Sam & Max have an absolute refusal to die. The pair haven’t had it easy for them, having to go through the shutdowns of two game studios (Lucasarts and Telltale), a comic run, a short lived animated series, and even the hell of sibling rivalry when they were first conceptualized by creator Steve Purcell’s younger brother Dave. However, despite this rough history there’s a good reason why these characters in particular have survived through so much and for so long. Sam & Max’s witty banter that favors wordy expressions and baffling exposition, chaotic detective work with irreverence for the world around them, and world that embodies Americana through the satirical parody of pop-culture among the likes of sci-fi comics, noir films, and celebrities has helped form a unique brand of humor that's unlike anything else and has captured the attention of many throughout the years.

Perhaps what best embodies Sam & Max’s longevity as characters is the remaster of Save the World by Telltale successor Sunkape Games. The world of video game remasters is pretty iffy, with some games losing their original charm with “improved” graphics or presentation, but Save the World Remastered is one of the very best. Skunkape did a phenomenal job translating the charm of the original games and even Purcell’s original artwork through the flairs of updated character models, live soundtrack, uncompressed audio, improved lighting, and even widescreen. The remaster makes Save the World feel like a brand new game, with the original almost looking like unrendered footage by comparison. The love for Sam & Max on display in this remaster is so palpable, it really goes to show how much of an impact the lovable duo has not only on its audience but its developers as well.

With all of that said, how is Save the World itself? Well, compared to Sam & Max’s previous video game adventure “Hit the Road,” the locations in Save the World don’t feel as interwoven as the detective case spanning the entirety of America, with a notable lack of connecting the dots between old and new locales. Save the World favors a more episodic format that presents almost every locale directly to you which, while convenient, comes at the cost of more isolated locales that make the world feel less interconnected or ambitious as the previous game, especially when compared to the following Sam & Max game by Telltale. However thats not to say the game lacks any ambition, as Save the World certainly does has a larger scope within the story and the upper hand when it comes to puzzles. Compared to Hit the Road, Save the World offers more variety in approaching solutions, with certain puzzles in requiring interactions with the world and characters around you rather than simply using or combining two items together. While Save the World may have some obtuse solutions with its puzzles, they’re few and far between and nowhere near the level of obscurity that Hit the Road had within some of its puzzles.

But when considering the game on its own terms, Save the World suffers through a lot of backtracking through areas which gets pretty tedious after a while, however the game goes a bit easier on the backtracking as it goes on thanks to giving greater purpose in revisiting older areas. My favorite episode was episode 5 which gave greater purpose to Sam & Max's familiar block through the lens of a digital wonderland in virtual reality where most of the puzzles are solved by modifying the game world with a literal bug. A lot of the game’s creativity along with Sam & Max’s brand of absurdist humor also lies within the latter half, episode 5 has already been mentioned but comparing episode 1’s focus on the washed up child stars of The Soda Poppers and Brady Culture to episode 4’s reanimated Lincoln Memorial running for president reveals how much the Freelance Police’s chaotic nature really gets to shine in the later episodes. That’s not to say that those early episodes aren’t enjoyable though, as Sam & Max’s exceedingly enjoyable wit puts a spotlight on the personalities within the new cast of characters such as the level-headed yet frantic Sybil or the paranoiac Bosco which keeps the jokes feeling fresh throughout the entire game when going through the massive amounts of dialogue on display.

Save the World, despite some of its failings, manages to become triumphant due to its lovely protagonists providing enough personality and tongue-in-cheek jokes to make the game a refreshingly funny adventure from its relatively weak start all the way to its strong end. Sam & Max’s unique brand of humor, character, and art direction was translated almost perfectly from Purcell’s original artwork into the era of modern gaming, and Skunkape’s remaster only helps deliver more on the fact that this is one of the funniest games out there.

Bonus Episode Ranking (why not):

6. Episode 1
5. Episode 3
4. Episode 2
3. Episode 6
2. Episode 4
1. Episode 5