I can’t help but wonder if the folks at Telltale Games felt a bit slighted by the fanfare and jubilation surrounding last week’s announcement of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter, which, as of this moment, has more than quadrupled its goal — and with more than three weeks to go. As champagne bottles pop worldwide in celebration of Tim Schafer’s return to the genre that made him famous, gamers seem to be ignoring the fact that Telltale successfully brought back the PC adventure game seven years ago; though you wouldn’t know it by looking at their most recent release.
In recent years, Telltale has moved away from the classic adventure format by making more approachable games branded with licenses like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. As they transition to properties demanding far more spectacle than the Sam and Max and Monkey Island episodes of the past, Telltale has struggled with giving these productions the high-budget polish expected by fans of the source material. But do they need to be so ambitious when adventure enthusiasts obviously have a strong desire for the tried and true?
