Day of the Tentacle Remastered Reviews

Day of the Tentacle Remastered Achievements was originally developed and published by LucasArts in 1993, and is the sequel to their game Maniac Mansion (1987) which was originally released for the Commodore 64 and the Apple II....those are super old gaming systems/computers for all you young bucks out there.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered Achievements version was developed by Double Fine Production, whose founder, Tim Schafer, was also the co-lead game developer on the original game, along with Dave Grossman. Not only was this the first game that Schafer & Grossman co-led game development these gentlemen introduced something into this game that, at the time, had never been done but many, many games, including games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Achievements and Goat Simulator Achievements, to name a few, have since mirrored. They included the entire prequel game, Maniac Mansion, playable on a computer designed to looked like a Commodore 64, into this game.

Gameplay
Day of the Tentacle Remastered Achievements is a classic, point & click, adventure game. You play as Bernard, the socially inept, yet loveable, geeky nerd, and his housemates, Laverne, the medical student who clearly is insane, and Hoagie, the laid-back roadie...yup, best playable characters EVER!!!

Your goal is to assist these three as they travel in time get stuck in different time periods, and they attempt to save the world from the evil, purple tentacle, who just recently acquired arms (bum...bum...bum). You are actually able to toggle between characters during gameplay using the and buttons.

Visually, you have two options; original render mode and remastered...and you can toggle between these two options at any point using the button. Original render version gives you the nine-command arrays such as, 'Pick Up", 'Open', and "Use", on-screen, where remastered shows you all potential options available after pressing .

Achievements
There are a total of 58 achievements in the game; Fifty-One (51) secret achievements, one (1) completing all achievements, two (2) require you to play the prequel game, Maniac Mansion, five (5) cumulative, twenty-eight (28) main storyline, and twenty-seven (27) missable.

I believe a good majority of the missable/secret achievements would be things you would either attempt while playing, or might accidentally stumble into. However, I will still recommend a good walkthrough for you achievement whores out there, so you're not "stressing/worrying" about any of these missable achievements while playing.

Conclusion
While I would place this game on my list of "50 Games that Helped Shape the Current Gaming Industry", I hope you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy this humorous game that, imho, has withstood the test of time with this remastered version.

Without farther ado, I leave you with a quote from the game...

Day of the Tentacle Remastered is the new, modern rendition of a classic point-and-click adventure game that came out way back in 1993. A loose sequel to Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle brings back the Edison family, the tentacle brothers, and Bernard Bernoulli. This time around though, it's up to Bernard and his two friends, new characters Laverne and Hoagie, to go back in time to stop the Purple tentacle from taking over the world.

But things get a little messed up in the time-travelling process, causing Hoagie and Laverne to get stranded in the past and future respectively, while Bernard is returned to the present. Realizing that they'll each need to accomplish tasks in nearly impossible circumstances, the three set out on their respective quests to put an end to Purple tentacle's scheme.

Immediately players are hit with one of the coolest gameplay ideas I've seen for an entry in this genre. The three main characters are split into three different points of time, but players are allowed to switch between each character at will. In addition, most items that the characters find may be swapped between each other at any time, allowing for puzzles to be solved in unique fashion. The switch between these settings is completely seamless too, making the transition all the more easy and enjoyable.

One of the cooler things about this title is that it comes with a bonus game; the original 1987 Maniac Mansion. Having been born over a decade after this game was released, I never really had the chance to play it. Though this game within a game did not receive a graphical overhaul, it was a lot of fun to explore, and some achievements will actually have you aim for a specific goal in Maniac Mansion, which to me was just awesome.

The remaster of Day of the Tentacle does a great job of taking the original game's look, and bringing it to a modern audience. The bright colors and expressive looks on characters' faces truly bring out the energy that Day of the Tentacle always had within. What's more, the entire game can be played in its original format should players prefer this.

The achievement list is also pretty nice, though I have a nitpick. I don't like when achievements are just handed out for beating the game and doing nothing more, to me, that takes out all the fun of achievement hunting. But I will admit, there were a few achievements I genuinely could not figure out what to do to unlock them. Although I didn't end up missing any on my first playthrough, I can see potentially missing an achievement being pretty frustrating, especially considering that one can be missed pretty late into the story. Other than that one though, I've gotta say that this achievement list was pretty near perfect.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered is proof that older classics deserve to be brought back for a modern playerbase. I didn't even know this game existed prior to finding it in the Xbox store, and I'm surprised I had never heard of it before. Day of the Tentacle is a must play, and an important note in the history of game development. Give it a try when you've got a few hours to kill!



Overall Score: 100/100

I'm ashamed to say I missed this one up until now, so being able to play it with updated graphics and console support was a nice bonus. This game is a sequel to another double fine game "Maniac Mansion" (which is available to play within this game should you wish) both are filled with the quirky humour we all love from Tim Schafer games.

The core gameplay will be familiar to anyone that has ever played a point and click adventure game, and if you've never played one, or are convinced you don't like those types of games, this is definitely a good launching point as the game is relatively short (you can finish it in about 2 hours following a guide, probably 3-4 without a guide. I'd recommend the excellent walkthrough on here for all the achievements in one go). The puzzles all make sense within the game world, while the humour is good enough to keep you invested.

The option to switch between the original graphics and the remastered at a single button press was a nice touch, however this option probably won't be something that is selling point to many people.

This game is definitely a must play if you enjoy Tim Schafer, old school games, point and click games, or quirky humour. Even if you only enjoy one or two of those things, they're all executed well enough to keep you invested and have a good time throughout.

Difficulty 2/10
Gameplay 8/10
100% completion time 2-4hrs