Game club this month took a look at one from Mitchell Wolfe’s childhood, the first Pajama Sam game from Humongous. Not being familiar with adventure games, this was a good introduction to the genre and especially the specific oeuvre of Ron Gilbert.

Gilbert’s work for LucasArts is foundational for the PC point-and-click industry. From my outside perspective, his work here seems to be very much within that mould but streamlined and pitched for a younger audience. The art style is appealingly cartoony, every character is fully voiced with a range of amusing accents and caricatures, and the game is relatively short with a clear message for young people.

This doesn’t mean it’s easy though. There’s no hint system, and the slightly surreal world can be disorienting. I myself got stuck a few times, having missed a screen or item. Objectives are randomised, a novel concept indeed and good for replayability, but it can cause red herrings and seeming dead ends. I suppose it’s a system that’s good for those with time and the curiosity to explore.

The game bears many of the hallmarks of Humongous’s work… this applies to basically everything I’ve said so far, but also every screen is packed with little gags and interactable diddlies to click on and see a silly little animation. These small details work with the larger theme of overcoming childhood fears, although I quickly screened them out in order to focus on progress, as well as the optional minigames and features added just for play and amusement.

The game was clearly made with love and a high degree of technical competence at that, and I responded to this and enjoyed my time. Of course, the ideal audience for the game is male American children living in the 90s, which is not my experience, but anyone can absolutely still have fun with it to this day, which explains why it’s been successfully ported to so many platforms!