Sam & Max have starred in only a relatively small number of games since their debut in Sam & Max: Hit the Road in 1993, and following the abrupt cancellation of Sam & Max: Freelance Police in 2004 when the series was at LucasArts. Between 2006 and 2010, Telltale Games released a trio of episodic adventure games starring the crime-fighting partners in crime, culminating in The Devil’s Playhouse in 2010. When old Telltale Games collapsed in 2018, the rights to the three Sam & Max games were acquired by Skunkape Games, a group of former Telltale developers. The rights to Sam & Max themselves remain with the original creator, Steve Purcell. Skunkape first released a remaster of Sam & Max Save the World in 2020, followed by Sam & Max: Beyond Space and Time remastered in 2021. Finally, we’ve arrived at the remaster of The Devil’s Playhouse, which was arguably the best Sam & Max game which Telltale created.
Like the previous remasters, Skunkape Games (named after a character from this game, General Skun-ka’pe) have rebuilt the game in a modern engine, with all of the lighting modernized to allow for much nicer shadows and background shading. Likewise the resolution has been significantly bumped up, giving characters and locations a more faithful comic-book vibe which is reminiscent of the original Steve Purcell illustrations. Some additional details have been added into scenes as well as changes to many cutscenes, most notably the stylishly redone game intro. Likewise the music has been remastered and continues to sound excellent.
The game predominantly uses the original voice acting, with Save the World originally having generated some controversy for recasting the voice of Bosco. Bosco, the black owner and proprietor of the local “inconvenience store” was originally voiced by white actor Joey Camen, but has been revoiced by black actor Ogie Banks in the remasters. I had no particular affection for the old voice and Banks has always done do a good job bringing Bosco to life (although he’s not in this game). The age of some of the recordings does show sometimes though, I noticed that many of General Skun-ka’pe’s lines were clearly recorded too close to the microphone, with noticeable hiss which was seemingly impossible to remove.
Other than that, this is the game many will have already played and loved, although now bundled into a single install rather than individual episodes. The Devil’s Playhouse focuses on Max’s acquisition of various psychic abilities acquired via owning the Toys of Power; vastly powerful toys contained within the Devil’s Toybox. General Skun-ka’pe (a huge alien ape overlord) wants to acquire the toybox in order to rule the universe, and only the Freelance Police can stop him. The game is still extremely funny, with many chuckles and some proper laughs throughout. I’ve always loved Sam & Max’s banter and camaraderie, and David Nowlin and William Katzen’s performances are always a delight, particularly Sam’s jovial “You crack me up little buddy”. Indeed, you could easily read Sam & Max’s relationship as more than just friends and colleagues, if you’re so inclined.
Sam & Max has never really managed to get fully mainstream, always having a bit of a cult edge. That’s always been a shame because the franchise has featured some of the funniest games ever made, which many may have missed out on. The remaster of The Devil’s Playhouse leaves me with a yearning: A yearning for a brand new Sam & Max game. While Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual did arrive in 2021 to mixed reception as a VR-only experience, we haven’t had a fully-fledged adventure game since the original release of The Devil’s Playhouse in 2010, 14 years ago. I sincerely hope Skunkape Games get a chance to give Sam & Max a wholly new adventure following in the style of the Telltale titles, or perhaps even a throwback more in the style of LucasArts’ Hit the Road, a little like Return of Monkey Island.
