Thimbleweed Park

We already covered Ron Gilbert’s triumphant return to the Monkey Island franchise, but before that, he was keeping his hand in the industry he helped define with Thimbleweed Park

Teaming up with fellow LucasArts alumni, artist and animator Gary Winnick, this was one of the few adventure game Kickstarter campaigns that resulted in something wonderful. Thimbleweed Park is a game that deliberately looks like Gilbert and Winnick’s first project, 1987’s Maniac Mansion. As such, it used the SCUMM engine games’ verb system, letting you choose words with which to interact with the world from the bottom third of the screen.

In a perhaps belated X-Files spoof, you play as two FBI agents, Angela Ray and Antonio Reyes, along with three other characters as the game goes on. Much as with Maniac Mansion, much of the puzzle solving involved combining the abilities and actions of multiple characters as you investigate a series of murders in the town of Thimbleweed Park.

It’s very funny, as you’d expect. It’s also a huge game! While you might often feel like you’re drowning in nostalgia, it still manages to be a very contemporary game, too, even if it’s a little too self-referential. And remember, there’s nothing wrong with using hints—it’s how we all did it back in the day.