Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry

Wet Dreams Don't Dry is raunchy, self-referential, and unapologetic. I really, really hope that more games take risks like this one does and return to a point where we can have a fun, adult narrative without fear of everyone getting uptight about it. I sincerely hope this is the first in a revival of the franchise and I can't wait to see how much of an ass Larry makes of himself in the next installment.

At the beginning of Larry Laffer’s latest adventure, you can prompt seedy barkeep Lefty for information on the current era. One of his many responses is the revelation that “people don't play point and click adventures anymore, they play games with exploding candies instead”. Throughout Crazy Bunch Studio’s revival of this much-beloved adventure series, there’s on the nose dialogue like this. There are also frequent callbacks to a bygone era of cartoonish adventure games. It’s self-aware, cynical, blunt and crude. A Leisure Suit Larry game, then.

Wet Dreams Don't Dry is a collision of ideas that are thirty years apart. It's got a surprisingly liberal attitude to sex that doesn’t excessively objectify women from 2019, but controls, puzzles, and willy shaped chandeliers from 1987. The game has its 'sexy' moment, but the story is more concerned about highlighting how far we've come since 1987 and that's really hard not to like. I'm looking forward to the next game, maybe Larry will get the girl. Or boy. Or both at the same time. Or a llama.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry is actually a game you might possibly want to play maybe. In fact, it’s not a bad adventure game at all - with quite fun puzzles, nice cartoony artwork, a decent length (not that that’s important, right ladies?), and there’s no silly mechanics (like paying for taxis and death) to get in the way. Even the jokes aren’t too offensive, with all the characters (especially the women) feeling like weird but r...

You better have to choose if it’s worth spending your spare cash, because it might not be the game for you and it might be for others.

Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry is as crude as its title. The awful, lazy writing lets down what is otherwise a solid adventure game.

If you’re desperate for a sleazy point and click adventure on Switch, you might get some enjoyment out of Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry. It’s certainly not unplayable. But as point and click games go, its lack of a compelling story and poor puzzles relegate it to the bargain bin. Larry Laffer may be back, but he’s going to need better moves if he wants to attract the attention of 21st century gamers. You can only ride the coattails of past success for so long.