Based on comics by Steve Purcell, and debuting in 1993 with LucasArts’ Sam and Max: Hit the Road, the series remained dormant over a decade, with numerous projects canceled along the way. In 2007, the series made its triumphant return with Sam and Max: Save the World, which was promptly followed the year later by Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space. Both of these titles were developed by Telltale, the once-king of the narrative game genre. Just a week ago, Sony announced that a remaster of both games would be heading to PlayStation at the end of the September, opening the franchise up to a whole slew of new fans.
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What To Expect From The Sam and Max PlayStation Remasters
Sam and Max: Save the World and Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space actually received remasters a few years ago, releasing on PC and Xbox consoles in 2020. So, while this announcement may not be of interest to those who’ve already gotten a chance to play the classic adventure titles in all their new glory, it is the first time that the games have come to PlayStation consoles. In fact, aside from the VR title Sam and Max: This Time It’s Virtual, the series has never appeared on PlayStation before.
The general gameplay loop of the Sam and Max remasters is largely unchanged from their 2007 and 2008 iterations and will be familiar to anyone who’s played any of LucasArts’ old graphic adventures before, or anyone that’s played a Telltale game. Players control Sam, an anthropomorphic dog who, along with his feisty bunny partner Max, is a member of the Freelance Police. Players are tasked with exploring environments, pointing at things, clicking on things, and solving a wide range of puzzles, all in classic graphic adventure fashion. The other half of Sam and Max’s gameplay revolves around speaking to the game’s colorful cast of cartoon-y characters.
In Sam and Max: Save the World, the lovable duo are tasked with stopping a range of light-hearted crimes across the highly fictionalized version of the United States, each one being a strongly satirical take on the Hollywood complex. Over the course of the game’s six episodes, players will stop child stars from hypnotizing the nation through self-help ads, arrest crazed TV show hosts, and travel to the Moon. Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space takes place a year later, and turns the absurdity up to 11. Within just the first few moments of Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space, players will discover that their goldfish pet is evil, right before it’s killed by a giant robot that was sent by Santa Claus. The game then tasks players with exorcising a demon out of old Saint Nick before embarking on a space-time adventure.
With the upcoming PlayStation Sam and Max remasters being the same as those released in 2020, fans already have a pretty good idea of what to expect in terms of changes and upgrades. The most notable changes in the remasters come from the visual department, with developer Skunkape Games sprucing up the game’s environmental detail and lighting, bringing it into the modern age. Character models were also given a do-over, with Skunkape collaborating directly with creator Steven Purcell on the designs. The games’ music was re-encoded, and some new instruments were added to the tracks to give them more depth. Aside from the technical changes, a few light gameplay aspects were also tweaked, with certain objects and NPC locations being moved to better the serve the narrative or level design.
Sam and Max Save the World Remastered is out now on Nintendo Switch, and PC, and releases September 29 for PS4 and PS5. Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space Remastered is out now for Nintendo Switch, PC, and Xbox, and releases September 29 for PS4 and PS5
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