Over the last several weeks, I have been experiencing the excellent Sam & Max Remasters from Skunkape Games. As a massive Telltale fan, it has been incredible to play these early works. As some of the most well-known point-and-click adventures of all time, these faithful remasters have kept everything intact.
The first two seasons were fairly similar, but it’s clear from the beginning that Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered is a major leap forward for the series. Let’s find out how much it improves upon the formula established in the first two seasons and if you should see this adventure through to the end.
Now This is an Upgrade!
Playing through the first two seasons of the Sam & Max Remasters, I couldn’t help but feel like the gameplay and story didn’t evolve enough for my liking. The first season was odd and weird and wonderful. The second season improved upon the pacing, writing, and puzzles, but it didn’t really innovate in terms of scope or gameplay.
It’s clear within the first hour, however, that Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered is the leap I was looking for. This third season is a proper formula evolution and a fitting finale for the dynamic duo. It retains the look and feel of the prior seasons, but it raises the narrative stakes, bridges the gaps between episodes, and expands the gameplay in new and exciting ways.
This third season of Sam & Max was when Telltale Games came into their own and developed their unique approach to the narrative adventure genre. The first two seasons could walk, so the Devil’s Playhouse could run.
It all starts with the first episode, which immediately throws you into the climax of a showdown between Sam, Max, and a new villain named Skunkape (now I understand where the developer’s name comes from). A new narrator also sets the stage for us, and he checks in throughout the season to provide some context and connectivity between the various episodes. This alone goes a long way toward making the season’s narrative feel cohesive and complete, which I felt the prior seasons lacked.
I was actually convinced I had missed something between seasons two and three because of how quickly The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered throws you into the action, but it quickly became clear that the storytelling style has become more dynamic in this third season.
For example, as part of the opening scene and tutorial, you find that Max has psychic powers given to him by special toys like a phone, a deck of cards, or a glob of putty. This immediately adds a new layer to the gameplay. In the prior seasons, puzzles were driven by dialogue and inventory items, but now, these powers add a new wrinkle to the mix.
Another immediate difference that I noticed was the how dialogue is done through a wheel as opposed to the static text boxes of the first two seasons. You still have your inventory of course, but these additions gave the new season a sense of polish and evolution that made it feel like something fresh and exciting.
Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered also delivers on the promise of higher stakes and more wild settings. I missed this in the second season, especially since it was titled “Beyond Time and Space.” Given that subtitle, I expected more wild settings in the second season, but thankfully, the third season delivers.
In the first episode, you’ll visit plenty of familiar locations, but you’ll also have access to new areas that you discover through a mechanic that involves the friendly computers you’ve known since the first season. These locations are more varied, including an actual Bosco lab and the interior of Skunkape’s spaceship, among others.
In episode two, the variety keeps coming. Without spoiling anything, you’ll find yourself jumping between two time periods in this episode, allowing a whole new spread of locations and characters to interact with.
The third season continues to bring the narrative heat with bigger and bolder episodes, culminating in a finale that is easily my favorite of the entire series. This is punctuated by clever puzzles, snappy dialogue, hilarious jokes, and pitch-perfect controls that mirror those in the first two remastered seasons.
As someone who likes to play a game series from beginning to end, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend jumping right into The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered, but I would emphasize that it’s the best of the three seasons by a large margin. That being said, the narrative payoffs and the ability to recognize familiar faces add to the experience, so I would recommend going for the best possible experience.
The Beginnings of Telltale’s Golden Era
The developers at Skunkape have proved time and time again that they are the best possible people to remaster these classic point-and-click adventures. Despite some of the flaws with the storytelling and puzzles in the first two seasons, you cannot deny the love that went into the visuals and soundtrack, not to mention the excellent control scheme for consoles.
This continues in Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered. This is easily the best-looking, most polished, and most entertaining game in the remastered series, but it also represents the true origins of Telltale Game’s golden era. After this series wrapped, they would go on to make some of the best licensed games of all time, including their award-winning Walking Dead game series.
As a fan of their work, it’s amazing to see where it all began, and I couldn’t be more grateful to the developers at Skunkape for doing the work needed to preserve these gaming classics.
Final Score: 9.0/10
Review code provided by the publisher
Article by – Bradley Ramsey
Insert date – 9/11/2024