Rated Excellent Based on 491 Reviews
Grim Fandango Remastered harkens back to the glory days of the PC point and click adventure game. Back then there was much less hand-holding for the player, you were expected to jump in and figure things out and we're happy to report the remastered version retains this ideology.
Is Grim Fandango Remastered too old school?
Absolutely not, the game looks great and runs at an astounding 60 frames per second. The game has been remastered from the ground up with the now popular and optimized OpenFL technology which enhances the game's overall visual quality.
There were some issues with gameplay. For instance, if you are in a dark room and go to turn on the lights your character will be attacked by a vampire which is unforgivable especially in the age of infinite respawns.
The Good
The Great lighting effects during the night time and early morning hours are stunning and memorable. The odd ambient sounds during an early morning walk through the town make you feel like you're exploring a Tim Burton flick as you try to find a missing reporter. On the day-to-day level the maps, characters and puzzles remain pretty true to the original game.
The Bad
Aside from a couple of voice overs, the Remaster keeps things fairly unchanged from the original. Character looks and dialogue are still charming but the gameplay isn't necessarily better or worse. I think the change in artwork for the original game is a bit odd; the art for the remaster is more colorful and vibrant while the original graphics are more old-fashioned. This was something we noticed when playing the remaster, which could have been a decision based on practicality or something to do with the aging of the original game. This one's a little tricky to talk about but if you want to know, here it is.
Conclusion
Grim Fandango Remastered is a great game on its own but more importantly it's a great game to expand your experience with gaming classics. With a little hard work and patience the true beauty of gaming's past can be revealed to you. For most of us old school gamers, our greatest discovery about gaming is the fact it is anything but linear. The essence of what made the game, Grim Fandango, special has been preserved and it's time you enjoyed it too. A big thank you to our friends at LucasArts, fans of the game and especially ScummVM, for all their help with the creation of the Grim Fandango Remastered.
