Sam & Max Beyond Space & Time Remastered

When I reviewed Sam & Max: Save the World back in 2020, I was left with a lot of hope. I knew that if the first six episodes were going to get remastered, then it was only a matter of time before we saw the far-superior second and third seasons on modern consoles. And sure enough, almost exactly one year later, that's exactly what happened. Sam & Max: Beyond Time & Space has finally come to the Switch and other platforms in a nice, new compilation that improves the graphics and enhances the gameplay. By building on the best elements of the first season and upping the stakes in every conceivable way, this over-the-top middle chapter is Sam & Max at their very best. And this compilation is the best way to relive the five explosive episodes that make up season two.

I think it's safe to say that the first season of Sam & Max was under a lot of pressure. Not only was it a long-awaited sequel to a beloved point and click adventure game, but it was also designed to sell the world on the concept of playing episodic games released over the course of several months. This was Telltale's entire model, and a Sam & Max failure would have resulted in a lot of unhappy fans, as well as episodic games that might never have been made.

Thankfully, Sam & Max: Save the World proved to be popular enough to warrant testing the waters with other franchises, which included everything from Back to the Future to The Wolf Among Us to The Walking Dead. It also led to a sharper and better-written second season for Sam & Max. Having worked out some of the bugs and repetition in the first six episodes, the rejuvenated writers and developers attacked the second season with a level of confidence and know-how that only comes from learning from your mistakes. The result is a masterfully-crafted journey that that takes us beyond, well, time and space.

Without spoiling too much, the story picks up right after the events of the first season. Max is still technically the President, Bosco is more paranoid than ever and Sybil has somehow continued her romantic relationship with the head of the Lincoln memorial statue. In other words, it's just another boring week for a couple of freelance detectives. But don't worry, their cartoony world is about to be turned upside down as the crime-fighters take a case regarding Santa Claus, who has turned evil and seems to be in the middle of a shooting spree.

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This is just the start of a crazy season that sees Sam & Max help out a bunch of Moai statues, defeat a zombie apocalypse and even get abducted by aliens. It won't take long before our heroes are literally time-travelling through some of the franchise's greatest moments, which includes everything from seeing the crime-fighters as senior citizens to going back to episodes from the first season. This is a duo as ready to tear down the timeline as they are to break the fourth wall, and I loved every second of it.

Like I said, this is a more confident team who learned from their mistakes. This is a season full of callbacks and subtle references, many of which won't be paid off until the finale. The way the threads all come together will make you immediately want to go back through the season again combing for clues and nods. Those odd moments and comments that happen early in the season are paid off in glorious ways, and the way the season ends is satisfying in a way you won't see coming. This is a big step up from the first season, which took a few episodes to find its footing.

The sharp storytelling isn't the only reason why Beyond Time & Space excels over Save the World, because this is a season that understands the importance of discovering a lot of different locations. Every single episode has a unique set piece that makes it stand out from the rest of the chapters. For example, we'll spend a lot of time in Santa's workshop in the Christmas-themed first episode, only to follow that up with a trip to a tropical island one episode later. Each of these settings takes us far away from Sam & Max's office and the city block with all their friends, and the storytelling is better for it. And even when we're forced to deal with Bosco's paranoia or sift through the office, there's usually something new and unique for us to look at. Every location is more interesting than what we saw in the first season, even when we're literally going back to places from that first season.

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Sam & Max: Beyond Time & Space also adds a few new faces and mini-games to help shake things up. My favorite addition to the cast is a young restaurant-owner named Stinky, who may or may not have killed the old guy that used to run things. I also like that the old computer, arcade cabinet and answering machine from the first season are back to force you to play a bunch of driving mini-games. There's definitely more variety to the gameplay this time around, including a DJ booth that puts you in control of the dance floor and even a boxing match with a bunch of rats. This does a good job of breaking up the typical point and click action, which remains mostly unchanged from the first season.

Much like the Sam & Max: Save the World, the point and click gameplay is easy to control in this remastered season. The game lets you control Sam with one analog stick, all while you choose what you want to interact with by using the other stick. What I really like about this port is how you can see dots representing everything you can touch, talk to or pick up. This is not one of those graphic adventure games where you'll need to poke at every pixel just to find the item you need, because the developers did a great job making everything obvious. They also don't have you combining very many items and most of the puzzles actually make sense, even if some of the logic is a little wonky.

And that's not the only thing that carries over from the remastered first season, because Sam & Max: Beyond Time & Space also looks fantastic. The cartoony characters and over-the-top locations are beautifully detailed and always fun to discover. Even when you think you know where you're going, the game always finds a way to flip things on their side. And when it's not with a sight gag, it's with the clever writing and outrageous jokes. The season is so funny that you'll actually go out of your way to talk to everybody and interact with everything, no matter if it advances the story or not. When was the last time you did that in a point and click adventure game?