Day of the Tentacle Remastered Reviews

Day of the Tentacle Remastered looks and feels just as vital today as it was back in 1993. The efforts to modernize this adventure game classic are a labor of love on Double Fine's part and it shows.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered provides a wonderfully crafted recreation of the original game, and Double Fine's streamlining of some of its rougher edges makes it a more approachable experience for modern audiences. But its revisions only go so deep, and can't quite manage to elevate source material that elicits chuckles rather than the riotous giggle fits it clearly expects.

Day of the Tentacle is best described as a cross between animated Looney Tunes shorts and Futurama. This classic adventure game mixes time travel with outlandish (and occasionally morbid) circumstances, such as having you cryogenically preserve a hamster and later microwave the poor creature to thaw it out. The remaster comes with a welcome visual upgrade and revamped controls, while keeping the core experience just as funny and playful as it was two decades ago.

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Where do you even start with a game titled Day of the Tentacle Remastered? Well, let’s go over the basics: this is a remastering of the original game titled Day of the Tentacle which was developed and published by LucasArts, released in 1993, and this game is a sequel to Maniac Mansion. Double Fine Productions recently worked on another remastering of a LucasArts game – Grim Fandango, and have gone on to this one. It even comes with the ability to turn on the director’s commentary for the game to gather insight. So yes, this is an older game which has been somewhat forgotten until now.

One of the best point ‘n’ click adventures of all-time still has much to teach modern gaming in terms of puzzle design and engaging characters.

With attractive new graphics and sensible tweaks to the game's interaction interface, Day of the Tentacle Remastered is the definitive version of a classic. This is a title that can easily engross someone that's never played the original, with enough extra content to qualify as an instant purchase for longtime fans. The only reason not to give it a try is a staunch dislike of the genre — but even then, it's good enough to break down that barrier.

A welcome opportunity to return to one of the all-time greats, even if the remaster doesn't hit the same heights as the adventure.

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered is a fantastic update of the original. What has needed to be updated has been, without losing the charm and cleverness of the original.

Thanks to the timeless quality of the writing, Day of the Tentacle remains as enjoyable today as it was when first released over twenty years ago. Faithfulness to the original art design is reflected in every lovingly-drawn line and hue of the gorgeous graphical presentation, and the zany humor is consistently spot-on. New players should be aware that the leaps in logic can make a few of the puzzles very difficult, but the witty wisecracks keep the search for solutions tremendously entertaining.

Fans of the original really won’t need any sort of encouragement from me to go out and grab Day of the Tentacle Remastered (although, if you do, I’ll refer you to my closing sentence) – it’s basically exactly the same game you’ve probably played a hundred times but, if you want to, you can turn on the shiny new full-screen graphics; not to mention unlocking a bunch of new Steam achievements. For the uninitiated among you, I’d urge anyone with a little spare cash to head on over to Steam and grab Day of the Tentacle right now. Sure, I’m already a fan and of course I’d say that about a game that I love but I think that, in this case, I’m not just speaking as a fan. As a critic, there’s very little to dislike about the game or its remaster. It’s as engaging, challenging and hilarious as ever, not to mention being one of the best made games of all time. Do yourself a favour and “go back… to the Mansion!”.

I still adore this game. It’s still the smartest, most elegant, most entertaining adventure game ever made. And now, if you want, it looks new and sounds amazing. Not having Laverne sound likes she’s underwater is a real joy. More could have gone into adding detail to particular scenes, and I think the extra effort of implementing a hint system would have opened the game up to many (having written a complex hint system for a remastered adventure game, I can tell you it’s not really that much work). But when your starting point is, “Day Of The Tentacle is playable again!” then you really have to work hard to complain. I love what they’ve done here, I love that there’s a commentary with the original creators (although it’s a little sparse), and I love that this could make DOTT a game enjoyed by a whole new generation. It certainly deserves to be.

Day of the Tentacle remastered is an excellent way to feed your 90s soul with good, nonsensical fun. The remastered graphics capture the cartoonish charm of the original perfectly, yet the updated sound and controls give it a much more modern feel. They managed to capture the original spirit of the game while still smoothing over any bumps that may have cropped up due to its age. I’m glad I had a chance to play it through this lens, and I’d definitely recommend for any fans of this genre to give it a go, or for old fans of the game to relive the experience in a shinier fashion.

While nowhere near as ambitious an undertaking as Grim Fandango Remastered, there is obviously a lot of love and care that has gone into Day of the Tentacle Remastered. There are most certainly still the same old gameplay warts that came from that era of gaming that don’t really translate well and some minor rough edges to the remaster, but it’s well preserved and the updates to presentation are marvellous. This is definitely a revamped classic worth a look.