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Sam and Max: This Time It's Virtual is a VR adventure game developed by Happy Giant, released on the Oculus Quest store on July 8th, 2021, and released on Steam on September 10th, 2021. It was announced on August 27, 2020 during Gamescom of that year.
Plot Summary[]
The player takes control of an unseen character named "Lumpy" who is tested by Sam and Max to see if they are worthy of joining the Freelance Police. The player will be put through nine puzzle challenges and three on-the-job tasks to see if they're truly ready to don the badge.
Prologue[]
After Sam and Max rescue "Lumpy" from underneath a dumpster, "Lumpy" must help them take out a giant Planarian Worm monster by shooting each of its heads while they distract it. Once the beast has been dealt with, Sam offers you a chance to join the Freelance Police.
Office Intro[]
In the office, Lumpy is given an "Aptitude test" - which is essentially making coffee and corn dogs for Sam and Max while also completing a few odd jobs, before heading over to the Freelance Police Training Academy (which is actually the abandoned Cap'n Aquabear's Funtime Park). Once arrived at the abandoned theme park, Lumpy is given a special bracelet to track their progress.
Teddy Tocks[]
After the first three challenges are completed, Sam and Max receive a call from the Commissioner. It turns out that Theodore "Teddy" Tocks has escaped from prison and now threatens to unleash mayhem on the neighborhood. After speaking to several locals, Lumpy is able to track down Teddy Tocks. After taking out Tocks' army of drones, Tocks reveals his plot to detonate his "Neutron Disruptor Wave" within a five mile radius. Sam and Max pin him down while the player disarms the head of Duncan B. Dills. After the bomb is successfully disarmed, a mysterious figure in a trench coat appears and snatches it before disappearing.
Nutrihole[]
When the next three challenges are accomplished, the Commissioner calls Sam and Max yet again. Strange goings on are happening at a neighborhood convenience store. The store's cashier has unintentionally summoned demonic entities while playing around with some spells for her LARP group. Lumpy deals with each of the demons, but Max ends up getting possessed by Todd, Archfiend of the 12th Circle. Using a sacred blade, Lumpy succeeds in exorcising Todd. But the same figure from earlier snatches the blade away before Sam can store it for safekeeping.
Nanoverse[]
When the last of the challenges are finished, Sam and Max are about to congratulate the player when Cap'n Aquabear suddenly appears and takes Sam hostage. Max and Lumpy shrink down to size and infiltrate the dance club disguised as an Aquabear. The Captain intends on unleashing his army into the world via a portal built from scavenged objects. The player manages to spike the dance foam, putting the Aquabears in a state of hibernation. Sam is then rescued, and the player sets the portal to self destruct. The captain pursues, but Sam, Max, and Lumpy escape as the portal detonates.
Street Showdown[]
But things are not over yet, as the Captain has grown to gigantic size and rebuilds the portal with narratively-convenient telekinetic abilities. Lumpy tries to put the Captain into hibernation state, but the Aquabear quickly recovers. Max, who has somehow grown to gigantic size, uses the Captain to plug up the portal. After disabling the portal's force field, Lumpy tampers with the device and sends it spinning out of control. When Max gets smaller again, he grabs a grenade and instructs Lumpy to lob him into the Captain's gaping maw. After that, Captain Aqua bear and the portal are destroyed.
Epilogue[]
Back at the office, Lumpy is given an official diploma welcoming them to the Freelance Police. Just at that moment, the phone rings again, and Sam and Max both leap for it. Before either can get it, though, the two freeze in place as the credits start rolling.
Characters[]
- Sam
- Max
- The Commissioner
- Flint Paper
- "Lumpy"
- Jeff
- Helios Papadopolis
- Sasha
- Queen Carpathia
- Teddy Tocks
- Nutrihole Cashier
- Hodad the Devourer
- Ice Imp
- Cereal Ghoul
- Todd
- Cap'n Aquabear
- Aquabear Bouncer
- Bo'Sun Kevin
- DJ Aquabear
- Duncan B. Dills
Trivia[]
- Flint Paper can be heard through the office wall by using a plastic cup against the wall--reading a novel, apparently.
- This is the first Sam & Max game to not have Sam as the primary playable character.
- This is the first Sam & Max game to not be a point-and-click adventure game--although puzzles are still an active part of the game, the player must manually pick up every item by themself, and there is no 'inventory'.
- The music in the game is mostly recycled from the three Telltale series titles, with ten brand new tracks once again composed by Jared Emerson-Johnson.
- The subtitles of this game are extremely inaccurate, being full of typos, and at times even displaying lines completely different than what's actually said.
- The innaccuracies appear to mostly be due to the fact that the actors (primarily Max's actor, David Boat) would consistently go completely off-script and add personal flourishes to their lines.
- At the end of the game, "Lumpy" is given a diploma recognizing their graduation and subsequent enrollment in the Freelance Police. On that diploma are various interesting details, which are as follows:
- It is directly stated that the Commissioner works with the Illuminauti.
- New York is listed as "the City that Never Ever Sleeps", of "Timeline Designate SCEGFOD-37895-A", which implies that this is a timeline where Sam does not go with Past Max to his timeline and instead stays in his own, or that the two returned to Sam's original timeline after adventuring.
- Sam and Max both share their signatures, Sam being "Sam D.." with a pawprint at the end, and Max's simply being a completely plain writing of his own name.
- Despite the fact that there are less than 10 official members of the Freelance Police, it's stated that Lumpy was part of the "37th graduating class". This is either a fake number entirely made up made up (potentially for tax reasons in-universe), or implies that the Freelance Academy is or was used to train other officers who later ended up leaving or simply being hired by other forces.
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