Every Sam & Max Game, Ranked

Summary

• Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse is the best game in the series with improved visuals and engaging storyline.
• Sam & Max Save The World is praised for its humor, clever puzzles, and memorable characters like Hugh Bliss.
• Sam & Max: Beyond Time And Space suffers from a convoluted narrative, but features ambitious puzzles.

The utterly offbeat appeal of the venerable Sam & Max series is perhaps best summed up by creator Steve Purcell himself: "some come to believe that they are the only ones who have cracked Sam & Max's bizarre code – then, feeling obliged to include others in the conspiracy, lend a friend their copy, discovering later that it has been handed off to the next unsuspecting indoctrinee."

Sam And Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Complete Guide And Walkthrough

Need a hand, little buddy?

The definition of 'cult classic', the Freelance Police have been on quite the journey from their humble origins in an underground comic strip. From retro 90s point-and-click adventures, to the TellTale titles of modern day, their unique comedic sensibilities have earned them a healthily devoted following. But which of their cases proved to be the most compelling?

Great gouts of steaming magma on a beeline for the orphanage! A quick heads-up to those who are as yet unfamiliar with the quirky realm of these unhinged vigilantes – we'll be getting into some plot spoilers, so if you've any desire to experience the games' charm for yourself, avert your eyes.

5 Sam & Max: This Time It's Virtual!

Success Is But A Cheap Pander To Modern Trends Away, Sam!

A curious little experimental effort from 2021, This Time It's Virtual opted to ride the hype train of VR; a good four or five years beyond the point at which that train could charitably be described as having left the station. All the right pieces are there, for sure – Sam & Max are their usual, shall we say, effervescent selves, and there's a broad variety of activities on offer. It's just hampered by the shackles of the VR format.

Once your goggles are in situ, you fill the role of 'Lumpy', a nondescript third recruit to the Freelance Police. What begins as a benign day at the office, with you preparing coffee and corn dogs for the duo, soon devolves into the usual antics when demons and one Captain Aquabear invade.

As is typical for VR games, the environmental physics are purposely slippery so as to "enhance the immersion"; but when you combine it with Max's incessant jabbering in your ears, it begins to grate. Luckily, you can see it through in about three hours – but surely a modern Sam & Max could do better than this.

4 Sam & Max: Beyond Time And Space

No One Quotes "Walk Like An Egyptian" To Me And Lives!

The second of the TellTale Sam & Max trilogy, Beyond Time And Space is more confident than Save The World in numerous aspects. The voice actors have found their groove, and by this stage feel completely inseparable from the characters: it's difficult to imagine Sam ever having been without that laid-back drawl.

Likewise, the puzzles are more ambitious, requiring you to tune into the madcap laws of the universe more than before.

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However, Beyond Time And Space is let down by a convoluted narrative that has a distinct "flying by the seat of the writers' pants" quality to it. Granted, that's a pitfall of the episodic format, but Save The World used the setup to its advantage to tie previously unrelated threads together for a big reveal. Here, things feel a bit all over the place; and that's saying something with this series.

The focus shifts from Santa Claus, to vampires, and ultimately onto aliens and a trio of walking stereotypes in servitude to Satan. Applause for the variety, we guess, but the meandering plot, coupled with the lesser novelty compared to Save The World, lands it just one notch below.

Can we never see the Soda Poppers again, please? Cheers.

3 Sam & Max Save The World

Patience Is A Sharp Razor To Swallow, Little Buddy

2007's Save The World had a lot riding on it, as the game responsible for resurrecting the dormant Sam & Max series after over a decade of absence. It was tasked with bringing the beloved crimestoppers bang up to date, and proving they had a place in a gaming landscape dominated with newfangled 3D; and TellTale were just the folks to do it.

This is a riotous, whip-smart point-and-clicker that harkens back to the 90s, while injecting just enough cynical snark to hook contemporary players.

It's business as usual for the Freelance Police. Child actors are running loose, committing acts of malfeasance in the neighborhood (Max's second-favourite kind of feasance, he informs us), and from there? Gosh, it'd be a disservice to give it away, but suffice it to say you'll take in a corrupt television studio, hypnotic mafia teddy bears, and a savage parody of Scientology.

Crucially, all of these disparate tangents are tied in a neat, rainbow-coloured bow courtesy of one Hugh Bliss, arguably the best recurring villain this series has ever had. Alternately saccharine and sadistic, you'll not soon forget his infuriating falsetto gloating.

Sam & Max mainstays like the vocationally-fluid Sybil Pandemik, and the hyper-paranoid Bosco, also got their start in Save The World, and are just a hoot to spend time with. It's got the jokes, it's got the twists, it's got the brainteasers... what more could you want?

2 Sam & Max Hit The Road

Where Should I Put This Bomb So It Won't Harm Anyone We Know Or Care About?

Hit The Road is hailed as the project that catapulted Sam & Max from the cult circuit to mainstream stardom, and a bona fide staple of the golden era of LucasArts adventure games.

Long before TellTale got its mitts on the Freelance Police, the same team behind Monkey Island and Grim Fandango had their time in the sandbox; and indeed, internally, Sam & Max had been used as LucasArts corporate mascots for years before this full game was given the green light.

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It's almost difficult to talk about Hit The Road in an objective capacity, so tinged is it with nostalgia. Most gamers of a certain age can remember sitting in front of their bulky DOS system, captivated by the anarchic wit and stunning pixel art. You can spend hours getting lost in poking about the environments – there's an animation for almost everything, not to mention a dry remark from Sam.

Here, the canine's played by the legendary Bill Farmer (i.e. Disney's Goofy), and there's a truly staggering amount of voicework crammed into the floppy for the time. The puzzle solutions are esoteric, and may have some modern players reaching for an online guide, but it's all part of the fun.

Where else is a vegetable shaped like renowned naturalist John Muir going to be an integral piece of evidence? All told, Hit The Road is an unassailable classic, and it's dirt cheap on Steam.

1 Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse

I'm Glad To See That Earthlings Are Still So Charmingly Racist

Conventional wisdom holds that the third time is the charm, and The Devil's Playhouse does absolutely nought to dispel that notion. The pinnacle of the TellTale Sam & Max formula, this threequel strikes the perfect balance between daft humour and genuine pathos, and finally manages to thread an engaging, overarcing storyline throughout all its episodes.

It's worth noting that the entire TellTale Sam & Max lineup has, in recent years, been lovingly remade from the ground up by a team of former TellTale employees.

The visuals sparkle with a glitzy sheen, the audio no longer sounds like it was recorded in a fish tank, and there are innumerable QoL improvements to make the puzzling more accessible. It's the definitive way to experience these oddball outings.

The result is the Freelance Police's best videogame to date, topping our list by a considerable margin. It's telling that the opening invasion by simian alien General Skunkape (three guesses as to what animals he happens to resemble) represents only the tip of the iceberg of ludicrousness The Devil's Playhouse delves into.

A standout chapter is 'The Tomb of Sammun-Mak', which sees you switching between film reels of our heroes' ancestors to piece together an ancient mystery. It is actual genius.

Everything adds up to a climax that's matched nowhere else in the franchise, with the highest stakes - both personal and cataclysmic - Sam & Max have ever had to stare down. Rampaging monsters, an army of Sam clones, a clandestine relationship between a mole-person and a ventriloquists' dummy – and this is all to say nothing of the literal narrator becoming a key character.

Plus, the ending? If you don't tear up, you're as soulless as Stinky's cooking.

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