After years of waiting and a delay or two, the final remaster in the Sam & Max series had made its arrival to PC and consoles. I had a fantastic time playing Sam & Max Save The World along with its sequel Beyond Space and Time, so now begs the question of whether will I enjoy The Devil’s Playhouse. I knew of the game from my sister who played the original game years ago on PC and she was constantly hyping it up.
I have to say it certainly did live up to it. Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse is five episodes full of the same raunchy, witty, and downright funny humor for which the series has made a name for itself.
For those who are new to the series, let me break it down for you. The player follows Freelance Police officers Sam – an old-fashioned hound dog whose voice is smoother and cooler than your dad’s scotch, and Max – a bunny who is absolutely psychotic and has no filter for letting his intrusive thoughts win. The duo goes around solving cases that have them dealing with the likes of reality TV hosts, the president of the United States, and yes even Satan himself. This time around they meet one of their greatest foes yet and through newly introduced gameplay mechanics and features, they go on one last ride.
I have to be careful with how I say things going forward because as usual, Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse is a story-driven narrative game. This means you’re going to be doing more reading and puzzle-solving than getting involved in action, not to say there aren’t any intense moments (which there are). For those familiar with the game, the re-release keeps everything content-wise the same for the most part so don’t expect any major differences in the storyline. The vast majority of changes have been made to aspects such as colors, lighting, character models, and so much more. Looking back at the original version of the title, this is a major upgrade that makes the game appealing to newer and veteran audiences alike.
Gameplay-wise the game itself is challenging in terms of leaving you to think about some of the decisions that you have to make to progress the storyline. In multiple instances I found myself lost but that only means the game is executing its genre perfectly. Again to avoid spoilers I can’t go too much into everything but just know that you’ll be having an amazing time playing with laughs along the way and I personally enjoyed the challenge.
Conclusion
While I’m sad that this will be the last we see of Sam & Max, The Devil’s Playhouse does an amazing job of wrapping up the story of my favorite duo. The remaster has been done with care and looks terrific. It’s important that if you want to jump into the playhouse, you need to play the other two games first to understand some of the topics being discussed. You won’t be disappointed. Saddle up little buddy and get ready to ride with the Freelance Police for one last time.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
