The Franz Kafka Videogame on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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An original puzzle/adventure game inspired by the writings of Franz Kafka.

The Franz Kafka Videogame is a adventure, surreal and indie game developed by Denis Galanin (mif2000) and published by Daedalic Entertainment.
Released on April 06th 2017 is available only on Windows in 14 languages: English, Russian, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Czech, Turkish and Ukrainian.

It has received 837 reviews of which 540 were positive and 297 were negative resulting in a rating of 6.3 out of 10. 😐

The game is currently priced at 1.04€ on Steam with a 85% discount, but you can find it for 0.40€ on Gamivo.


The Steam community has classified The Franz Kafka Videogame into these genres:

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at The Franz Kafka Videogame through various videos and screenshots.

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS *: Windows 7 or higher
  • Processor: 1 GHz
  • Memory: 512 MB RAM
  • Graphics: 256 MB
  • DirectX: Version 9.0
  • Additional Notes: OpenGL 3.0 support. Monitor with 1024x768 or higher resolution support

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

14 hours played
May 2026
The Franz Kafka Videogame is a surreal puzzle adventure that fully embraces absurdity, ambiguity, and dreamlike storytelling in a way few games attempt. Developed by Denis Galanin and published by Daedalic Entertainment, the game takes inspiration from the themes and atmosphere commonly associated with Franz Kafka’s literary works. Rather than adapting one specific novel, it creates an original narrative shaped around existential confusion, bizarre symbolism, and the feeling of being trapped inside a world that follows incomprehensible rules. The result is an unusual and often fascinating experience that feels more like wandering through a living nightmare than playing a traditional point-and-click adventure. The story centers around a man identified only as K., a deliberate nod to Kafka’s habit of giving his protagonists incomplete identities. After accepting a strange job offer, K. begins a journey through surreal locations filled with impossible architecture, silent authority figures, and bizarre events that rarely receive direct explanation. Much like Kafka’s stories, the narrative constantly creates questions while refusing to provide comfortable answers. The player is left navigating a reality where logic feels unstable and every situation carries an underlying sense of anxiety and uncertainty. One of the game’s greatest strengths is its atmosphere. From the very beginning, the world feels unsettling in subtle but effective ways. Familiar locations are twisted into strange and symbolic spaces populated by mysterious figures and absurd scenarios. Giant insects, impossible machines, distorted cities, and surreal puzzles appear throughout the experience, creating a constant feeling of unpredictability. The game succeeds because it fully commits to its strange identity instead of trying to balance surrealism with conventional storytelling. Every moment feels intentionally designed to make the player slightly uncomfortable or confused. Visually, the game stands out because of its hand-drawn art style and imaginative environmental design. The muted color palette and exaggerated scenery create an atmosphere that feels both melancholic and surreal. Each screen resembles an illustration pulled from a bizarre dream, filled with strange details that invite players to stop and examine their surroundings. Despite the relatively simple presentation, the art direction carries much of the game’s emotional impact. The environments constantly reinforce the themes of alienation and uncertainty that define the experience. The gameplay structure is intentionally minimalist. Unlike many point-and-click adventures that rely on inventory management or complicated dialogue systems, The Franz Kafka Videogame keeps its mechanics simple and focused entirely on environmental interaction and puzzle solving. Most puzzles exist within isolated scenes where players manipulate objects, identify patterns, or interpret visual clues to progress. This streamlined approach helps maintain pacing and keeps the experience focused on atmosphere rather than mechanical complexity. The puzzles themselves are both one of the game’s strongest features and its biggest weaknesses. Some challenges are creative and satisfying, rewarding players for thinking symbolically and paying attention to unusual visual details. Others can feel frustratingly obscure because the game rarely explains its internal logic. At times, solutions seem based more on surreal intuition than actual reasoning, which can either enhance immersion or become irritating depending on the player’s tolerance for abstract design. Fans of experimental puzzle games may appreciate this unpredictability, while players expecting more structured logic could easily become frustrated. The soundtrack contributes heavily to the overall tone. Soft ambient music and unsettling audio cues quietly reinforce the feeling of isolation present throughout the adventure. The game rarely uses loud or dramatic music, instead relying on subtle sound design to create emotional discomfort and mystery. Combined with the strange visuals and silent storytelling, the audio design helps create a world that constantly feels emotionally distant and slightly hostile. What makes the game particularly interesting is how effectively it translates literary themes into interactive form. Kafka’s work often explored helplessness, bureaucratic absurdity, existential anxiety, and the fear of systems beyond human understanding. The game mirrors these ideas not only through narrative but also through gameplay itself. Players frequently encounter situations that seem irrational or impossible to fully interpret, forcing them to continue forward without certainty or understanding. This design choice creates a strong connection between the game’s mechanics and its philosophical themes. At the same time, the game’s commitment to ambiguity may alienate many players. The story offers very little direct emotional attachment or character development, focusing more on symbolic imagery and atmosphere than personal drama. Those unfamiliar with Kafka’s writing or uninterested in abstract storytelling may find the experience confusing, emotionally empty, or overly pretentious. Some moments feel intentionally bizarre without providing enough thematic payoff to justify the confusion, which can make the game feel inconsistent despite its creative ideas. The relatively short runtime is another limitation. Most players can finish the experience within only a few hours, and while the pacing remains consistent, the brevity prevents certain ideas and surreal scenarios from reaching their full potential. Several sections introduce fascinating concepts only to abandon them quickly in favor of the next bizarre encounter. The game leaves a strong impression, but it also feels like it could have explored its world and themes in greater depth. Even with these flaws, The Franz Kafka Videogame remains a highly memorable indie experience because of how different it feels from most adventure games. It does not attempt to entertain through action, spectacle, or emotional melodrama. Instead, it focuses entirely on mood, symbolism, and psychological discomfort. The surreal storytelling may not appeal to everyone, but players willing to embrace its dreamlike logic and philosophical ambiguity will likely appreciate the originality of the experience. For fans of experimental storytelling, surreal puzzle adventures, and literary-inspired games, The Franz Kafka Videogame offers a strange but compelling journey through a world shaped by confusion, symbolism, and existential unease. Its short length and uneven puzzle design hold it back from becoming a true masterpiece, but its haunting atmosphere and creative identity make it an experience that lingers in memory long after completion. Rating: 7/10
5 hours played
April 2026
A short game but actually pretty cool! Kafka's my favourite author and this game was pretty fun, the Point & Click asthetic is already great, but with Kafka's chaotic stories it's even better.
6 hours played
Dec. 2025
"Mixed" recommendation. This is a puzzle adventure, so unlike other adventure games the focus is on solving a series of puzzle rooms rather than having much of a story (which is fine). The puzzles themselves are fairly brain-scratchy and difficult (a lot of visual interpretation of letters/numbers/symbols, etc. ), which is a plus for me. Purely as a game, I'd say this is rather good. If you are a fan of Franz Kafka in any sort of way however, prepare to be vastly disappointed; the author seems to interprete Kafka's stories via a style of surrealism associated more with paintings of said movement as well as some Burrough thrown in for good measure. What this means is that we are given random superficial Kafka quotes and literal imagery which are entirely distorted and deprived from their original contexts (particular victims being "Der Landarzt", "Die Metamorphose" and "Der Proceß"). Don't get me wrong: there's tons of valid and legitimate ways to interprete a work or draw inspiration from it. But if I call something "The Spider-Man game" and then have Peter Parker being a man in his thrties that collects spider posters and then at some point decides to hit the gym while saying "with great power comes great responsibility...to remove my belly flab", then at best that could be a pretty funny take on it. But if done in a deadpan serious artistic sense, where you understand that the author, in fact is *fully serious* with this description, you get more of an..."oh no" kind of feel. That is this game. This is *not* The Franz Kafka Videogame. This is a videogame with Franz Kafka paraphernalia stickers slapped onto it.
2 hours played
Nov. 2025
Weird game. For some parts I never knew what to do so I got into the guides.
1 hours played
June 2025
the story if an on-purpose cluster-♥♥♥♥, but these puzzles are pretty good. they can be pretty cryptic, i enjoyed playing with my wife and each of us figuring out different solutions the other one didn't think of. best daedalic game i played so far.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Franz Kafka Videogame is currently priced at 1.04€ on Steam.

Yes, The Franz Kafka Videogame is currently available at a 85% discount. You can purchase it for 1.04€ on Steam.

Yes, The Franz Kafka Videogame received 540 positive votes out of a total of 837 achieving a rating of 6.26.
😐

The Franz Kafka Videogame was developed by Denis Galanin (mif2000) and published by Daedalic Entertainment.

Yes, The Franz Kafka Videogame is playable and fully supported on Windows.

No, The Franz Kafka Videogame is not playable on MacOS.

No, The Franz Kafka Videogame is not playable on Linux.

The Franz Kafka Videogame is a single-player game.

No, The Franz Kafka Videogame does not currently offer any DLC.

No, The Franz Kafka Videogame does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

No, The Franz Kafka Videogame does not support Steam Remote Play.

Yes, The Franz Kafka Videogame is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Franz Kafka Videogame.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 03 June 2026 06:37
SteamSpy data 12 June 2026 02:43
Steam price 14 June 2026 12:48
Steam reviews 12 June 2026 12:02

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Franz Kafka Videogame, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Franz Kafka Videogame
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of The Franz Kafka Videogame concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Franz Kafka Videogame compatibility
The Franz Kafka Videogame
Rating
6.3
540
297
Game modes
Features
Online players
0
Developer
Denis Galanin (mif2000)
Publisher
Daedalic Entertainment
Release 06 Apr 2017
Platforms
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