Grim Fandango is a 1998 adventure game directed by Tim Schafer and created and released by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows. It was the first LucasArts adventure game to use 3D computer images combined with pre-made, still background images. Like other LucasArts adventure games, players must talk to characters, look at, pick up, and use objects to solve puzzles.
The game is set in the Land of the Dead, a world that mixes old and futuristic styles from the 1950s. Recently passed souls, shown as figures similar to calacas, travel through this world before reaching their final destination. The story follows Manuel "Manny" Calavera, a travel agent, as he helps a new arrival named Mercedes "Meche" Colomar on her journey. The game includes ideas from the Aztec afterlife and the film noir style, which is seen in movies like The Maltese Falcon, On the Waterfront, and Casablanca.
Grim Fandango was praised for its art and direction. It won several awards and is often listed as one of the greatest video games ever made. However, it was not successful in selling many copies, which led LucasArts to stop making adventure games and caused the adventure game genre to decline.
In 2014, with help from Sony, Double Fine Productions, Schafer’s studio, got the rights to Grim Fandango after Disney bought and closed LucasArts as a game maker the year before. Double Fine made a remastered version of the game with better character images, improved controls (including point-and-click), music composed by an orchestra, and commentary from the directors. The remastered version was released for Linux, OS X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Windows in January 2015. It was also released for Android and iOS in May 2015, for Nintendo Switch in November 2018, and for Xbox One in October 2020.
Gameplay
Grim Fandango is an adventure game where the player controls a character named Manuel "Manny" Calavera (calavera means "skull" in Spanish) as he follows Mercedes "Meche" Colomar through the Underworld. The game uses the GrimE engine, which creates still background images from 3D models, while characters and moving objects are animated in 3D. Cutscenes in the game are also made using 3D animation. Players control Manny’s movements and actions using a keyboard, joystick, or gamepad. The remastered version of the game also allows control with a mouse. Manny must gather objects that can be used with other items, parts of the environment, or other characters in the Land of the Dead to solve puzzles and advance in the game. The game does not have a heads-up display (HUD). Unlike earlier 2D games from LucasArts, players are not shown text on the screen when passing over important objects or people. Instead, Manny turns his head toward these items or characters as he walks. Players view the items Manny has collected by watching him pull them in and out of his coat jacket. Manny can talk to other characters through choices in conversations to receive clues about solving puzzles or moving the story forward. Like most LucasArts adventure games, players cannot die or face situations that make it impossible to finish the game.
Synopsis
Grim Fandango is set in the Land of the Dead, also called the Eighth Underworld. Here, recently passed souls must travel to the Land of Eternal Rest, the Ninth Underworld, through the Four-Year Journey of the Soul. Souls who did good things in life receive better travel options from the Department of Death, such as sports cars or luxury cruises. The best option is the Number Nine, a fast train that reaches the gate to the Ninth Underworld in four minutes. Souls who did not live kindly must walk through the Land of the Dead, a journey that takes about four years. These souls often lose hope of reaching the Ninth Underworld and instead find jobs in the Land of the Dead. Travel agents from the Department of Death act as the Grim Reaper, guiding souls from the Land of the Living to the Land of the Dead and assigning them their travel method. Each year on the Day of the Dead, souls are allowed to visit their families in the Land of the Living.
Souls in the Land of the Dead appear as skeletal calaca figures. Demons help with daily tasks, such as fixing vehicles or serving drinks. Souls can experience "death-within-death" if they are "sprouted," a process caused by darts filled with a substance called sproutella, which makes flowers grow through their bones. Sprouted souls are reincarnated. Many characters are Mexican, and some Spanish words are used in the game, creating Spanglish. Many characters smoke, following a film noir style. The game manual notes that every smoker in the game is already dead.
The game is divided into four acts, each set on November 2, the Day of the Dead, over four years.
Manuel "Manny" Calavera works as a travel agent at the Department of Death in El Marrow. He was forced into the job to pay off a debt. Manny is frustrated because he is assigned clients who must take the four-year journey due to poor life choices. His boss, Don Copal, threatens to fire him if he does not improve his client list. Manny steals a client, Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, from his coworker, Domino Hurley. The Department’s computers assign Meche to the four-year journey, but Manny believes she deserves a guaranteed spot on the Number Nine train because of her kindness. When Manny asks Meche to wait while he fixes the issue, she begins her journey on foot. Don Copal uses this as a reason to arrest Manny. Manny is freed by Salvador "Sal" Limones, leader of the underground group the Lost Souls Alliance (LSA), who warns him that Domino and Don are stealing tickets and selling them to Hector LeMans, a criminal. Sal recruits Manny to help LSA by creating a pigeon mail system and providing biometric data to access the Department’s computers. Manny cannot stop Hector immediately and instead searches for Meche in the Petrified Forest with his driver, Glottis. Manny arrives in Rubacava before Meche and waits for her.
A year later, Rubacava has grown. Manny now runs a nightclub near the edge of the Forest. He sees Meche leaving the port with Domino but is stopped by Meche. Manny learns from Olivia Ofrenda, owner of the Blue Casket nightclub, that Don was sprouted for exposing a scandal. Manny chases them, becomes a janitor on a ship, and is later promoted to captain. He tracks them to a coral mining plant on the Edge of the World, where Domino holds Meche as a trap to lure Manny. Domino’s clients, whose tickets were stolen, are also held there as slave labor. Domino offers Manny a position in the plant but is refused. Manny defeats Domino by making him fall into a rock crusher. Manny, Meche, Glottis, and other souls escape the plant.
The group travels for another year to reach the terminus for the Number Nine train. The Gate Keeper to the Ninth Underworld refuses to let them pass without tickets, mistakenly believing they were sold. It is revealed that a soul who has not paid debts or used fake tickets causes the train to become a hell train, sending souls to hell. Meanwhile, Glottis becomes seriously ill. Manny learns from demons that the only way to save Glottis is to travel at high speeds. Manny and others create a makeshift fuel source to build a "rocket" train cart, returning to Rubacava to save Glottis. They return to El Marrow, now renamed Nuevo Marrow and controlled by Hector. Manny reunites with Sal and Olivia, who joined the LSA. They discover Hector hoards real Number Nine tickets and sells counterfeit ones to balance his sins. Manny confronts Hector but is tricked by Olivia, Hector’s girlfriend, who captures Sal. Manny defeats Hector after Sal sacrifices himself to stop Olivia.
Manny and Meche find the real Double N tickets, including Meche’s. Manny ensures other tickets reach their rightful owners and is given his own ticket for his good deeds. Manny and Meche board the Number Nine for their journey to the Ninth Underworld while Glottis says goodbye.
Development
Grim Fandango was developed by Tim Schafer, who also co-designed Day of the Tentacle and created Full Throttle, Psychonauts, and Brütal Legend. Before making Full Throttle, Schafer had an idea for a game based on Day of the Dead. He shared both this idea and the Full Throttle concept with LucasArts. Full Throttle was chosen first because it had more mainstream appeal. It became a success, which helped Schafer get approval to make Grim Fandango. A book called Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts said that getting approval for Grim Fandango was easier because of Schafer’s previous success, even though the game had an unusual theme.
Development of Grim Fandango started in June 1995, after Full Throttle was completed. LucasArts wanted to make adventure games more popular again, as the genre was declining by 1998. Schafer wanted to include twice as many puzzles as Full Throttle, which meant creating a longer and more complex story. The game had a budget of $3 million. It was the first LucasArts adventure game since Labyrinth not to use the SCUMM engine. Instead, it used the Sith engine from Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II as the base for a new engine called GrimE. The GrimE engine used a scripting language called Lua. This choice was influenced by LucasArts programmer Bret Mogilefsky, who was interested in Lua. The use of Lua in Grim Fandango later inspired other games, such as Escape from Monkey Island and Baldur’s Gate.
Grim Fandango combined pre-rendered background images with 3D characters and objects. This helped show the calaca figures, which are part of Mexican Day of the Dead traditions, in three dimensions. The game had over 90 sets and 50 characters, with Manny’s character made up of 250 polygons. Using 3D models for backgrounds allowed the team to change camera angles easily by re-rendering scenes, instead of redrawing them by hand. The engine was adapted to let Manny’s head move separately from his body, helping players notice important objects nearby. The 3D engine also helped match spoken dialogue with character movements. Full motion video cutscenes were used to tell the story, keeping the same style as the game’s characters and backgrounds.
The game mixes Aztec beliefs about the afterlife with 1930s Art Deco design and a dark, film noir-style plot. Schafer was inspired by his interest in folklore, which he studied in college and through conversations with folklorist Alan Dundes. He imagined a journey through the afterlife as a way to create an adventure game. Schafer said that the idea of Manny being a grim reaper came from thinking about what role someone would want in a Day of the Dead story. He also used a Mexican folklore story about gold bags buried with the dead to create a crime-ridden, film noir setting. The game was divided into four years, with each year containing puzzles that had to be solved before moving to the next.
Schafer wanted the game’s dialogue-heavy style to feel like film noir from the 1930s and 1940s. He said that older movies had a more honest way of speaking than modern films. He was inspired by writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, as well as movies like Double Indemnity, Chinatown, and Casablanca. The main villain, Hector LeMans, was designed to look like Sydney Greenstreet’s character from Casablanca, and his voice was modeled after Greenstreet’s.
Visually, the game used calaca figures from Mexican Day of the Dead traditions for its skeletal designs. The architecture included Art Deco skyscrapers and Aztec temples. Artist Peter Chan helped create the calaca figures, and the designs of hot rods and demon characters were inspired by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s art.
Schafer originally planned to name the game “Deeds of the Dead” because he thought Manny would be a real estate agent in the Land of the Dead. Other names considered were “The Long Siesta” and “Dirt Nap.” He later chose “Grim Fandango” as the final title.
The game used many Latino actors for voice roles to help with Spanish slang. Tony Plana voiced Manny, Maria Canals-Barrera voiced Meche, Alan Blumenfeld voiced Glottis, and Jim Ward voiced Hector. Schafer said Plana helped make Manny’s character more realistic by suggesting natural Spanish dialogue. He planned from the start to cast Latino actors for all roles.
The game was originally scheduled to release in the first half of 1998 but was delayed. It was finally released on October 28, 1998, for sale on October 30, the Friday before November 2, the actual Day of the Dead. Due to the delay, some puzzles and characters, like a five-step puzzle against Hector LeMans, were cut from the game. Schafer said it would have taken one to two more years to complete the original plan.
A remastered version of Grim Fandango was released on January 27, 2015, for Linux, OS X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Windows. The PlayStation 4 and Vita versions allowed cross-buy and cross-save features. It was later released for Android and iOS on May 5, 2015. The remastered version was also a PlayStation Plus title in January 2016.
Soundtrack
Grim Fandango has an original soundtrack that includes music played by an orchestra, South American folk music, jazz, bebop, swing, and big band music. This music was inspired by famous musicians like Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and film composers Max Steiner and Adolph Deutsch. The soundtrack also includes influences from traditional music styles from Russia, Celtic regions, Mexico, Spain, and India. Peter McConnell from LucasArts composed and produced the soundtrack. Other people involved include Jeff Kliment, who worked as an engineer, mixer, and masterer, and Hans Christian Reumschüssel, who helped with additional music production. The soundtrack used live musicians that McConnell knew or connected with in San Francisco’s Mission District, including a mariachi band. The soundtrack was released as a CD in 1998.
The soundtrack received praise from many sources. IGN described it as a "beautiful soundtrack that people enjoy listening to even after finishing the game." SEMO noted that the music is so well composed and performed that it feels like being in a bar from the past. RPGFan called the music "beautifully composed and wonderfully played" and said the album is enjoyable on its own. Game Revolution praised it as "one of the most memorable soundtracks ever." PC Gamer listed it as one of the best soundtracks in PC gaming history in 2014. In 2017, Fact magazine included it in a list of the "100 best video game soundtracks of all time."
In 1999, the soundtrack was nominated for an award at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences for "Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music." It was also recognized by GameSpot, which named it "Best PC Music" and included it in a list of the "Ten Best PC Game Soundtracks."
After recovering the original sound files, Peter McConnell discovered some of the samples used did not sound good. The team decided to re-record the music. For the remastered version of the game, the soundtrack was fully performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
The remade soundtrack was produced under Nile Rodgers’ label, Sumthing Else. It included 37 tracks and a special version with 14 extra tracks, available only through Sumthing Else. The release featured the original music from LucasArts archives, new compositions by Peter McConnell, new orchestral arrangements, and extended jazz pieces remixed by Sony Computer Entertainment America.
In 2018, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the game’s original release, the soundtrack was made available for the first time on vinyl.
Reception
Grim Fandango received high praise when it was first released. The review website Metacritic gave the game a score of 94 out of 100. Critics especially liked the game’s visual style. GameSpot said the design was “consistently great.” PC Zone praised the game’s overall production, including its direction, costumes, characters, music, and atmosphere. They called it “expertly done” and said it could be a “superb film.” The San Francisco Chronicle described the game as a “wild dance through a cartoonish film-noir adventure.” It said the game had fun characters, a clever story with puzzles, and an easy-to-use interface. The Houston Chronicle named Grim Fandango the best game of 1998, along with Half-Life. They called the graphics “jaw-dropping” and said the game had both dark and light humor. IGN said it was the “best adventure game” they had ever seen.
Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game and gave it five stars out of five. They said it was a “smart, beautiful, and enjoyable adventure game” and that players would wait eagerly for a sequel.
Some critics had concerns about the game. They said the interface was difficult to learn, and some camera angles made puzzles hard to solve. Elevators in the game were also a problem. Adventure Gamers disliked the soundtrack, saying it was “too heavy” for the game’s theme. A Computer and Video Games review mentioned that the game had long loading times from the CD-ROM, which slowed down the gameplay.
In 1999, Next Generation listed Grim Fandango as number 26 on their “Top 50 Games of All Time.” They said it offered “funny, touching, and infuriating moments” and had a “magnificently beautiful” design.
Grim Fandango won several awards after its release in 1998. PC Gamer named it the 1998 “Adventure Game of the Year.” IGN gave it the “Best Adventure Game of the Year” in 1998. GameSpot awarded it multiple prizes, including “Best of E3 1998,” “PC Adventure Game of the Year,” “PC Game of the Year,” “Best PC Graphics for Artistic Design,” and “Best PC Music.” GameSpot also named Grim Fandango its Game of the Year for 1998. In 1999, it won “PC Adventure Game of the Year” at the AIAS’ 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (now called the D.I.C.E. Awards). It was also nominated for several other awards, including “Game of the Year” and “Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics.”
Grim Fandango was included in many “Top Games” lists after its release. GameSpot added it to their “Greatest Games of All Time” in 2003, saying it was one of the greatest games ever made. GameSpy listed it in their Hall of Fame in 2004 and called it the seventh “Most Underrated Game of All Time” in 2003. Adventure Gamers ranked it as the seventh “Top Adventure Game of All Time” in 2004. In 2011, they listed it as number one in their “Top 100 All-Time Adventures.” IGN included it in their “Top 25 PC Games” in 2007 and “Top 100 Games of All Time” in 2007, saying it was the most original and brilliant adventure game ever made. Grim Fandango remained in the Top 25 PC Games list in 2009.
Initial sales estimates showed Grim Fandango sold well during the 1998 holiday season. It reached number six on PC Data’s sales charts in the first week of November at an average price of $35. It was not listed the next week. In the United Kingdom, it reached number one on Chart-Track’s sales chart in December but dropped to ninth place by the end of the month. It sold 58,617 copies and earned $2.33 million in the United States by the end of 1998. Sales reached 95,000 copies in the United States by March 2000. It sold 16,157 copies in 2001 and 8,032 copies in the first six months of 2002. Its jewel case SKU sold 5,621 copies in 2003. Tim Schafer, the game’s creator, said sales reached about 500,000 units by 2012, which was about 50% fewer than Full Throttle. LucasArts said the game met domestic expectations and exceeded them worldwide. The game became profitable by 2000, but Dave Grossman said it was expensive and did not make much money. A writer for Edge said in 2009 that while the game was not a complete failure, its sales suggested that adventure games were becoming less popular.
LucasArts released Escape from Monkey Island in 2000 but canceled plans for sequels to Sam & Max Hit the Road and Full Throttle. They said it was not the right time to launch adventure games on the PC. Many employees involved in adventure games were let go, and some started Telltale Games, which later made episodic Sam & Max games. These events, along with a shift in the video game market toward action games, are seen as reasons for the decline of adventure games. Grim Fandango’s poor sales were seen as a sign that the genre was no longer commercially successful. LucasArts said in 2006 they would not return to adventure games until the next decade. The studio stopped making games in 2013 after Disney acquired Lucasfilm.
Tim Schafer left LucasArts after Grim Fandango was released and started Double Fine Productions in 2000 with others who worked on the game. The company had success with Psychonauts. Schafer said he would like to make a sequel to Grim Fandango but prefers to create new games. With companies like Double Fine and Telltale Games, adventure games saw a revival in the 2010s, with games like Broken Age, The Walking Dead, and The Wolf Among Us achieving financial success.
Grim Fandango Remastered received similar praise as the original. Critics continued to praise the game’s
Legacy
In 2005, The Guardian described the game as "the last true classic made by LucasArts, a company that helped shape adventure games." The game, created by Tim Schafer, follows a character named Manny Calavera, who has a skull-like face, through a humorous version of the Land of the Dead. The game’s design mixes elements from Mexican mythology and art deco style, which was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Grim Fandango is considered one of the most unique artistic achievements in mainstream video games. Although many fans loved the game, its low sales led LucasArts to stop making new adventure games and instead focus on games based on existing franchises.
In 2012, Eurogamer’s Jeffrey Matulef wrote that Grim Fandango was the first game to combine the adventure genre with film noir, a style known for its mystery and dark themes. He noted that both styles rely heavily on dialogue and storytelling, which made the combination natural. This game later influenced other games with similar themes, such as Ace Attorney and L.A. Noire.
Grim Fandango has been recognized as an important example of video games as an art form. In 2012, it was chosen as a candidate for public voting to be included in the Smithsonian Institution’s "The Art of Video Games" exhibit. The Museum of Modern Art also considered adding the game to its permanent collection in the Department of Architecture and Design.
The game was part of the "Game Masters" exhibition in 2012, organized by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). This event explored the people and history behind computer games. Tim Schafer was highlighted in the "Game Changers" section of the exhibition, which honored game designers who helped expand game design, storytelling, and character creation.
Grim Fandango has remained popular among fans for more than 10 years after its release. Fan groups, such as the Grim Fandango Network and the Department of Death, continue to create and share fan art, stories, and other content related to the game.
In an interview with Kotaku after the announcement of a remastered version of the game, Tim Schafer mentioned that he had long thought about making a sequel to expand the game’s story and setting. He explained that creating a sequel would be challenging, as it would require either bringing the main character, Manny Calavera, back from his final reward or telling a new story with a different character. One idea he considered was using an open-world design, similar to games like Grand Theft Auto, where players can explore a large, interactive environment.