During Gamescom Opening Night Live, Geoff Keighley introduced the return of a classic adventure game duo: Sam and Max. The brief teaser had few details besides revealing the adventure game heroes you may be familiar with.
Turns out this game is Sam & Max: This Time It's Virtual. As implied, the developers at Happy Giant are bringing the anthropomorphic rabbit and dog "Freelance Police" to VR. It's coming 2021.
Check out an extended version of the trailer below:
Happy Giant have created AR games and other experiences, including Untamed ARena, a dinosaur fighting AR game, and InstaKitty AR, an AR photo editing game that, as the title implies, features a lot of cats.
They won't be working on this on their own. According to IGN, the series' creator Steve Purcell will is consulting with Happy Giant on game design, art and story. Plus, David Nowlin and Dave Boat will return to voice the characters.
Sam and Max's first game was Sam & Max Hit the Road. It was developed by LucasArts and released in 1993. Telltale Games worked on an episodic followup series in the mid 2000s. Other titles in the series include 2010's The Devil's Playhouse and Beyond Time and Space.
Quick Take
I never played the original Sam & Max simply because I didn't explore adventure games that much growing up. But as an enthusiast for old-school PC games, I love seeing a classic LucasArt adventure game series continue to be revitalized. I am a little skeptical of the VR angle here and whether it can be effectively melded with the adventure gameplay. But, with the series' creator helping out, perhaps it will click.
Are you a longtime Sam & Max fan? Excited to see the duo in VR? Don't think this will work out? Whichever way, let us know in the comments below!
