That's not on fire.

The story, the characters, the humour...it's all there. It's a classic, and there's nothing quite like this out there any more. Grim Fandango is a one-of-a-kind.

A lot of people complain about the puzzles, but you need to pay attention to what people say and everything you read and see. Everything has a legitimate reason, and if you don't see it you're not paying close enough attention. Old school or not, fans of adventure games need to play this.

11/10 - probably the best game I've played in a really long time.

haha i laughed when the octo♥♥♥♥♥ eated the little man under the sea! (= then he 's brother come and i gived him the pick axe! great game i rate this five golden stars

Remeber when Tim Schafer was awesome at making games instead of a shady kickstarter project maker and total ***hat sockpuppet talker and can now only make half a game and then calls it finished until he gets more cash to finish the rest of it screwing over all of his kickstarter backers in the process? This game will remind of you the good old days. But the bad news is that the money from this goes to the current Tim and not the awesome Tim from the past.

One of the most unique stories ever told that never really took off within the medium of games, Grim Fandango returns after 15 years in the form of a remaster which was developed by the herald of point-and-click adventure games, LucasArts, and headed by the one and only Tim Schaffer back when he actually was known for making great adventure games.

To put it bluntly, Grim Fandango Remastered is a lazy remaster of a great point-and-click adventure. While the remaster does its job by implementing more modern control schemes such as the controller and the Keyboard+Mouse, higher quality textures, there really is nothing else thats new.

Textures are updated including much better lighting. Unfortunately, it is only during the gameplay segments that you would see these upgrades whereas the cutscenes are left as it was, which is a noticable downgrade of graphics when moving in and out of cutscenes. Animations are also hardly updated as far as I can tell and would sometimes bug out. Moving from one place to another also takes way too long at times and definitely is an obvious problem when transitioning a game that is 15 years old, why are these issues not addressed? These things make the game feel extremely dated regardless of having the word 'Remastered' plastered all over the game.

Now onto the less techincal aspect of the game. Grim Fandango was known to be a pretty hard point-and-click adventure game because of its lack of hints or hand-holding. Ok, scratch that, there are literally no hints at all most of the time. This might frustrate some players as the puzzles do take a damn lot of time. It would fare better to have more hints to make the game much more accessible or perhaps an option for hints for those who got the game for its story.

Before reading this review, chances are you would know that Grim Fandango's strengths are in its story, characters and the world. Grim Fandango's story is most definitely one of the most unique and creative I (personally) have seen and its cast of charming characters, boasted by great voice actors, needless to say, makes it all the more a unique experience.

While so, I find it that the character development is quite lacking and that the story was pretty short. I was hoping that I could learn more about how the afterlife world is like and perhaps, our favourite travel agent's history and what sin got him into the job.

In retrospect, if you don't mind clunky gameplay but absolutely love point-and-click games, this game is a definite no brainer. I would not recommend this game for those who are looking for a more fast paced or even moderately paced game as this game definitely takes up a whole lot of time. But for anyone who's into a great story with an enchantingly unforgettable cast of characters, then my friend, do yourself a favour.

8.5/10 as its base game

6/10 for its bare-boned remaster which makes it look like a lazy cash grab.

A masterpiece is always a masterpiece! You can hardly make it worse in a re-edition.

And the Remastered edition is actually quite nice - as long as your new PC complies with rather too high Minimum requirements.
The textures of all characters looks fine now, and the game could be actually played with a mouse (although you do get an achievement for beating it the good old way). The developers' commentaries are subtitled, and in all six languages.

So, arguably the best adventure game of all times is even better now. And I actually envy those people who have not played 'Grim Fandango' in 1998 - you have a memorable experience awaiting you now.

1998 was a pretty significant year for many gamers on many platforms. Half-Life, StarCraft, Thief, Unreal, Descent: Freespace, Heart of Darkness, Metal Gear Solid, Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, Ocarina of Time, Baldur's Gate, SoulCalibur and Spyro all made their debuts this year, raising the bar for their respective genres. For Linux gamers, Loki Software was founded, and our friends at LinuxGames launched their site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRB6Likh478

Today, one title that holds its own amongst these classics was released for Linux. LucasArts' acclaimed film noir styled take on Aztec afterlife and underworld mythology, Grim Fandango, has been released today for Linux, Mac OS and Windows, making the game commercially available for the first time in nearly two decades.

Beyond being published during a cool year, Grim Fandango stands out for its strong characterisation, engaging story and sweet tank controls (people hate this now, but I don't remember anybody at the time thinking it was terrible), and has received widespread recognition as one of the most significant adventure games ever made.


Grim Fandango tells the tale of Manuel Calavera, a travel agent for the Department of Death, who finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy as he attempts to save an innocent traveler from a dangerous journey across the Land of the Dead. Grim Fandango exposes some of the most cinematic storytelling ever realised in a game at the time, and garnered almost immediate recognition from critics.

In addition to being the recipient of numerous awards and being included in a huge number of lists of important/good/noteworthy/loved games since its release, the game has maintained a strong fan base and carved out a special place in the hearts of many players (check out page three of The International House of Mojo's Secret History article on Grim Fandango for a nice collection of fan thoughts - in fact, check it all out, it's a good article), leading to a community developed engine replacement, a graphical modernisation overhaul, fan movies, stop motion reproductions, and more.

Grim Fandango is also often noted for how well its visuals have aged compared to other titles of similar vintage. Rather than striving for realism, Peter Tsaykel and his team worked with the limitations of the technology at the time by creating low polygon characters styled after skeletal calaca figurines (which play a role in the Día de los Muertos celebrations that the game draws upon).

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

I mean that's actually the genesis of Grim Fandango. 3D art had just started, but a lot of us didn't want to use it because we thought 2D art was so much better-looking at the time. I thought 3D characters in real time looked like a nylon stocking stretched over a bunch of cardboard boxes duck-taped together.

But when I was looking at the Dios de Los Muertos, I noticed they built the skeletons as these solid tube-shaped bodies with the ribcage painted on. And I thought, what does that remind me of? It was like cheap texture mapping. It's made to be mass-produced and built really quickly and so it's perfect for rudimentary 3D engines and stuff. (source)

Grim Fandango Remastered aims to be a work of preservation first and foremost, presenting the game in its original form (that includes its original 4:3 aspect ratio) along with some small enhancements. New dynamic lighting and self-shadowing helps place characters within the game's scenes in ways that were less achievable at the time of the original release, and the game's 3D elements are rendered at native resolution now, giving them a crispness that compensates (and perhaps overcompensates) for the initial version's contrast between low resolution real time characters and higher fidelity pre-rendered backgrounds. There are also some more subtle changes, such as high resolution textures that re-create the original textures' characteristics whilst not being limited to the same colour palette constraints.

The game's award winning soundtrack has been re-recorded by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (who also performed Broken Age's score), adding some extra depth to the game's soundscape, and polishing up some rough edges under the direction of the game's original composer, Peter McConnell.

The input system has been given an overhaul, with scene relative movement controls (rather than the beloved tank controls) being the default for keyboard and gamepad play, and a new mouse interface which allows the game to be played as a traditional point and click adventure. This feature comes less than a year after community modder Tobias Pfaff released a point and click interface for Grim Fandango running under ResidualVM (it's worth noting that Tobias was credited as a consultant for Grim Fandango Remastered and spent time in the Double Fine offices assisting with the project).

The game also features developer commentary, a concept art browser and the ability to toggle between old and new rendering modes.

If you're looking for a remake or a reimagining, then Grim Fandango Remastered isn't for you. It's the 1998 experience with a little extra shine, plus some additional insight into its development. Grim Fandango Remastered is now available for Linux on Steam, GOG and the Grim Fandango Remastered website (via Humble widget).

I still play through the game every couple of years, and even with that level of familiarity, I can't help but worry about Meche, grin at Glottis' indomitable spirit, root for Manny, and get swept up in this tale of corruption in the Land of the Dead. Grim Fandango is captivating in ways that few games have been before or since, and Manny's journey unveils a rich world filled with memorable and believable characters whose comings and goings feel like they mean something - their hopes, aspirations, tragedies and victories touch Manny and through him, they touch us.


This is a piece of gaming history and heritage that I'm glad to be able to share with Linux users, and I hope that the remastered edition ensures its longevity and accessibility for a long time to come though both its current availability and by inspiring projects like ResidualVM and Grim Fandango Deluxe to continue and grow.


¡Viva la Revolución!

(I originally published this review on the 27th of January 2015 at GamingOnLinux.com)

While Grim Fandango Remastered might be a nostalgic feast for the veteran PC gamers and a welcome delight for the rest, the added touches offer a deeper insight behind just capitalising on a cult classic; it’s a historical tribute to the style of award winning games that were once held back by technical limitations.
Alone Grim Fandango is a testament to the genius behind a production that can craft such an award winning formula on a pocket change budget, yet to have their project stand the test of time near two decades later is equally as marvellous.

I've probably beaten Grim Fandango well over ten times, but the fresh look of Manny and the surprisingly deep commentary make this playthrough a brand new experience. I honestly can't say enough good things. These early day adventure games are a story driven experience, like playing a book, and afford you the opportunity to slip into a captivating world.

Play this game. It's one of the best in the genre.

im being totally objective about this;

this game, for me is the

- best game ever
- best movie ever
- best story ever
- best soundtrack ever

the profile picture is not a coincidence. been repping manuel for years. this game actually changed my life. i actually got into film school inspired by a pc game. that was almost a decade ago. also all those projects i did with the help of this soundtrack, great times.


anyway, enough praise.

grim fandango 11 out of 10.

grim fandango remastered 9 out of 10, background work seems sloppy.

i don't care either way. im just happy i can now add this to my favorite game showcase. remastered or not this is still a masterpiece. i still played it on a regular basis like every 5-6 months. now i got to do it in a remastered way.

ps: please valve, add some cards, backgrounds, so i can level up to level 5, and get the foil badge as well. i want dem backgrounds.

Does this game really need introducing? Grim Fandango: Remastered is the remastered version of a noir adventure game with humourous dialogue. You play as Manny Calavera, a travel agent at the Department of Death, who is trying to sell enough luxury packages to get out of the land of the dead and in to the afterlife. Sadly things do not go so well for Calavera and he becomes entangled in a conspiracy that threatens to keep in the land of the dead forever.

While the remastered version isn't the super duper HD remake that some people felt entitled too it does give people, like myself, who have not played the game before an excellent opportunity to play a real classic.

+The character models have been redone and look great
+An interesting and unique setting, the land of the dead
+Intriguing characters, each with their own backstory and relevance to the plot
+Good story
+Terrific voice acting, especially the voice actor for Manny
+Brilliant writing which not only makes you want to play more but also leads to some really funny lines
+Outstanding soundtrack
+Easy-to-use controls which, from what I hear, are far better than the original control scheme
+Keys can be rebound and the game also has full controller support
+You can switch between the new and old graphics with the press of a button
+Optional developer commentary

+/-The puzzles are extremely difficult and as someone who hasn't played it before and has never played a puzzle game with a similar difficulty before I found myself using a guide for all of the puzzles and even then some of them were still difficult
+/-There are a lot of complaints about bugs in the game but thankfully I have not encountered any yet

-When they remastered it they didn't put it in 16:9 so it's in 4:3 with bars on the side (admittedly the bars do actually fit well with the game), you can run it in 16:9 but then everything is stretched
-Towards the end of Year 1 and throughout Year 2 you have to do a lot of running back and forth which gets pretty tedious
-Lip sync is very hit and miss

Verdict:
9

An absolute classic which is a must have for fans of point and click adventure games and still holds up well 17 years after its original release.

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El K.

Lucasarts remastered without being George Lucased.

Grim Fandango is the ultimate adventure game.

I remember my first time playing the DEMO for Grim Fandango, before the game was released. Holy ♥♥♥♥ that was 17 years ago. And today, I feel the same happiness and joy while playing it for the 12987398th time... only this time in "remastered" version. I would still pay for it ONLY to be able to play it on newer PC's, without the remastering.

So thank you Double Fine and thank you Tim Schafer
And thank you people who are smarter than him
For bringing me my long lost love back
Oh how I longed for her bony embrace

I love this game, with all my heart and I will love this game until I'm dead. Because, Sal, love is for the living.

I adore this game. But *come on*, you couldn't at least have put the UI icons on top of the 4:3 borders?!

Grim Fandango is honestly a great adventure game. Nothing else to add to that. What I'm going to focus on this tiny bit of text floating on the internet is how good is this "remastered" edition. Read further if you want to know more!


It's Grim Fandango! I never got to experience this game when it released but even over a decade later I finally got to try it and I love it. It's a classic for a reason and I still have memories of seeing this game plastered all over PC magazines for the graphics it had. People didn't believe how good a game could be and Grim Fandango showed them how a great adventure game is done.

The music. This game has some of the best music I've heard and it's performed by talented artists and the orchestral music alone is what makes this game a buy. Every other screen you traverse has it's own music and it really helps set the mood perfectly. It's just beautiful, man.

It's an actual game. I give some adventure games like The Walking Dead and Wolfing Down Cartoon Street a slack for not being actual games, more like interactive cartoon series. This however feels like an actual adventure game. Most likely because it was made a few decades ago for a different audience but it does feel it's age once you find yourself stuck on some parts that aren't clear cut. However you cut it Grim Fandango is what an adventure game should be and it saddens me that this genre has been lost to the ages that we find ourselves just hugging the oldies for good quality experiences.

Brilliant voice acting. It's cartoonish but spot on. You might notice some voices you've heard on your old sunday cartoons in it but over all everyone in the game gives a great performance. Despite made out only bones and marrow these characters feel more alive than many others that are delivered with flat performances. If voice actors had performances to imitate and work from, this could be something they'd check out.

Refreshing re-release. It's nice to see an old classic dug up sometimes and given a bath. Nothing is vastly changed and many things feel just lightly touched on. You don't have to reinvent the wheel if it works and I think this version shouts that out well.


There's no title screen. I know the original didn't have one since if it did then this would too, since you're forced to pretty much watch the opening sequence before you can hit ESC to finally start fine tuning things like resolution, volumes and settings. If the idea of a re-release is to improve upon the old it makes no sense that there is no start up menu. I suppose it makes sense not to have a start up menu in a game that is only really worth playing through once but the thing is there is one! You have to access it via hitting ESC so I really don't get it why that wasn't the initial screen from the start. Not to mention once you finish the game it simply restarts itself and I can't help but to feel this was an oversight.

Not really remastered. The 3D models have been upressed yes but the backgrounds look like they've hardly been touched at all. Not to mention no additional polygons for the most part and some items that looked shoddy still look shoddy. You can easily switch back and forth between the original and remastered and I can understand why the remastered version looks much like the original: because they didn't want to remake the entire game, animations and cut scenes a like. This severily makes this version feel cheap and hardly worked on but you could say it's to pay homage to the original, or whatever, but to me it just seems lazy. The entire fact that some backgrounds have this weird blur-effect-done-quick in Photoshop and then suddenly an animation kicks in and it looks like the old pixelated game while an "HD" version of the protagonist stands there next to it just looks pretty darn awful and out of place. I know this game is old but if you're going for a re-release for a well loved title then you could do it more justice. At least they didn't add "HD" at the end of the game so it's not that big of a crime I suppose.

Mouse controls. This is a bad thing you ask? Not the controls themselves but the sub menus you access. There are a few hidden easter eggs for instance that you will miss entirely if you use the mouse exclusively like for instance trying to "pick up" an NPC will trigger a pick up line with said character or a funny moment. I don't understand why it's hidden and even some of the game's lines are missed entirely if you don't actually use the keyboard. For instance some locations have descriptions to them that Calavera explains, but you won't know that since the sub menus are lacking in said function, especially when moving from screen to screen! You can literally try and pick up and examine everything but the mouse controls won't tell you that. However on certain things like examing distant objecs is now easier with the mouse. Again overall this just looks bad for this re-release but seems easily fixable though: just add in the missing functions to everything!


All in all I recommend it, because it simply is a great game! Some mild frustrations here and there with the lack of polish and not really being a fully remastered release but the price isn't that high either. Expect to beat it in less than 10 hours if you're a veteran to adventure games but if you aren't you might find yourself coming back to it with new ideas on how to solve puzzles! Or you could just look it up you cheap cheater!

A great adventure game which this remaster has updated to modern standards with better character textures, higher quality music, mouse controls, and a whole lot of bugs. You'll see characters not render correctly, a floating piece of bread, Manny pretending to talk but not actually saying anything, and a ton of minor issues with mouse controls (there's several puzzles or areas where I was forced to switch to keyboard controls).

Most of these issues are minor and don't bother me much, but the game would occasionally completely fail to work, and that is less excusable. Out of the 10 hours I spent playing through the game, I had 10 crashes and soft locks.

I'm still gonna give this a thumbs up as the actual game is really good with great writing, voice acting, music, and puzzle design. But I would recommend people to wait for a patch before they decide to buy this remaster.

As a long time fan of the game, I was thrilled by the remaster announcement on E3. I never could have hoped for new release. But we got it and even with some extras!

Grim Fandango is a humorous film noir adventure/puzzle game by Lucas Arts. It has superb writing in dialogue, story and characters. Really classy soundtrack with some swinging jazzy tunes. Challenging puzzles..... with some of them too challenging and bit out there. Sometimes player would just go on trying everything on everything and succeed, then not having idea what he/she just did and why. There is no hint system built in on the game, so googling a walkthrough might come in handy to some less seasoned adventurers. Nobody should abandon the game just because they can't progress, they would miss on a great adventure.


The Remastered version added upgraded grapichs (you can change to the original with just press of a button), rerecording of the soundtrack with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, mouse and gamepad controls, insightful commentary track and good amount of original concept art.

Unfortunately they also launched the game with quite an amount of bugs and glitches which they have been patching ofcourse. Personally I was affected by the bug that made all the backgrounds in remastered mode black, so I played most of the game with old graphics. Also there was maybe 3 or 4 crashes on my playtrough. As I also mentioned that there was no hint system in place, I think that's something they could have added. Maybe slip it in the devs commentary track?

Overall Grim Fandango is still a great atmospheric experience with great art design, remaster making it even sweeter.

[Score: 93]

This is Grim Fandango. Do you need more?

Great game, poor remaster. Dialouge options disappear, the required specs are much too high given how old and simple the game is, FPS fluctuates for no apparent reason, and cutscenes skip on their own.

I will not be playing this version of the game until they patch it. It's just too buggy as of now, which is a big disappointment. I was really looking forward to playing this game in HD.

In 1998, Grim Fandango released in a less than optimal climate. The gaming world was shifting away from the grand adventure, preferring more action than point and click titles could provide. Despite being universally loved by the press and longtime fans of the genre, fate pointed toward the exit and brought an end to an era of Lucasarts titles, effectively nailing the coffin shut on adventure games in general. It seemed a cruel way to go considering how loved it was. Lost in the Land of the Dead for 16 years thanks to a bad travel package, Grim Fandango is finally breathing fresh air again thanks to the efforts of Sony, Double Fine, and the rights holders sitting in the Disney fortress. Enter Grim Fandango Remastered, the first time the game’s been available for public consumption since it released.

Slick-tongued protagonist Manuel “Manny” Calavera is an agent of the Department of Death, an organization that attempts to sell the recently deceased travel packages to expedite their journey to the final stop in the Aztecan afterlife. Manny’s numbers aren’t pulling quite what they should, and, in fear of his boss reenacting a scene from Glengarry Glen Ross on him, he decides to steal a high-profiting case from a co-worker. This action sends Manny down a path dripping with characters ripped straight from noir films, big-band jazz, and an overall scenario that was produced by people at their creative primes.

Grim Fandango’s story and humor remain as strong as ever. Between the quick-witted quips, cheeky dialog choices, smooth voice acting, and immense respect for the game’s inspirations, it truly is worthy of the praise it has been given by anyone who played it. Take your time and talk to everyone you can. Exhaust every dialog option you can find. The end result is almost always laughter, thanks to a universal humor style that doesn’t lean on the grotesque or immature. In fact, fans who played when they were younger may find even more to love now that they’re older - a trick many well-loved cartoons use to appeal to a wide variety of ages. If you’re a parent looking for something to play with your kid, and you don’t mind the fact that the entire game is about death, you don’t have to worry about anything too inappropriate.

And it’s a good thing that the humor holds up as well as it does, because ay caramba, the puzzles! Out of everything in Grim Fandango’s bag of tricks, this is the part that has aged the worst. While certainly not as awful as some of the stumpers that some of the game’s predecessors and contemporaries offered, players will likely be left scratching their heads as they try to wrap their head around some nonsensical solution to a problem. A good majority can be figured out using contextual clues dropped by other characters mid-conversation, but some require the player to really reach for a designer’s sadistic tendency to hide the one object they need in the absolute least likely place it would be, while requiring 15 steps to get there. I would heavily urge players to go without a guide if at all possible, but no one will blame you for getting tired of putzing around trying to solve a puzzle.

There’s been much debate among fans regarding the “remaster” part of this release. I myself truly wish that games such as this could be lovingly restored with gorgeous details, brought to life like a blu-ray transfer of a classic film. Between this and the Resident Evil REmake release, there are so many things one wishes could be done easily or cheap enough for the industry to pull off. Sadly, that sort of work just isn’t feasible. However, in doing so, Double Fine manages to avoid what many fans consider a sin: changing the visuals too much to appeal to players who simply want crisp presentation. The lossless originals of every background and video file have been dug up and put to use, every character’s textures have been recreated to give them a clean look, and, most interestingly of all, a new lighting engine aids the illusion of these characters moving around in pre-rendered spaces. It’s hardly perfect, and often times the quality between character models and backgrounds can be distracting, but it remains fully respectful of the original art. It is up to you to decide if this is enough work to warrant being called a remaster.

A major point of contention for many fans, and what would become a running gag with Tim Schafer himself over the years, was Grim Fandango’s original control scheme. Since players complained about the tank controls used, the remaster also includes enhanced control schemes which are generally more ideal. I did run into some issues with the point & click style controls here and there. Clicking on one part of a screen would sometimes send Manny rushing off in the opposite direction. Certain puzzles felt exponentially more difficult due to the jittery movements in the point and click scheme. Players using a controller will likely not notice, but it’s worth a head’s up that, if you’re struggling with point and click, you shouldn’t be afraid to try your keyboard.

Grim Fandango Remastered isn’t perfect. Some new bugs have been introduced, the remastered visuals are a little uneven, the new control schemes aren’t without fault, and the puzzles won’t likely be making many friends. But despite all of the stains all over its nice suit, it manages to outshine these tarnishes. The humor still holds a timeless quality that doesn’t feel like it came out of 1998, the story itself is still fresh and imaginative compared to the usual topics seen today. There’s heart behind every bit of the game, even when its characters ceased to have one. A recurring theme within Grim Fandango is that wherever Mr. Calavera goes, he ends up near the top. Grim Fandango Remastered shows us that, even though it’s been 16 years since he hit the scene, Manny’s still got it, residing as Head Honcho over not only other adventure game protagonists, but as the boss of a genre once considered as dead as himself.

Did you enjoy this review? If so, feel free to check it out at RGZ.CA, give it a heart, and check out other content produced by our writers! Thanks for reading! http://rgz.ca/gaming/grim-fandango-remastered-review-return-of-the-land-of-the-dead/