10 More Great Video Games Nobody Bought
6. Grim Fandango
Out of the many reasons for a game to commercially fail, an entire genre going out of style is rather brutal way to go. Considering Grim Fandango was made for quite a hefty asking price at the time, it was going to struggle to make a profit. However, the era of the classic adventure game was well and truly out.
Grim Fandango is set in a film noir afterlife and stars Manny Calavera - a skeletal travel agent who winds up discovering a conspiracy in his world. This world, the Land of the Dead, oozed a distinct charm and housed an incredibly unique story as told by a brilliant voice cast.
In many ways, it's characters, humour and out-of-the-box puzzle solving so perfectly summarise what LucasArts had been known for for a long time. It made for a great game... that most players didn't care about as frenetic action had taken precedence within the gaming space.
Grim Fandango's sales were bad enough to convince LucasArts to call it a day with their adventure game past and move forward as essentially a publisher of Star Wars outings. As such, it's seen as somewhat of a swansong for the entire genre. Thankfully, the game's license was eventually picked up by DoubleFine's Tim Schaffer for a rerelease after years of fans clamouring a new way to play this classic.