Sam & Max, the inexplicably legendary suit wearing dog and hyperkinetic rabbit evil-slappers that have captured the hearts and spleens of millions over the decades with their multimedia tomfoolery, are returning to videogames in 2021 - but with a virtual twist.

The game’s development team includes several team members that worked on the original Sam & Max: Hit the Road by LucasArts in 1992, as well as the Telltale series.

For the first time ever, gamers will play not as Sam and Max, but alongside them, in virtual reality. Players will be recruited and trained as one of the few, the proud, the miscreant Freelance Police. As a new cadet, the player will be put through a series of graded courses set up by the duo inside an abandoned theme park, which probably harbors a dark and dangerous secret. As players progress, they'll put their new skills to the test in Sam & Max's neighborhood, as well as other locales that defy description (well, not really, we just don't want to tell you about them yet!).

Fans will be happy to learn that HappyGiant has assembled an all-star team of Sam & Max veterans to help them develop the game. Steve Purcell, the creator of Sam & Max, is consulting on the game design, art, and story. Other team members include renowned concept artist Peter Chan, writer and designer Mike Stemmle, and Bay Area Sound. David Nowlin and Dave Boat are returning to voice Sam and Max.

A demo for the action-adventure VR title Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual! is now available to download for free from Steam.

Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual! will also be available to play for those visiting the Venice VR Expanded segment of the 78th annual Venice International Film Festival or at one of the 14 Venice VR Expanded satellite locations around the globe.

Everyone’s favorite anthropomorphic vigilante private investigators have been selected as part of this year’s “Out of the Competition - Best of VR”, which will be available September 1-11 on site at the festival (Sala Amici, Palazzo del Casinò, Lido di Venezia), and then online and at the Satellite Venues September 1-19, 2021.

Key Features:

• Experience the two-fisted japes and tomfoolery of internationally beloved icons Sam & Max in mind-melting virtual reality!
• So real you can feel Sam’s breath on your neck!
• Gape in stupefied awe as Sam & Max run amok through their sixth or seventh medium, leaving a trail of broken hearts and minds in their wake!
• Push yourself to be the best of the best of the middling, as a dog and a naked rabbity thing harangue you through different Freelance Police Academy training challenges.
• In an abandoned amusement park they have retrofitted, play as a trainee under Sam & Max’s tutelage/verbal abuse to become a member of the Freelance Police.
• Discover the horrible and socially relevant secrets lurking behind, under, and within Cap’n Aquabear’s rotting theme park!
• Give evil scientists and demonic trespassers their just desserts… with sprinkles!

Currently available on Oculus Quest, Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual! is coming to SteamVR and Viveport Infinity later in 2021, and then on PlayStationVR (PSVR) in early 2022.