“Clam Man” by Team Clam (Martin Hanses, Jakob Hanses & Madeline Ramsey) & Martin Holm.
“This is the story of a man, recently promoted to junior sales representative, enjoying the comforts and leisure of [lower mid-level] office work. However, things suddenly take a turn for the worse, and the Clam Man is cast into an adventure full of danger, suspicion, and mystery.”
Point and click adventures made a bit of a revival in 2019: Just think about the upcoming “Theropods” or the recently published titles “Wurroom” and “Mutazione”! “Clam Man” belong to this genre as well, but it would feel kind of weird to me to name the four games in one sentence. Not because one title is better than the other, but because “Clam Man” is celebrating its genre-specific roots. With a lovely hand-drawn art style, wacky characters and a maritime setting that opens many possibilities for funny puns in the dialogues, it feels like a real retro adventure. At the same time, it feels fresh thanks to its multilayered humor. While the puns are one and the most obvious level, you can also find dry humor in there.
After the the eponymous hero loses his job, he faces an existential crisis. It all feels surreal for him, as the quality of his work was not half as bad as a junior sales representative at Snacky Bay Prime Mayonnaise. He gets confronted with the absurdity of life, but also with the caprice of capitalism. Things get even stranger when he tries to find the real reasons for his layoff. In my eyes, “Clam Man” is like the older, quieter gaming cousin of “SpongeBob SquarePants”: Their jokes often work on more than one level and the heroes are kind-hearted, somewhat naive ‘pushover’ personalities. But do not be tricked by that, as they can achieve wonderful things with their own strength as well as teamwork! [PLAY]
