It’s been a long, long while since I’ve ventured into a classic adventure game. It was never really a genre that was on my radar and I prefer my games to be more action packed and visceral. On top of that, I was never a PC gamer when the genre was in its heyday. Well, now the chance has arrived for me to check out Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered. Originally released in 2010, the final act of Telltale’s trilogy adds vibrant lighting and pushes up the pixel count. The witty writing remains intact and, as a newcomer, it’s the thing I’ll remember most.
Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse centres around an artefact called the Devil’s Toybox. It begins in the hands of General Skunk’ape, a galactic simian who clearly likes world domination. It’s up to Sam and Max to rest it from the primate’s hands and return some sense of order to the world. It serves as an introduction to the mechanics of the game but this opening segment also settles on a humorous tone that fits right in line with LucasArts’ legacy.
Over five episodes, the story wonderfully twists with new jeopardies and villains emerging. Each slice of the pie takes on a self-contained, Twilight Zone-inspired presentation that helps convincingly sell the silly, supernatural elements. It’s a great framing and each new episode shows the caper head off into some smart directions. It manages to feel fresh and each cliffhanger ending does well to set the next chapter up. As everything’s in one package, there’s no waiting in anticipation for the next part but I did take a breather between them.
Episode three is my particular favourite with Sam going completely hard-boiled and rogue. The titular characters have a great rapport and, despite this being my introduction to the series, I’ll be lying if I said I wasn’t emotional at the climax. The series plays on that partnership incredibly well and I really enjoy their interplay. They feel like they’ve lived a life together and it was great to see them interact.
Overall, the cast is strong and well voiced. They’re all quick-witted which, I’m happy didn’t wear out its welcome. The characters have well-defined personalities and, much like the Freelance Police duo, there’s connections that work solidly together. The game handedly reintroduces them so I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by entering the trilogy at the final act. If anything, I’m keen to check the other two out.
The gameplay follows a traditional adventure game structure. Sam can investigate whatever location he’s in, pick objects up and talk to anybody that may be in the vicinity. Conversations can be revealing and understanding what puzzles need to be solved is crucial. There is a hint system on offer that does well to draw your attention to where to go next. The dialogue wheel allows more of the clever writing to do its best work. I enjoyed exhausting all of it.
The scenes themselves have a solid level of detail to them and you can highlight key elements at the touch of a button. Sam does most of the legwork he’s able to run in certain scenes. I wish that more universal, especially when backtracking becomes more commonplace. The pacing can suffer when he’s reduced to walking pace in a large location.
Max also exists as a psychic hint machine. He has an assortment of toys which can allow him to see the future, teleport to other character’s locations and these all become facets of the puzzle solving system. Seeing the future is very useful in the early game. It’s a good way to see a situation when it’s resolved without explicitly telling you how they got there. I still had to figure the rest out which, given the game’s logic, required me to be on a certain wavelength.
It makes sense but I needed to steep in the universe a bit to truly grasp it. Your inventory is always small with only a couple of items typically on hand. The amount of locations you visit in an episode is a tidy handful. What complicates matters is Max’s abilities as you manipulate people into the right spot for the right purpose. It can feel like padding but there’s always some joke to go with it. Telltale have managed to do a lot with something that feels more condensed and focused.
The remastering has led to a higher resolution and improved lighting. It makes a difference with this rendition looking brighter and more colourful than the 2010 original. Other than that, there’s not a whole lot new. Load times are kept short which allows the episodes to flow well into one another. There is a film grain option to fizzle in some noir feel and, whilst I do notice it’s there, It felt subtle enough to ignore over time. Other than that, options are a little light. Not that you need to tinker much with a game like this.
I had an idea of what I was in for with Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered. I knew the LucasArts lineage had some baggage but the games were also known for their funny lines and memorable characters. All that checks out and, after playing this for myself, I’m happy I saw it through. Whilst there is definitely some leaps of logic with their puzzle solutions, steps have been taken to nudge me in the right direction. It’s a delightful story with some genuinely heartfelt moments that does make me want to return to the previous entries.
+ The puzzles are fun to figure out, once you've clued into the logic.
+ The episodic framework leads to some tight capers.
+ Has a couple of genuinely emotional moments.
- Aside from the visual touches, not a lot is new here.
- The hint system can only do so much with the more obscure puzzles.
- Not all the jokes land well.