narrator explains to the player that they have become a ratings machine, and offers them the $5 million in prize money to return for the following season. Both literally and figuratively standing atop the dead bodies from seasons past, the protagonist accepts this offer, and effectively becomes one with the game. Once again, the corrupting allure of commerce has driven a once moral character to side with the interests of evil, simply to make some fast cash.
Will There Be a ‘Finding Frankie’ Sequel?
At the end of the game, Finding Frankie offers a very open-ended conclusion, prompting some players to ask if we’ll ever see the teased 58th season. Luckily, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out, as SuperLou Games have already confirmed that Finding Frankie 2 is in the works. At this time, there’s no confirmed timeline for the game, though creators have been hard at work cranking out additional projects. Apparently the team have plans to release another horror game titled She Is Coming, which is slated for release in early 2026. In the meantime, Finding Frankie is being ported over to consoles, giving players of all backgrounds an opportunity to test their luck against the animatronic killers and their labyrinth of chaos.
