Thimbleweed Park

Classic graphical adventure by Ron Gilbert

If we had to point out a single name in the Golden Age of Graphical Adventures, that would definitely be Ron Gilbert, the story writer and developer of emblematic titles of the likes of Maniac Mansion 1 and (Day Of The Tentacle) and The Secret of Monkey Island 1 and 2, among others. Together with his colleague from the legendary game studio Lucasfilm Games (later, LucasArts), Gary Winnick, he's back with the perfect graphical adventure for nostalgic gamers: Thimbleweed Park.

The best graphial adventure of the 80s' and 90's of the 21st century.

It's a video game that will take us back to 1987 when a couple of detectives are investigating the discovery of a dead body. The story takes place in a town with only 80 people, each one of which is crazier that the other, and in which we'll live adventures that will definitely remind us of TV hits of the likes The X-Files or Twin Peaks.

Throughout the game, we'll have to lead the investigation, controlling different characters, each one of which is capable of carrying out a series of actions... Sounds familiar to Maniac Mansion or DOTT, doesn't it? Crazy situations and a great sense of humor that will remind us of the classic graphical adventures that we loved some years ago.

SCUMM, pixels, and 5 characters to be controlled

There's no need for us to talk about SCUMM, is there? Well, there might be: it's the abbreviation of Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion. The name might not ring a bell, but you should know that it was the control system first used in this game, and later adopted by many others, and that consisted in an interface on the lower part of which we could see a list of verbs or actions to be carried out by the characters as well as an inventory of objects. This is the control system used.

Well, SCUMM manages to take us back 25 or 30 years because this is the typical old point and click game. Its well-cared pixellated graphics also do their job (the pixels make the most of modern graphics that have nothing to do with our old VGA or CGA cards).

As we said, in this game, we can control several characters that are involved in the case one way or another. Each one of them can carry out a series of tasks and actions necessary to complete the game:

• Agent Ray.
• Junior Agent Reyes.
• Franklin the Ghost.
• Ransome the Beeping Clown.
• Delores, the aspiring game developer.

All the latter appear in a great and much-awaited story full of mystery and humor that has finally been released. It was a project that was initially in doubt but that, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, has finally become true.

For the time being, it's available in five different languages and it can't be downloaded for free because you have to purchase it on Steam for under 20 dollars. It's available for Windows but there are also versions for Mac, Linux, and Xbox. We still don't know if there will be a version for PS4, in APK format for Android smartphones and tablets, or for iOS devices such as iPhone and iPad.

Requirements and additional information:

• Requires Windows 7 or above.
• This is a pay-to-play game.