It may not be as trailblazing as the classic games in the series, but it's not anything like Magna Cum Laude or Box Office Bust, either! Larry Laffer is back, and so is Saxcat20 - now known as The Gaming Corner - in this Day 1 (kinda) Let's Play!
It may not be the return to form that the Leisure Suit Larry fans want, but it is the ones that they need. This game came out in early November 2018, so this game is quite recent compared to the other games covered so far on this blog. For those wondering, Al Lowe is not involved whatsoever, and the game is developed by a German indie company known as Crazy Bunch Games.
When you start the game, you can skip straight to the action by pressing the red circle with the arrow in the upper-right corner, or you can answer the age gate questions, which are there just as a reference to the classic Leisure Suit Larry games. If you answer four questions in a row correctly, however, you'll get an achievement for it ("Old School"). Don't feel bad if you have to look them up.
By starting the game for the very first time, you'll also get an achievement ("You Want It Too"). As of the time of the game's release, the game is available on Steam and GOG for $29.99. Don't worry, it's worth that 30 bucks, and you're going to find out why.
The game begins somewhere in what looks like Mexico, where a guy playing a guitar says that the time has come and that "he" has awakened after a long time after being forgotten (with many saying that this is a good thing), that the Chosen One from the Prophecy lives and that the alpacas will bow before him. Nothing will be the same. The game then zooms in on the picture on the wall, which shows two alpacas bowing down in front of a person with a white leisure suit.
We then end up in a dark room, where a man wakes up only to find out he is somewhere dark and unfamiliar. He climbs out of a conveyor belt and ends up in a place lit up only by a dim green light...but we need more light to see where he is.
From here, you have control of Larry. You can move your cursor onto things, and if there is a name for it in the bottom center of the screen - as well as a pink circle with a hand and what looks like a key inside of it near your cursor - you can interact with it. Also, the in-game menu acts a little differently; instead of going to the top of the screen, you have to move the cursor to the lower-right corner of the screen to get a notepad to come up. There are only two options: the main menu (signified by the house) and your inventory (signified by the box), though you have no items yet.
There is a red button to the left with a green circle above it. Click on the button to get a little more light. From here, you will uncover a roll-up chalkboard. Click on the chalkboard to roll it up and reveal a fuse box. Click on the fuse box to light up the room just a little bit more. You'll see some stuff on the wall, such as a Post-It Note that reads "1987" as well as a diagram of a person. From there, click on the button again, and you'll trigger the elevator. Click on the elevator to go up from...wherever this is.
If it isn't evident by now, this is the conveyor belt where Larry was rebuilt after a couple of death scenes in the first Leisure Suit Larry games. This should tell you something...
You'll then end up on the streets of Lost Wages - the setting of the first game - and in front of Lefty's Bar. At least that area is still there. You might as well go in, since there's not much else to do and you can't go back down due to the elevator running out of power.
Inside Lefty's Bar, Larry will meet a young woman at the left side of the bar talking on a cellphone. When he talks to her, the woman - whose name is Becky Butter - talks about what she has heard about Lefty's on the Internet in very 2018-ish slang. While the player may understand what she is talking about, Larry does not. From here, you can respond to her by clicking on a dialogue option when the game presents them on the bottom of the screen. This is how you will be talking to people throughout the game. There are no wrong answers for the two dialogue options you get here. As you listen to Becky talk, she will mention some fake social media platforms that are obvious parodies of real-life social media platforms as well as some more 2010s hipster slang.
From here, you have control of Larry again. You can continue to talk to Becky Butter from here. Be sure to go through all the dialogue options one by one.
While you're here, talk to Lefty. He mentions that Larry has not been seen in some time, and that people have heard that Larry has either died, entered a monastery or retired to an exotic island somewhere. Larry will have no memory of what has happened to him prior to the start of the game, and Lefty tells him it isn't the 20th century anymore. Larry is surprised by this news at first, but he eventually takes it in stride.
When you get control of Larry again, go through all the dialogue options. Larry will learn that Lost Wages and that this is New Lost Wages. You'll want to do this, not only to get two beers for your inventory, but to also get some reference to things such as Candy Crush, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Tide Pod eating as well as an achievement ("Stay A While And Listen"). Lefty also makes reference of the fact that Larry sticks the beers in his jacket - as he will with every item in the game - as a slight joke.
When you have the two beers, give them to Becky. Becky will take pictures of the beer and film a video story about the beers, all while Larry has a look of disgust as he has no idea what is going or what Becky is even talking about half the time before finally having a drink 20-odd minutes later. They enjoy the drink, but Larry feels sick. Talk to Lefty and ask for the bathroom key, and use the key on the bathroom door to the left. To do that, go to the inventory on the lower-right corner in the notebook, then click on the bathroom key, which is tied to a brick. You'll be able to enter the bathroom, but the key will break off afterwards.
When you enter the bathroom, you'll get an Instacrap story where Larry is puking in the toilet when he notices a pile of green crud on a rat vibrating and making vibrating noises. Larry won't be able to touch it, and you won't be able to leave the room until you investigate it, either.
There are some things you can take: the dollar and change on the table, the toilet paper next to the toilet, the patch on the side of the stall, and the broomstick between the sink and the moist poster wall (which walls off the bathroom from the first game, which is now flooded out). From here, you'll have to use some items to remove the crud and see what is underneath. You could use the toilet paper, but Larry does not want to touch it that way as his hands will still come into contact with the crud. You'll have to combine the toiler paper with the broomstick to create an improvised toilet brush and use it to clean off the crud to reveal a cellphone, which Larry calls a "glowing box" as he has never seen a cellphone before. To combine the broom handle and the toilet paper, click on one of the two objects in the inventory, then go back into the inventory and click on the other item to combine them and get a new item. You won't be able to combine everything, but there are some things that you can combine, so this won't be the last time you'll be doing it.
The cellphone activates when Larry checks it out, and from here, you can go through the dialogue with any options you like when the operation system decides to have a mind of its own upon noticing it is in unfamiliar territory. You'll find out that the phone is called a PiPhone (an obvious iPhone reference), and that the AI program talking to you wants you to return it to Prune Headquarters. An Unter vehicle (a reference to Uber) will be outside of Lefty's Bar.
There is an old coin machine in the bathroom, but you won't be able to use it yet.
Back at the main bar area, there is a low-res poster of a pixelated naked woman on the wall that is a reference to the classic games. You can also take the darts on the dartboard as well as the dried gum near the right stool.
You can also talk to Becky again and go through all of the dialogue options. Be sure to do that before leaving the bar, if you wish.
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