Back in 2008, Telltale Games, a studio that was comprised of former LucasArts developers, brought its episodic adventure game Sam & Max Sábháil an Domhain to Nintendo Wii. It was a beloved reinvigoration of Sam & Max as a video game franchise and would see two sequels launch over the next few years. Since then, Telltale has been through a hellish rebirth after nearly shuttering in 2018, and as a result of that some of the properties it once held have transitioned to others.
In the case of Sam & Max, the rights have been transferred to the capable hands of Skunkape Games, which is being helmed by Telltale-cofounder Dan Conners. The studio’s first project? Sam & Max Sábháil an Domhain Athmháistrithe for Nintendo Switch!
Skunkape has done a ton to bring this remaster to gamers. All of the assets have been redone to take advantage of today’s hardware (you can see a sample, below). According to the team, a lot of sacrifices had to be made to get the original episodes of Sam & Max onto hardware via the web back in 2007, particularly the audio, which had to be massively compressed. Here’s a bit more from the FAQ page for the game expounding upon what changes fans can anticipate from Remastered:
“But some of our favorite changes are brand new additions that bring the game closer than ever to the aesthetic and tone of Steve Purcell’s comics. All of the character models have been tweaked, including Sam and Max with Steve’s input. A new user interface and opening credits sequence make the game feel like one cohesive whole rather than six separate episodes. Some key scenes have been punched up with new acting and camerawork, and we created a couple of new exterior locations for establishing shots. Composer Jared Emerson-Johnson even wrote five new jazz tracks performed by some of the original musicians.”
Sam & Max Sábháil an Domhain Athmháistrithe hits Nintendo Switch on December 2. This feels very much like a love letter to both adventure games and the Sam & Max series, so be sure to keep it on your radar if you’re a fan of both.
Foinse: Skunkape Games Press Release
