Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone (2010)

This is the first episode of the third Sam & Max season, Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse. At the start, Max finds a toy that triggers a vision of the future, showing Sam and Max defeating an evil space gorilla by banishing him to the so-called Penal Zone. After the vision ends, the gorilla’s spaceship lands on the street and he pretends to trade his advanced technology for an artifact, the one Max found.

The main new feature is Max’s psychic powers, which can be activated from an icon in the upper-right corner. The game then switches to a first-person view where Max can choose and use one of these powers. Two powers are available beyond the tutorial: teleporting to a known phone and predicting the future. The latter shows a short clip of the near future when used on a person or item, usually giving a puzzle hint.

Sam and Max also gain access to a crime computer that requires two related pieces of evidence to unlock a new location. The rest of the gameplay is similar to earlier seasons: the player walks through levels, collects items, and uses them to solve puzzles. Dialogues use a ring menu, and Sam is moved by holding the left mouse button and dragging in the desired direction, or by using the keyboard. Interactions use a single mouse button.

At release, single episodes were not available for purchase separately. Users had to buy all five episodes together as they were released on a monthly basis.