The history of gaming is written at a brisk pace. Not too long ago, LucasArts and Sierra fought it off for the throne of the adventure game kingdom. Nowadays most gamers don’t even recall what a classic point & click game is, let alone that Sierra and LucasArts even existe🃏d.
Let’s freshen up everyone’s memory with some of the best adventure games ever made by what I believe was the best adventure game studio to ever exist.
Loom (1990)
Loom is the black sheep of LucasArts’ adventure catalogue, but it’s not a bad game. It features a very experimental take on point & click gameplay, and it’s one of the very few LucasArts titles to mostly do away with comedy to pursue a more serious storyline in a hard fantasy setting.
Loom mostly achieved what it set out to do, as its story got a lot of praise by the time of its release, but I’m just not crazy about its overtly complex take on gameplay. Loom didn’t sell very well, so everything LucasArts came up with for Loom mostly died with it — and we’re also not likely to see a remaster anytime soon.
The Dig (1995)
The Dig is the other game in LucasArts’ catalog to deviate from the norm, and also to mixed results. Whereas Loom went for Fantasy, The Dig went for Sci-Fi, but it had a🌃 few more cards up its sleeve than its predecessor.
The Dig featured fantastic presentation that included a movie-worthy soundtrack, excellent voice acting by Hollywood pros, fantastic graphics, and even state of the art cutscenes. The Dig felt mesmerizing due to its highly-immersive e🐠nvironment, but most complained about it being hampered by gameplay that felt challenging in an unfun way.
Though The Dig has enjoyed a deserved positive re-evaluation in the years since it’s launch, it’s also yet to receive a remaster.
Maniac Mansion (1987)
This is the first LucasArts adventure title, and also the game that put Lucasarts on the♑ map for its prowess in the adventure game genre.
Maniac Mansion came out in 1987 and is yet to get the remaster treatment so yes, it will feel considerably dated to someone picking it up nowadays — especially if they’re new to the genre. Still, it features a very memorable cast of characters and a wide collection of great jokes, so it’s still an artifact worth unearthing for some.
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990)
This is both the most iconic series to spawn out of LucasArts, and also the one still living, as proven by the fantastic Return To Monkey Island. The Secret of Monkey Island is where it all started and, despite being a little rough around the edges for today’s standards gameplay-wise, it still has a bunch of jokes that instantly became classics.
Did you know The Secret Of Monkey Island is the reason why the Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl exists? That’s how awesome this game is. The only reason I’m not ranking it higher is because it also the reason why the sequels exist.
Sam & Max Hit The Road (1993)
Detective work is a staple of adventure games, and one of the best titles in the detective point & click adventure genre is, intere🦂stingly, a spoof of the genre.
On top of some great puzzles — the lifeblood of the genre — this beautiful game based on the comics by Steve Purcell stars Max, the rabbit part of this detective duo, who’s a complete psycho and one of the funniest characters in gaming. Deadpool & Wolverine proved once again that buddy comedies are the way to go, and Hit The Road remains an absolute classic of the genre.
And, best of all, naysayers can’t criticize it for doing law enforcers dirty, because Sam & Max aren’t police — they’re freelance police!
Full Throttle (1995)
Adventure games tend to put players in the shoes of characters who tend to have more brains than brawn — is my kind way of avoiding calling them nerds. Full Throttle is a great antidote for that, as it allows players to embody one badass — one who’s also pretty smart.
Full Throttle manages to have a bit more of a darker edge, but not without doing away with Lucasarts’ classic charm and comedic flair. It’s also filled with memorable puzzles that oftentimes come accompanied with beautiful 2d animation sequences. Full Throttle also enjoyed the remaster treatment, so there’s no excuse to avoid trying it out nowadays.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992)
Living in a time when an Indiana Jones video game is better than any Indiana Jones sequel feels unprecedented, but Indiana Jones and The Great Circle isn’t the first game to do it. Before that, we had Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, the rare point & click adventure that surpassed most of the movies it was based on, and, interestingly, also gave players the kind of gameplay freedom people are praising The Great Circle for.
The controls are a bit dated by today’s standards. A nice simple remaster is way overdue, but, if you like Indiana Jones and/or games with intricate puzzles and a fun story, Fate Of Atlantis is still worth checking out.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (1991)
Monkey Island 2 is one of the greatest sequels of all time. It outdoes the already great predecessor in just about every thing it did right, then even adds a lot of welcome elements to the mix. LeChuck’s Revenge feels darker, and with the darknes🐲s comes a much opportune higher level of ꦓdifficulty and depth for its the puzzles.
The series went back to its lighter tone for all the remaining games in the series, so LeChuck’s Revenge is both awesome and unique.
Maniac Mansion: Day Of The Tentacle (1993)
Day Of The Tentacle improves upon the original in every way, so much so that even though they play similarly, it feels like its very own thing. It’s quite a strange feeling, but one completely in tune with this game where a sentient tentacle — yes, as in the octopi appendage — becomes super smart and decides to take over the world.
Day Of The Tentacle plays to the strength of LucasArts adventure games, which is their humor. Day Of The Tentacle is a hallmark of all-around hilarity. Good games writing sometimes isn’t even something you read or hear from a character, rather a deeper part of the game’s design, and Day Of The Tentacle sure has that in spades — tough it also features great jokes of the regular kind, if you’re worried about that.
Grim Fandango (1998)
Though their games tended to go toe to toe quality-wise, Lucasarts’ games tended to sell less than those of Sierra. Grim Fandango‘s numbers turned out so low that they paled even when compared to the lowest-selling Lucasarts titles. Quite disheartening, as not only is Grim Fandango arguably the greatest adventure game ever made — it’s definitely the funniest game ever made as far as I am concerned — and also the most modern title ever made by either company.
And sure, even the most modern title to come out in the late ’90s doesn’t feel all that modern now, but no problem, as the remastered version is sure to have covered all the rough edges from the original release. I honestly do believe that regardless of your — and its — age, Grim Fandango is the rare title that might change how you see and pl𒈔ay video games as a whole.
Published: Jan 18, 2025 10:10 am