The Secrets of Monkey Island (1990)

My first introduction to Tim Schafer's crazy world was trough the game series The Secret of Monkey Island & Full throttle. The Secrets of Monkey island is a point-and-click adventure game, featuring Guybrush Threepwood, a normal sailor wanting to become a pirate. This game was really hard and requires you to really think outside the box when solving problems, which was what i fell in love with as a child.
You would solve problems in sometimes (if not always) peculiar ways, like zip-lining down a wire using a rubber-chicken (why didn't i think of using the rubber chicken? Obvious right...)

As Guybrush explores the pirate-world he is chased by the dreaded ghost pirate LeChuck trying to stop him in his adventures. This game offers mind-boggling puzzles, light-hearted humor and super well written dialogue.

The game series comes in 5 games, namely

The Secret of Monkey Island,
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge,
The Curse of Monkey Island,
Escape from Monkey Island,
and Tales of Monkey Island.

All games with their own stories but they all follow the narrative of Guybrush Threepwood and LeChuck & are direct sequels story-wise.

The Best Things About "The Secrets of Monkey Island"

Awesome humor and comedy elements to the game in true Tim Schafer style.

All pop-culture references constantly uttered in the game.

Very challenging, you really need to rub your brain muscles to solve the puzzles.

How everyone always says Guybrush Threepwoods name wrong, causing him to outburst "Threepwood, my name's Guybrush THREEPWOOD".

All the hidden Easter eggs in the game, opening up a desire for exploration (like that the guy covering the bridge actually is a pixilated version of George Lucas).

The cool graphics and faces. When you talk to someone you get a closer look at their faces, which often can be quite funny (you can also talk to the dog).

Timeless point-and-click adventure game from the golden era of adventure games. This one is real gem just oozing nostalgia throughout its very core.

Full Throttle (1995)

Jump forward 5 years in time to the next adventure from Tim Schafer's brain. This time we have another point-and-click adventure, but instead of playing the meek swashbuckler Guybrush Threepwood, you play the buff and hard biker Ben.
Instead of just pointing and clicking though, the in-game menu gives you three different images with different functions. These are a boot for kicking things, a fist to punch things and a skull to talk and look at things. These three symbols is also the badge of Ben's biker gang, The Polecats.
You will also experience some awesome biker-battles where you have to fight people while riding your bike.

This game is set in a fictional future where bikes and cars hover instead of going on wheels and the story is set on Ben trying to clear his and his gangs name after they are played by Adrian Ripburger, the CEO of Corley's Bikes and also the head of the enemy gang The Ripburgers. Adrian kills his partner Corley and sets the spotlight on Ben and his crew as the criminals with success. It's is now up to you to fix your reputation.

The Best Things About "Full Throttle"

The humor in this game is again just as awesome as in The Monkey Island series (a bit more adult humor). All in true Tim Schafer style.

All the cool mini-games you can find (like the knife-game in the bar).

The road battles where you get to smash people right on the road.

Mark Hamill and Roy Conrad as voice actors.

Dialogue plays a large role in the game, it's a great way to get information and requires you to think what to say to progress.

Challenging and hard puzzles. (Some are REALLY hard)

Grim Fandango (1998)

Grim Fandango was a game that received very positive critique, released in 1998.
The game plays-out in the Aztec after-life, or the "death kingdom". You play the character Manny Calaveras and will follow his story throughout the game. The game has four episodes to the story, all representing one of the "Day of The Dead"(Dia de muertos) that is once a year, over a span 4 years for each episode.

The characters in the game all look like how people dress when celebrating the "Day of The Dead" in Mexico with skeletal costume like appearances. Much inspiration has been taken from the Mexican artist Guadalupe Posada's work according to Schafer himself.

Again the humor oozes trough this game in every corner when playing it. In the world of Grim Fandango flowers are used as murder weapons and creatures like fire-breathing beavers and giant race-cats is a common occurrence.

Anyway returning to Manny Calavera, the main protagonist of the game. Lets check out some facts about Manny and what happens to him in the game.

Works as a travel-agent in the Aztec afterlife
A travel agent in the after-life basically takes dead people to, well, the after-life.
Manny becomes a detective when noticing unfairness towards a character that he takes to the afterlife.
Manny exposes corruption, murder and fraud in his pursuit of truth. You need to help Manny sort this mess out.

The Best Things About "Grim Fandango"

The graphic style inspired by Guadalupe Posada & Raymond Chandlers noir atmosphere is great.

Exciting story that makes you really want to know the truth and draw you in(+ Tim Schafer comedy).*

The puzzles are very creative (what should i do with that demon vomit?).

One of the coolest and most interesting game-worlds.

A bit clunky controls, but the remastered version fixed this, so this is a + now.

One of the best stories in a game ever. If you have not played it, you really need to check it out ASAP.

Psychonauts (2005)

Thought a Tim Schafer game could not be more mind-boggling? Well you were wrong. Introducing to you Psychonauts, the story of Raz, a young boy running away to the circus in a hope to develop his psychic abilities with like-minded individuals. On the psychic camp where Raz learns the secrets of the mind, he also notices a conspiracy going on in the camp, and it's up to you to help Raz find the truth.

To your help to battle the dangers of the mind and the camp, you will have a repository of psychic abilities like pyromania, telekinesis, levitation and invisibility.
You will fight both in the real world and certain "mental-worlds" where you often will meet bosses. Whats interesting is that every boss represents some sort of "feeling" or "dilemma" that you solve mentally by fighting them, adding a element of depth to the game. Everything about this game is spiritual in its nature, for example extra life's are counted as "astral projections" which i find quite cool.

This is a platform-adventure 3D-game that was released for the Xbox and PS2 and was the first game to break the point-and-click series from Tim Schafer's earlier games.

The Best Things About "Psychonauts"

Cool psychic abilities used to solve puzzles and fight enemies, with new abilities being unlocked as the game progress.

Need to call your pal and mentor Ford Cruller? Just whip out some bacon and he will come popping out your ear! (awesome humor again).

Interesting support characters. The characters in this game truly stands out in a good way, making the gaming experience that much more compelling.

Collectibles that are FUN to collect. The figments of imagination are scattered around the world disguised as everyday objects, and are actually quite enjoying to collect.

A lot of detail to the story. There are little pieces of seemingly random objects in the game that actually are connected to the story (think the rabbits in Coach Oleanders mind is random? Think again).

The levitation ability is awesome and makes platforming so much easier and enjoyable.

Beautiful timeless cartoonish graphics that make for some stunning environments, even when thinking about how old the game is.

Brütal Legend (2009)

Let's meet one of the coolest game characters ever. Eddie Riggs, the worlds best roadie working for the worlds worst heavy metal-band "Kabbage Boy". Named after rocknroll legend Eddie the Head after Iron Maidens mascot, while sporting an appearance of famous actor and artist Jack Black who also is the voice actor for Eddie.

When Eddie accidentally gets blood on his belt buckle, he gets transported to a twisted, epic heavy metal world full of demons and cool creatures. In this new world, rocknroll is the only God that exists, enabling Eddie to unleash deadly combos with his guitar rifs, calling lighting and fire upon his foes with the help of rocknroll.

Wielding his battle-axe and enchanted guitar, Eddie goes out on a adventure of an epic scale. Fight the giant metal spider called the Metal Queen to get the special strings needed for the healer, who is a base player voiced by Lemmy Kilmister, or help start a revolution in the headbangers mine, where teenagers break rock thru only the power of their headbanging necks.

The Best Things About "Brütal Legend"

Roam the open-world in The Deuce, your own customizable hot rod. Blast music and blast demons with attachable missile launchers.

Voice acting by famous artists like Jack Black, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford and Lemmy Kilmister.

Shift between an open world action adventure games, to epic strategy RTS focused battles against your foes where you fly over the battlefield commanding your army of rockers.

Awesome environments and weathers inspired by heavy metal music covers. See crazy vortexes and planets flip around in the sky, creating awesome scenery.

Interesting characters, from the evil Doviculus to the many heavy metal inspired creatures that roam the world. (Razorfire boars and lazer panthers anyone?)

Fun side quests with interesting story aspects and some fun moments.

Awesome in-game soundtrack with tracks like: "Dawn of Battle", "Kickstart My Heart" and "Marching Off to War" featuring the artists ManoWar, Mötley Crüe and Motörhead with many many more.

Concluding

I hope you all enjoyed this trip down memory lane, Tim Schafer is a genius in the game-developing industry in my opinion as all his games are just great. The story in each game is just compelling, with a big emphasize on conspiracy theories and mysteries. He thinks outside of the box and delivers something new every time, i cant wait for his next project with rumors of a Psychonauts in VR (OMG!!).

Give a upvote if you liked this nostalgic trip, i appreciate every vote! :)

The Crazy World Of Tim Schafer's Games