When it comes to classic adventure games, "Maniac Mansion" and "The Secret of Monkey Island" are often the most fondly remembered entries of that genre. Both of them were lead by the point and click extraordinaire Ron Gilbert who recently teamed up with his old friend Gary Winnick to develop a spiritual successor to "Maniac Mansion." That successor is the Kickstarter funded adventure "Thimbleweed Park" and now Nintendo Switch users will be able to join in on the pointing, clicking, and laughing.
SCUMM
People might forget that in addition to games based on the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises, the now defunct LucasArts was also responsible for character based graphic adventure games.
One of the earliest of these games was "Maniac Mansion:" the very first in a long line of graphic adventures by the company to be achieved with the SCUMM engine (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion.) Gilbert and Winnick conceived of the game out of love for B-horror films and incorporated elements from movies such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Little Shop of Horrors."
The game was a critical and financial success that paved the way for other classics such as the "Monkey Island" series and a direct sequel called "Day of the Tentacle." After "Monkey Island 2: Lechuck's Revenge," Gilbert left LucasArts and became somewhat of a nomad developer; developing games from company to company.
Notable games Gilbert helped make include the "Diablo"-esque adventure "DeathSpank" and the puzzle platformer "The Cave."
In 2014, Gilbert and Winnick announced the Kickstarter for their spiritual successor, "Thimbleweed Park" and described it as looking like "an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you've never played before." Like "Maniac Mansion," this is a graphic adventure and a pastiche of elements from pop culture. The game centers around a mysterious town where a murder investigation leads two FBI agents to several bizarre characters.The game pays homage to shows such as "Twin Peaks," "The X-Files," and "True Detective." Like its spiritual predecessor, "Thimbleweed Park" was a hit with critics and fans.
Release info
The game was originally released on the PC but will be ported to consoles in the near future. It will be ported to PlayStation 4 on August 22 and is slated for a release on the Nintendo Switch sometime in September. As of now, a specific date for the Switch release has not yet been disclosed.
