If you grew up on classic adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, both created by developer Ron Gilbert, you’re going to adore his latest. Thimbleweed Park is a love letter to those vintage gems, complete with old-school design sensibilities, pixelated retro graphics, and mountains of nostalgia.
The mystery begins with a dead body. Two detectives, both with suspicious backgrounds, show up at the scene of the crime, and it’s up to you to play as each character, plus three more, to unravel the dark secrets the town hides. You’ll search for evidence, interview suspects, and explore colorful 2D backdrops.
“One of our goals was to see if we could recapture the charm of the classic adventure games,” explains Gilbert, who now leads studio Terrible Toybox. “We set out to build a game like we would have back in 1987, and look at the design from a modern perspective.” Gilbert wanted to remove “all the rough edges” those earlier games had, without sacrificing any of their appeal.
The result is a fun-filled 15-plus-hour experience that’s both faithful and fresh. Classic exploration, puzzles, and a humorous narrative that oftentimes breaks the fourth wall mix with simple touch controls and higher-quality production values than the ’80s allowed.
“A lot of players of the classic adventure games have moved on from PC gaming, and we hope they can rediscover the charm by playing on iOS,” says Gilbert. “There are also new players that game primarily on iOS and will now be able to play an all-new classic adventure.”