My 100 Video Game Challenge (2024) #20: Grim Fandango [Remastered]

Played on: PC

Back in 2015, I discovered and fell in love with a classic adventure game called Grim Fandango. Freshly remastered for the PS4 and PS Vita, I played through the game so devotedly that I'd attained its Platinum Trophy in just a couple of days. I even replayed the game on Xbox in 2022, where it's now available for free via Xbox Game Pass, and still enjoyed it on Microsoft's console as much as I did Sony's. I can safely say that, while I missed Grim Fandango during its original, LucasArts-published debut on PC in 1998, it has nonetheless gone on to become one of my favourite adventure games of all time.

But, strangely enough, I'd never actually played the game in the format it was originally designed for; On a computer. Seeing as I've started to dig into game director, Tim Schafer's classic adventure game catalogue much more this year, I felt it only right that I finally rectify that issue, and play Grim Fandango in proper PC format. Fortunately, I'd gotten a Steam Key of Grim Fandango Remastered a while back, as part of a charity bundle. I would still be playing with the keyboard-mandated 'tank controls' though, obviously. Got to make the experience as faithful as possible when you're as nerdy as me, I suppose! Plus, there's an achievement to earn for doing that anyway.

For those unfamiliar with this genre classic, Grim Fandango is a PC-style adventure game that takes place in the 'Eighth Underworld', a literal 'Land of the Dead' that's loosely inspired by Mexican and Mayan folklore. Within this purgatory landscape, departed souls make a four-year journey across the hazard-filled Eighth Underworld, so they can reach the 'Ninth Underworld' of proper rest. Depending on how good of a person they were in life, they can also potentially get the option to upgrade their travel accommodations, to make their journey across the Eighth Underworld easier and safer. These travel packages are sold by 'travel agents' who are trying to buy a fast trip to the Ninth Underworld themselves, with players taking control of one such travel agent, Manuel 'Manny' Calavera, after he discovers that there's a conspiracy afoot within the travel agent company he works for.

Immediately, LucasArts' classic adventure game style is noticeable all throughout Grim Fandango, which brought the developer's proven genre formula to 3D for the first time. The game's twisted, yet lovable sense of humour is a predictable standout, as corporate drudgery combines with a literal dead-end industry, garnished with a throwback to the pulp film landscape of the 30's and 40's, and eventually centering around players taking Manny across his own four-year journey throughout the Eighth Underworld, unfolding as a series of four chapters across the game.

Even with this being LucasArts' first true leap into 3D adventure game design, much of Grim Fandango's gameplay remains straightforward. There's no combat, and players instead progress the game by moving between locations, picking up objects, interacting with other characters for information and background storytelling (or, at worst, a few mischievous jokes), and using said objects and information to solve puzzles and proceed the story. This being an adventure game from 1998, you can also imagine that some of Grim Fandango's puzzles are pretty obscure and crazy. Impatient players had best bring a guide, since the amount of imagination that Grim Fandango demands does occasionally stretch into the realm of the truly inconceivable.

Yet even if its inventory system is clunky, and some of its puzzles are frustratingly cryptic, Grim Fandango is an experience I never seem to grow tired of. I credit this game, alongside more recent indie hit, Guacamelee, with kicking off my fascination with Mexican mythology, specifically around the Day of the Dead, a key plot point in Grim Fandango.

The cast of characters throughout Grim Fandango are genuinely fantastic to boot. Highlights range from your earnest 'orange demon' sidekick, Glottis, to Manny's proudly crooked nemesis, Domino, and of course to Manny himself, a Humphrey Bogart-esque reluctant hero whose journey across the underworld suddenly becomes changed when he fails to save the soul of a pure-hearted woman named Meche, whom he makes it his mission to liberate from his own failure.

As an added touch, I also decided to play with the original graphics enabled this time, bringing me even closer to the play experience from 1998 that I never had, albeit still with the ability to earn Steam Achievements, thankfully. Grim Fandango's remastered graphics are certainly preferable in many places, but there is a special charm to the simpler, chalkier palettes of the original 1998 visuals. I turned the 'new' graphics back on whenever I took Grim Fandango on the go via my Steam Deck, and the game plays beautifully on Valve's pocket PC, might I add, but even if the 'new' visuals clean up the polygons and jagged pixels, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed playing Grim Fandango in its original visual style, jaggies and all. The game even comes with a whole developer commentary track, which I enabled for the first time during this playthrough. I don't know why I never turned it on before, because it truly did provide a charming new layer to the gameplay, allowing me to optionally toggle commentary tracks from the developers that told me even more about this game I love so much, and exactly how it came together at the turn of the millennium.

As for whether I ultimately preferred Grim Fandango with a mouse and keyboard (excluding my time playing it on the Steam Deck, obviously), I thought this play setup felt more faithful, but not at the cost of totally replacing a controller for me. Grim Fandango's shift to a 3D design makes it a natural fit for a console setup, which actually makes it a little baffling that this game never received a port for the original PlayStation or something back in the day. Regardless, I came to the conclusion that Grim Fandango Remastered's PC version is no better or worse than the PlayStation or Xbox builds that I'd played in previous years, which is perhaps a testament to how superb a job Double Fine Productions did in remastering this game.

I'm intentionally trying to avoid giving details about the kinds of set pieces and challenges that Grim Fandango has to offer, since uninitiated players will love going in blind, and discovering the many surprises throughout this game's storytelling and dialogue. Like many classic LucasArts adventure games, Grim Fandango actively rewards players that take their time exploring, and engaging in fruitful conversation options with other characters. Without giving too much away, I feel that Year 2 is the highlight of the game in this respect, as it unfolds entirely within one sprawling, swanky location, giving the player a simple series of objectives that nonetheless take lots of exploration and object manipulation to gradually put together and accomplish.

Aside from the odd scripting bug, which did require me to reload a checkpoint on occasion, Grim Fandango Remastered is polished and outstanding as ever when played on PC. I still love this game as much as I ever did, and I'm always happy whenever I get a chance to revisit it. Manny Calavera is one of my favourite adventure game heroes, and this entire game still stands as one of my personal favourite adventure games. Like I said, I'd play Grim Fandango with a guide if you're not willing to twist your brain into knots over some of its weirder puzzles, but if you've got one of those, you're all set! Grim Fandango remains one of the best offerings to come out of the golden age of PC adventure games, and now that I've finally experienced it on its original platform, I can confirm that Tim Schafer's opus continues to not age a day for me!

IF I HAD TO SCORE IT: 9/10