Sam & Max The Devil’s Playhouse Review: The Final Act for Sam & Max (PS4)

Ever since my Xbox 360 days, I’ve been curious about the crimestopping duo of Sam & Max. My interest in them increased with their roles in the Poker Night games but unfortunately, I never did take the initiative to give them a go. Now it’s 2024 and the final game in Telltale’s Sam & Max trilogy is getting remastered making it the perfect time to give these legends a shot. Finally, we’re here with the final entry in the Sam & Max trilogy, Sam & Max The Devil’s Playhouse.

Like the other two games in the trilogy, Sam & Max The Devil’s Playhouse is a point-and-click adventure game. Originally developed by Telltale back in 2010, Skunkape Games has remastered it for new audiences like myself. The game consists of five episodes that weave a tale of psychic powers, cosmic invaders, and of course zany hijinks. Like before, this will be my first playthrough, will this game be any good or was it a waste to remaster? Find out down below in our review for Sam & Max The Devil’s Playhouse. 

Interested in the other reviews in the trilogy? Have a gander down below:

• Sam & Max Save the World Review: A Hypnotic Good Time (PS4)
• Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space Review: Another Comedic Triumph (PS4)

Sam & Max The Devil’s Playhouse is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One for $19.99.

Story – The Final Season of Cartoon Hilarity

Here we are in the final story of Telltale’s Sam & Max trilogy, and boy was it a good one. Like in Beyond Time and Space, the game features only five episodes, each starring Sam & Max in bizarre adventures. Though this time around, Sam & Max are on a constant case throughout the game. The tale of The Devil’s Playhouse begins with Max discovering one of the Toys of Power, unlocking his psychic potential. What follows is a set of events that take the freelance police on a whirlwind of craziness. They’ll take on alien invaders, cultists, a clone army, and an Eldritch god. How do they connect you may ask? They’re all searching for the Devil’s Toybox, an artefact of immense power that contains the Toys of Power among other terrifying abilities. 

I found The Devil’s Playhouse very entertaining in both the comedic writing and the ongoing story that lay in front of me. Almost everything felt different when compared to the last two games. Each episode would end on a cliffhanger, teasing what’s to come in the next. This is the closest to the Telltale games that I started with, minus the decision-making components. I really enjoyed its second episode where you played Sam & Max’s grandfathers, Sameth and Maximus. The episode is split into four reels of film, which you need to switch between to complete the episode. It was a unique spin on the general format plus we got the return of Jurgen, the introduction to our cultist villain, and a fun Tin Tin/Indiana Jones-themed old-school adventure.

Characters & Dialogue – The Devil’s Castmates 

With the final season, a new cast of weird and zany characters arrive for the freelance police to mock. Each episode dishes out the key players by Episode Three with a few more revealed later. The new batch is a fun odd bunch mostly being adversaries for Sam & Max to tango with. Most notable were General Skun-ka’pe, Papierwaite, and Sal the Cockroach. Sal was hands down my favourite, coming off as a swell guy with the added benefit of sounding like Patrick Warburton. The rest of the new characters weren’t as memorable and are mostly only in single episodes. There’s also a bunch of mole characters that all came off as annoying rather than comedic. They have a purpose in the story but it doesn’t feel justifiable enough to keep them around. 

Older characters who have appeared throughout previous games return, remaining mostly the same. Not everyone appears but we get quite a few from both Save The World & Beyond Time and Space. My boy Superball returned for a few episodes, bringing his loveable demeanour, though he sadly wasn’t performing his door guarding duties. One absence I was surprised with was Bosco since he was such a core part of the previous games. However, we do get Momma Bosco who is still a ghost from how we left her in Beyond Time and Space. She’s great, has a lot of good lines and I’m happy she became a core character in The Devil’s Playhouse. 

Now, you might be wondering if our main protagonists, Sam & Max are any different in their final outing with Telltale. Well kind of, the duo still act the same, whether they’re mocking people or being overly quirky. However, we see some new sides of the duo in Episode Three, like Sam showing his rough grizzly private eye persona that he’s attempting to pull off. If you pick the wrong answers in his interrogations, he’ll break character when he knows he’s messed up, which is highly amusing. Max doesn’t get as much but he does come off more serious later in the same episode when it’s up to him to solve their predicament. I enjoyed these changes for the short time I had with them, and wouldn’t mind seeing more.

Gameplay – Traditional Telltale and Some Psychic Powers

The general gameplay loop for The Devil’s Playhouse doesn’t differ much from its predecessors. You’ll still spend most of your time looking around different areas, talking to characters, and picking up items to assist in progressing through each episode. One major difference is regarding Max since he now has psychic abilities thanks to the Toys of Power. From the beginning of the game, you can switch to Max and use his newfound gifts to help in the case. This is all presented in first-person, where you’ll select which Toy of Power to use and what to use it on. The powers vary from, seeing into the future, shapeshifting, mind-reading, ventriloquism, and more.

These abilities were some of the highlights of The Devil’s Playhouse, sadly though that’s the majority of the new content. This final instalment lacked any distractions from the core gameplay loop. This sadly included the departure of minigames, trophies from previous cases, and even waving Sam’s comedically sized gun around. I’m thankful that the highly comedic mechanic of throwing Max into the stratosphere remained, though at what cost? There was some new gameplay mechanics like the item scanner that unlocks new areas. However, it’s mostly only used in the first episode making it feel quite meaningless in hindsight. 

One of the main aspects of the Sam & Max games is the puzzles. Mechanically, they’re simple to do since the types of puzzles are usually the same. You find an item, use it on something or someone, and either rinse and repeat or the puzzle is solved. There are still sections that require three items or things to happen to complete the section of the episode. In the past, the puzzle solutions were a mixed bag in difficulty from the obvious to mind-numbing annoyance. However, with the inclusion of the Toys of Power, most puzzles are now a lot more straightforward to solve. Of course, there’s also the return of the hint setting that now has both Sam and Max giving the player hints. 

Graphics & Audio – A Fantastic Glow Up 

Regarding The Devil’s Playhouse graphics, it continues to impress with its cartoon visuals. Both the world and characters look great, with many new locals to explore that all have their own individual styles. We do get some changes to the UI, like a dialogue wheel that shows Sam in whatever appearance he’s currently in. A similar change was made regarding how you travel since you now have a map of the city showing all the unlocked locations. These small touch-ups were much-needed additions to update the series as it went on, I just wish they hadn’t saved it till their last game. 

Everything regarding the audio for The Devil’s Playhouse is astounding. From the terrific voice cast to the soundtrack, everything feels like an upgrade. One particular part of the Sam & Max games I’ve enjoyed seeing being worked on is the intro. Previous intros have been great, containing both in-game and shaded models of the duo accompanied by jazzy cop show music. The new intro comes off as bombastic, comedic, and jazzy as all heck. It references many of the different cases and characters they’ve met through the trilogy, put together like a crime board. It was fantastic and felt like an actual animated show introduction that made me long for it to be real. 

Sam & Max The Devil’s Playhouse was reviewed on PS4 with a review code from Skunkape Games.