#Grim fandango remastered not starting series#

There are other references that players may recognize over the course of the game, some obvious and others deviously clever. The most obvious influence is the skeletal appearance of the dearly-departed souls that populate the game, an homage to “La Calavera Catrina,” a lighthearted figure popularized by Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada in the early twentieth century. The melding of Mesoamerican art and lore into a Casablanca-style film-noir makes for a fun round of spot-the-inspiration for those who know something about the subject, and a good way to gain whimsical exposure for those with less in-depth knowledge. The story takes place over a four-year period, and over the course of the game there are plenty of twists and turns that leave players wondering where they will be off to next, and what they will see when they get there. With its themes of revenge and redemption, the noir-inspired plot is intriguing, if a bit predictable in the broadest strokes, but in Grim Fandango the delight's in the details. In doing so, he begins to unravel a far-reaching conspiracy that threatens the eternal souls of everyone in the Land of the Dead. Facing punishment of his own at the hands of the Department of Death, Manny sets out on a journey to find Meche and hopefully right his wrong.

This dooms her to walk the Land of the Dead for four years, a punishment usually reserved for only the most sinful of souls. His plan backfires, naturally, causing Meche to lose her place on the Number Nine Express, a train that would have whisked her to the afterlife in four minutes. Early in the game, Manny intercepts a message intended to let Dom know about a new client, Mercedes 'Meche' Colomar, a woman who qualifies for the most expensive package offered by the DoD, and he attempts to reach her first. Manny gets a commission for every package that he sells, but his office rival, Domino 'Dom' Hurley, seems to always get the most virtuous clients for himself, thus robbing Manny of any chance at making enough money to escape his dead-end job (ha!) and make the journey to the Ninth Underworld himself.

#Grim fandango remastered not starting series#

Those who have made this trip before may want to skip a few paragraphs ahead, but for those new to the series like me, Grim Fandango’s surprisingly complex plot revolves around Manny Calavera, a grim reaper-like 'travel agent' working for the Department of Death (DoD), a bureaucratic organization that sells travel packages to recently-deceased souls for their journey through the Land of the Dead. However, after becoming absorbed in the lush Art Deco environments, twisting, well-paced plot, and a laugh-out-loud script bolstered by gloriously memorable characters, it became apparent that I was witnessing the rebirth of a very special moment in adventure game history. I was excited by the prospect of finally seeing what the fuss was about, but I honestly expected much of the praise to be based on rose-tinted nostalgia: a great game, perhaps, but nothing close to the Holy Grail status it seemed to hold among those who had played it.

I knew beforehand that Grim Fandango was influenced by film noir, but I came to the game with almost no preconceived notions whatsoever about the story and its characters, having somehow avoided major spoilers over the years. This release has been updated with an intuitive point-and-click interface, mildly-enhanced graphics, and optional in-game 'director's commentary,' but clearly Double Fine Productions was determined to preserve all the elements that made the game great in the first place, while fixing the few elements that dragged down the original.

The legacy of this LucasArts classic truly runs deep, and in light of this legacy I jumped at the chance to review the remastered version of Tim Schafer’s comedy-noir adventure. Growing up in the southwestern United States, where the cultural fabric has been heavily influenced by the Mexican-American community, I’ve always found it amusing that the first thing I associate with Day of the Dead, or “Dia de los Muertos,” is Grim Fandango, despite having only brief exposure to the game myself.