The Residents: Freak Show

The Residents: Freak Show (1994)

by Voyager Company
Genres:Adventure
Themes:Comedy, Horror
Story:Freak Show is an animated CD-ROM created by the rock band The Residents, with animation design by Jim Ludtke.
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user avatar@lalaplangauser avatar@lalaplanga
February 05, 2025
In the mid-1990s The Residents put out a trilogy of multimedia titles, and though their releases were close enough together that they were probably all in development at the same time, they do appear to build upon each other. Gingerbread Man was more of an interactive toy with some random elements, Freak Show provided several characters to explore though without an overarching plot, and Bad Day on the Midway gave a non-linear plot that tied together character stories and randomized events. Having all three titles available would serve to illustrate how fast technology and ideas were moving during this time. Though a lot of CD-ROM titles were of the "click around and explore" variety, Freak Show took that idea a step further. On the surface you are in a circus tent and watching the freak show acts and viewing encyclopedia-type entries about famous performers, but if you find the flap in the tent and pass through it you get to search their trailers and learn something of their personal lives. Recommended for fans of Katherine Dunn's novel Geek Love.
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