In two weeks, you\u2019ll be able to play Sam & Max: The Devil\u2019s Playhouse<\/em> on your Xbox for the very first time. The final season of Telltale\u2019s episodic Sam & Max<\/em> trilogy was never ported to Xbox when it first came out in 2010, leaving fans of this comedy adventure series hanging for all these years.<\/p>\n For the uninitiated, Sam & Max are the Freelance Police, a pair of dog and rabbity-thing detectives whose esoteric wit and unconventional crime-fighting techniques have amused and baffled the unwashed masses for the past 37 years. Their credits include indie comics, a Saturday morning cartoon, and, of course, video games.<\/p>\n LucasArts was the first studio to make Sam & Max <\/em>games, and I was working there as a producer when Sam & Max: Freelance Police<\/em> was cancelled in 2004. If you were an adventure game fan at the time, you probably remember the uproar\u2014the game was almost finished, previews were glowing, and 32,000 pissed off fans signed an online petition to try to reverse the decision.<\/p>\n The petition didn\u2019t work, but it inspired me and several other Freelance Police<\/em> team members to start a new studio, Telltale Games. After LucasArts\u2019 rights to make a game about the dog and rabbity-thing crime fighters expired, we teamed up with the series creator, Steve Purcell, to make our own episodic Sam & Max<\/em> games.<\/p>\n One reason for Freelance Police<\/em>\u2019s cancellation was that it was a PC game, and all the best-sellers at the time were for consoles. Telltale also started out as a PC developer (it was still the biggest platform for adventure games, our favorite genre), but as the studio grew, we also branched out to consoles. In 2009 we ported the first two Sam & Max<\/em> seasons, Sam & Max Save the World<\/em> and Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space<\/em>, to Xbox 360.<\/p>\n Telltale went on to make one more Sam & Max<\/em> season, subtitled The Devil\u2019s Playhouse<\/em>, which came out episodically from April to August 2010\u2014but this one never made it to Xbox. At that point in the studio\u2019s history (before we really hit it big with The Walking Dead<\/em>), we had our hands full as we refined our vision for interactive storytelling and took on new licenses. We couldn\u2019t support more than one or two platforms at a time back then, and though we always intended to port The Devil\u2019s Playhouse<\/em> to Xbox, it just never happened\u2026 until now!<\/p>\n In a sad twist of fate, Telltale ran into financial trouble in 2018 and the studio shut down. I was no longer working there, but I saw an opportunity to go back to this series that had been so central to my career. (Even before I worked on Sam & Max: Freelance Police<\/em>, one of my very first games as a QA lead was LucasArts\u2019 1994 adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road<\/em>.) I called up some of the same friends who were there at the beginning of Telltale and we bought the rights to the episodic Sam & Max<\/em> trilogy.<\/p>\n Since then, we\u2019ve been remastering these games\u2014a real labor of love to get them looking as good and playing as well as we always wanted but didn\u2019t have the resources or expertise to achieve at the time. If you\u2019ve played our Sam & Max Save the World<\/a><\/em> or Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space<\/em><\/a> remasters, you know what a vast improvement they are over the originals, with added widescreen and gamepad support, higher quality visuals and audio, 4K graphics and HDR support on Xbox One X and newer, and lots more additions and refinements.<\/p>\n The remastered version of Sam & Max: The Devil\u2019s Playhouse<\/em> will close out the trilogy on August 14, and you can preorder it today with a 10% discount. Compared to the first two seasons (which were some of Telltale\u2019s earliest games), The Devil\u2019s Playhouse<\/em> was made by a larger team that had hit its stride. It\u2019s definitely the weirdest and most ambitious of the three games, and we\u2019re always hearing from fans that it\u2019s their favorite.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to spoil anything, but the basic storyline is that Max (the rabbity-thing) stumbles upon a magic toy that gives him random glimpses of the future. His newfound psychic powers attract the attention of an alien warlord named General Skun-ka\u2019pe, who wants the Toys of Power for his own not-so-altruistic purposes\u2026 and things quickly spiral out of control.<\/p>\n Across five episodes (released all at once, Netflix-style), you\u2019ll get to mess around with Max\u2019s psychic powers, play as Sam & Max\u2019s great-grandfathers, plunder an Egyptian tomb, confront Lovecraftian monsters, and fend off an army of Sam clones wearing sparkly gold underwear.<\/p>\n If you need to get caught up before playing this final entry in the Sam & Max<\/em> trilogy, the first two remasters are 40% off on Xbox through August 12 (our deepest discount to date).<\/p>\n And on August 14, we invite you to take your seats, turn off your cell phones, and prepare yourselves for an epic comedy saga. The lights have dimmed, the curtains are opened\u2026 the show\u2019s about to begin in Sam & Max: The Devil\u2019s Playhouse<\/a><\/em>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/xxboxnews.blob.core.windows.net\/prod\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/snm-devilsplayhouse-surf-7558d5561f8a089e1595.jpg\")
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