There was a time with Sam & Max was an exciting franchise, spinning out of a successful comic book run into multiple beloved video games. It’s now been over 10 years since Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse launched, however, and despite some hilarious Poker Night cameos, Sam & Max have been gone for a very long time. That changed in 2020 when a resurgent Sam & Max appeared. Now Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual, the first new Sam & Max game in a decade, is officially confirmed to be arriving in June.
Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual is not a newly announced game. It was revealed in 2020, with several key confirmations that made fans of the comic and video game spin-offs excited. Not only is Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell consulting on the project, but both David Nowlin and Dave Boat, Sam and Max’s iconic voice actors, are also returning. The newest update for the Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual VR game came via a recently shared extended trailer that slipped in a release window almost incidentally.
The new trailer for Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual is a lengthy capture of gameplay from a pre-release version of the game. It’s directly captured from a virtual reality headset, so it has a bit of unfortunate shakiness. However, for those curious as to what playing Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual looks like, there’s no better example.
As far as gameplay goes, even though the video is five-minutes long, it primarily shows ongoing conversations between Sam, Max, and various NPCs. For the first two-thirds of the trailer, the player mostly just stands still. In the final third, some actions are showcased. The player climbs up ladders, fires rocket launchers, and even defuses a bomb in an absurd combination of hand gestures akin to playing Bop It.
What the trailer does perfectly well is show what Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual is for. It’s for fans of the Sam & Max franchise that want more of its silly, absurd humor first and foremost. The virtual reality aspects of the game seem to be in service of that, without much in the way of unique VR gameplay. Considering Sam & Max have been gone for a decade, that’s probably okay to fans.
Odds are that a virtual reality game isn’t going to reignite the Sam & Max fandom. It’s a niche product made for a niche fandom. Still, like the Rick & Morty VR games have proven, there’s an audience in VR craving these types of absurd games. Perhaps starting small is the perfect opportunity for Sam & Max to become more relevant in gaming overall again.
Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual releases in June 2021 on Oculus Quest, with support for SteamVR and Viveport Infinity following later this year, and a PSVR release in early 2022.
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