Sam & Max are back and if the subtitle is to be believed, This Time it’s Virtual. The long-paired LucasArts duo is making yet another spectacular return to the realm of gaming, though this time a virtual reality headset will be required. Developer Happy Giant will bring the duo into their first VR foray and we’ve got a first look at what to expect.
Many were curious about what would become of Sam & Max after the closure of Telltale Games, the studio that put itself back on the map by reviving the then-defunct Sam & Max franchise in the early ’00s. The reveal of This Time it’s Virtual answers a few of those questions, putting the series in the hands of HappyGiant. We know the game will involve Sam, Max, a familiar-looking street, and perhaps even Max wearing a hastily slapped-together pair of VR goggles.
Players will also not take on the role of either Sam or Max, now playing alongside them as a new recruit to the “miscreant freelance police.” They’ll undertake an gauntlet of challenges in an abandoned theme park that allegedly hides some dark secrets beneath its rotting shell. The creators include Sam & Max veterans Steve Purcell (creator), artist Peter Chan, and writer and designer Mike Stemmle. David Nowlin and Dave Boat are returning as the voices of Sam and Max respectively.
Someone I’m friends with on Twitter pointed out to me that maybe it’s a bad time given the current political environment to have two goofy, violence-prone protagonists that call themselves freelance police. That said, I’ve seen both Sam and his little buddy Max play poker and I don’t think we have much to worry about. Little else is known right now, including what platforms it will even be coming to, but it at least seems to be an authentic Sam & Max experience. Now, if the old games could just get a remaster of some kind.
Expect more information on Sam & Max This Time it’s Virtual, including hopefully a PSVR announcement, at some point in the future.
