Grim Fandango

aka: Deeds of the Dead
Moby ID: 201
Conversion (official) Included in

Description official descriptions

Not much is known about the life of Manuel "Manny" Calavera. It is, however, known what happened to him after he died. The Land of the Dead is where all people are reincarnated after death, turning into skeletal figures. The Land of the Dead is also very similar to the world of the living: people work, have careers, fall in love, and can even die again, turning into flowers. And they all await their final destiny - a trip to the underworld. Depending on their deeds in life, they might get a good journey or be destined to walk there without any means.

Manny works in a travel agency that takes care of such trips. But recently, something has been going wrong. Manny is unable to get good clients, and he suspects that there is a scheme to falsify the dossiers of dead people, offering the best trips to scoundrels for bribes. Manny's grand adventure begins as he steps into the world of corruption and intrigues.

Grim Fandango is a puzzle-solving adventure game that describes several years of Manny Calavera's afterlife. Influenced by Mexican mythology, film noir and Art Deco, the game combines 3D characters with pre-rendered backgrounds. The traditional mouse interaction was abandoned in favor of keyboard control for movements and actions. Manny is navigated with arrow keys, and tilts his head whenever something attracts his interest; the object or character in question can then be examined or interacted with.

As usually in LucasArts' adventure games, conversations offer plenty of different responses that can be chosen by the player. Despite the lack of the option to combine items with each other within the inventory, the game still contains many challenging puzzles that require manipulating inventory items and the environment.

Spellings

  • 冥界狂想曲 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 神通鬼大 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

188 People (187 developers, 1 thanks) · View all

Project Leader
Lead Artist
Lead Programmer
Conceptual Artist
Music Composed and Produced By
Assistant Designers
Production Manager
Production Coordinator
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Character Animation
Background Artists
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 92% (based on 55 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 412 ratings with 23 reviews)

Favourite Adventure game

The Good
Basically everything, from the creative story to the sharply defined characters. This game might seem long to some gamers, but once you start to play this masterpiece, it captures you into playing more. One of the great aspects of the game is the music, which like most adventure games music is a top contributing factor, I especially enjoyed Companeros from the Day of the Festival. Out of all the characters, Bruno was by far the funniest. I won't spoil the end, but the way in which you defeat Hector LeMans is surprising and unique.

The Bad
During one part of the game I've encountered a bug/glitch, when Manny picks up the huge heavy axe, his head disappeared only leaving the neck. Funny at first, uncomfortable the next.

The Bottom Line
A classic Adventure game.

Windows · by Everett Lamb (9) · 2004

A great game with some minor flaws

The Good
Graphically this game was quite cutting edge at the time. I just finished it in 2004, quite some time after it's 1998 release, yet it didn't seem particularly dated. This is a commendable achievement that few games can claim. Part of what makes the graphics remain fresh to this day is the creative and interesting scenes you find yourself in throughout the game. There is a consistent neo-aztec feel to the architecture which is quite cool and has yet to be recreated to such an extent. Additionally, there is a consistent lack of repetition in the environments that modern games could learn alot from. The character models are varied and full of character. It's amazing to me how much personality the designers put on a skeleton's face.

The sound in the game is quite nice as well. The music fits the various environments quite well, the sound effects are great, and the voice acting is superb throughout. Some of the best voice acting I've heard in a game actually. The conversations are crass and entertaining. The sound helps immerse you which is necessary for third-person adventure games. The sounds all suit the events that they are matched too, which is another thing modern games could learn from.

The gameplay is pretty good for the most part, though see below for some complaints. Character control is through the keyboard, as was common in that day and age. It is, of course, and adventure game, which means the challenge in the game is figuring out what it is you're supposed to do. I must admit I'm crap at adventure games and I always need a walkthrough of some kind, but even with this handicap, I found that the tasks you're supposed to engage in are logical about 50% of the time. It IS difficult at times to see what items you're supposed to manipulate. If there is any weakness to this game, it's in the gameplay.

The story is superb. I found myself enjoying the main character immediately, which is yet ANOTHER thing modern games could learn from. It's a compelling story, the characters are quite humorous, and above all, it's an enjoyable story. Sometimes the conversations lead to confusion about what one is supposed to do, but at all times your 'main' goal is clear. I play adventure games for the plot alone, and I was quite impressed by this one. It's not an epic-hero story, unlike most RPG's and some action games, which is a nice change. It's a fun, engaging detective story that I think everyone can enjoy.

The Bad
The only weakness in this game is in the gameplay. A good 50% of the puzzle solutions are absolutely obscure. The decision of which inventory item to use where and when is quite frequently illogical in my opinion. This could be because I haven't the knack for adventure games, I grant that, however, I think there is a latent difficulty to this game that isn't due to my lack of cognitive capacity. This flaw is made worse by the difficulty in finding all of the necessary items to solve problems. This gets annoying quite quickly, but there are a myriad of walkthroughs available on the internet, as a simple google search will show. So while this flaw is noticeable, it's not a major problem to playing the game.

The Bottom Line
I would recommend it to anyone. It can be found for practically free from game vendors. It's got a wonderful plot and the characters are great. It's almost a perfect example of how good a game can be. I was even more impressed for the fact that i'm not usually an adventure gamer. This is a 'must-play.'

Windows · by Marty Bonus (39) · 2004

Living in the land of Dead

The Good
Grim Fandango is an excellent game, the graphics are so good, and the plot is simply fantastic. If you are an adventure lover, here you will find everything that you ever wanted:graphics? Even the backgrounds seem to be planned until the further details. Story? You will find an excellent plot here, while you help Manny to find the truth in the Land Of Dead. Puzzles? Yes, like in almost every good adventure, there are a lot of things that will make you guess and think to solve them.

The Bad
At first you will find yourself a little frustrated trying to move Manny, but once you get used to it, it will be very easy. And you cannot play it under Windows 2000, unless you download a patch for this SO from the people of Microsoft.

The Bottom Line
Once again, the people from LucasArts surprise us with a game that makes a big step in Adventure games.

Windows · by Emepol (212) · 2011

[ View all 23 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Grim Fandango appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cut dialogue

Originally, Manny could find out the entire conspiracy in a conversation with Domino in Year Three. The audio files shipped with the game, but the dialogue tree was cut.

Gags

  • In the hallway of the DOD there is a picture of a boat. If you look at in Manny says "Not that I have a choice, but I wonder if I would be happier working on a ship. Then again I'm so competitive I wouldn't be able to rest until I was Captain." At the end of year two on the ship he is just the cleaner, and then a year later he is the captain.
  • The main character in this game is a skeleton, take a look at the side of the box and you'll see a different LucasArts logo. The usual golden figure who raises his arms (towards the sun?) is replaced by a skeleton.

References

  • The game's hero is Manny Calavera. Calaveras are actually those skeleton-dolls, which the majority of the characters in this game are.
  • One of the characters is called Olivia Ofrenda. "Ofrenda" is a Mexican celebration of the dead.
  • As in many others LucasArts games, you can find Max, from Sam & Max. Go to the tattoo parlor (in Rubacava, you must walk all the way to the right). Take a look to the poster and you will find him in the tattoo designs.
  • In year 2, there is a part of the game where you see a Blimp/Zeppelin hovering in the air above the Cat Tracks... As you cross the bridge under it, a short melody plays which is part of the opening theme to Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe... and older World War 2 flightsim from Lucasarts (or Lucasfilm Games as it was known back then)
  • Including the references mentioned below, the game's characters have many similarities to actual Day of the Dead objects. There is, for example, Don Copal - Copal is a festive resin from tropical trees often burned in special bowls on graves during the Day of the Dead in Mexico.
  • You soon end up working for an underground organisation called the L.S.A., or the Lost Souls Alliance. As stated in the manual Grim Fandango is steeped in references to Aztec and Mayan culture and art (as well as Mexican folklore and film noir of the 1930's, 40's and 50's). LSA (for short) is the psychoactive ingredient of 'Ololiuqui' - the Aztec name for the seeds of certain plants that have been used and held sacred by the Aztecs for many years. This may or may not be intentional but trivia nonetheless!
  • The game contains a reference to Frank Herbert's sci-fi cult novel Dune. At the end of the 4th year, when Salvador bites down on a fake tooth, releasing a cloud of poison that kills both him and his victim, he alludes to an almost identical event in Dune.

Budget & Sales

The budget was a whopping 3 million dollars but the sales didn't live up to that investment. As of 2004, Grim Fandango is the only game that didn't make LucasArts a profit.

Saving screen

As you progress through the game, more of the design over the save screen will show.

Title

The game was originally going to be named Deeds of the Dead but the management at LucasArts didn't want a reference to death in the title.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 1999 (Issue #177) – Best Adventure Game of the Year (together with Sanitarium)
    • January 2001 (Issue #199) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
    • March 2001 (Issue #200) - #7 Best Game Of All Time
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1999 - #87 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2000 - #41 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2000 - Best Adventure in 1999
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 11/2005 - #2 Game Which Absolutely Needs A Sequel
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1999 – Best Adventure in 1998

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Emepol, James Isaac. PCGamer77, Roedie, Scott Monster, [SDfish, [Tom Murphy](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,66915/), [WildKard](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,16566/), [Unicorn Lynx](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,6226/) and [Zack Green](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,9727/)](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,45163/)

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  • MobyGames ID: 201
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Ryan Lucas.

Additional contributors: Swordmaster, Xa4, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Zack Green, Shoddyan, James Isaac, Zeppin, CaesarZX, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Thomas Helsing, Patrick Bregger, Ingsoc, FatherJack.

Game added August 10, 1999. Last modified March 27, 2024.