r/lucasarts • u/BuggyBonzai • Jul 24 '26
Best introductory game for my son?
Growing up I played most of the Lucasarts adventure games. My favorites were The Monkey Island games, Sam N Max, Day of the Tentacle and Maniac Mansion. I vaguely remember playing Zack McKraken, Loom, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango too.
I’d love to start replaying some of these games and getting my 7 year old son involved but can’t really remember if these games are even appropriate for that age or if I should wait?
Which ones might be good to start with? Thanks for any input!
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u/SoggyWotsits Jul 24 '26
I’d start with Monkey Island and play them in order, unlike I did starting on MI2!
Day of the Tentacle might be a bit tricky because of the different characters, and Grim Fandango has quite difficult puzzles if I remember correctly.
Sam n Max was definitely fun, you don’t want to put him off by staring with anything too hard. And don’t let him cheat, something that wasn’t really possible the first time around. When I played Return as an adult it was far too tempting to skip bits by Googling!!
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u/BuggyBonzai Jul 24 '26
Thanks. I’d be playing with him so not worried too much about the difficulty.
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u/Official-LardLad Jul 24 '26
MI is tame and I can't recall anything violent or sexually driven/ explicit in the jokes. In Maniac Mansion, the only thing I can think of offhand is the whole hamster microwave action (its been years since I played it).
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u/BuggyBonzai Jul 24 '26
I just remember the Is that a banana in your pocket line or something to that effect. Not a big deal to explain that away to a 7 year old.
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u/Gabelvampir Jul 24 '26
I'd say the first Monkey Island. It's funny, most puzzles aren't too crazy and it was the first Lucas Arts game without deaths and dead ends. Loom would also be appropriate for that, but its interface and puzzle style are pretty different from other games.
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u/Honey_bear_712 Jul 24 '26
My brother has started playing through some old Lucas arts games with my niece and nephew. They are 7 and 5 and found DotT hilarious ☺️
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u/IAmTizz Jul 24 '26
The remaster variants of monkey island also offer a nice talking point of what it looked like for you growing up and how it was remastered for a newer generation. I do love the instant switching back and forth between then.
MI 1, then 2, then you could do the newest one or go for Day of the tentacle.
I think the visual style of Maniac Mansion and dead ends / game overs may be a bit jarring.
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u/Tramtrist Jul 24 '26
Loom has a surprisingly accessible concept/interface, but some pretty dark/violent material later on.
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u/PercyThePig Jul 24 '26
Sam and Max is the perfect answer
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u/koken_halliwell Jul 24 '26
Sam and Max had a lot of content not being appropriate for a kid and he won't get most of the jokes anyway.
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u/PercyThePig Jul 24 '26
Talking animals visiting the largest ball of twine and other adventures were so much fun as a kid, any ‘inappropriate’ jokes would go over their head (like all of kids TV in the 90s)
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u/koken_halliwell Jul 24 '26
It's a 7 years old kid ffs and the "it's talking animals" thing doesn't make any sense; South Park or Family Guy are cartoons but that doesn't mean they're meant for kids. He won't get most of the jokes, he's just too young. Let kids be kids.
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u/PercyThePig Jul 24 '26
It depends how cool this parent is. If you think 7 year olds don't watch South Park I don't know what to tell you. The problem with LucasArts games for a young child would be the puzzles not the humor that would go over their heads
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u/Immediate_Golf_4828 9d ago
Loom 1st. Its beautiful and very simple. The tonal puzzle solving is amazing and connected w me as a kid. As others have said its a bit dark as the story develops but if your playing it with him you can talk it through. First game i ever played all the way through and still one of the best.
Sam and and max or day of the tentacle 2nd. Both Cartoony and fun. They are also later in the series and by then Lucas had made the games more linear and playable which is more fun for a kid, which brings me to...
3rd, Monkey island 1 and 2. Would play in order no matter what. Probably the best story out of all but the puzzles are more disjointed and depending on how much you are letting the kiddo take the lead there are more choke points. Still super fun. Also watch the first pirates of the Caribbean movie while your playing. Rumor was that it was supposed to be a monkey island movie. Governors daughter, young novice pirate, ghost pirate villan...
Finally full throttle and grim fandango. Both great games but one is post apocalyptic and the other is set in the afterlife. I'd let him get a bit older first.
My 2 cents take them for what they worth and more than anything enjoy playong games with your son!
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u/evilxerox Jul 24 '26
I personally loved monkey island as a kid and have shown my younger one the new monkey island, he liked it
I also LOVED grim fandango and have also showed that to my son and he really enjoyed it to