One of the worst games from the 1990s is back in 4K – and here’s why you must play it | Gaming | Entertainment


Retro gaming fans will no doubt remember a time when full motion video (FMV) games were all the rage. Most of them were a bit rubbish, with Night Trap, Double Switch and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective among the more fondly remembered. “Fondly remembered” isn’t something that can be said for 1993 release Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties, which is often touted as one of the worst video games ever made. It’s not even a proper FMV game. Barring a brief video to kick things off, the majority of Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties is presented as a slide-show, with characters speaking over the top of a series of photographs. It’s more like a visual novel, albeit with some minor decision making in order to move the branching narrative forward. Despite its terrible reputation, however, Limited Run Games has recently re-released Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox and PC digital storefronts.

In fact, Limited Run hasn’t just re-released the adult-oriented romantic comedy, they’ve given it a full 4K makeover and added a ton of new features.

This includes a gallery mode, save states, the ability to skip and select scenes you’ve already played, a documentary, deleted footage, and a bizarre first-person dungeon-crawler which you’ll need to explore in order to unlock rewards.

Limited Run explains more: “Painstakingly restored and lovingly recreated. Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition delivers a truly next-generation CD-ROM experience.

“For the first time since 1993 the original version of the game is faithfully presented alongside 4K remastered photos and a wealth of documentary and interview content.

“Relive the excitement of John and Jane’s fateful encounter in the first American produced visual novel. Learn about the birth of the multimedia era from industry icons, and dive into the origin featuring leading lady Jeanne “Jane” Basone with all-new documentary style content.”

If you’re wondering why a one-star game has been given the five-star treatment, then you should watch the video above.

Featuring members of the Limited Run team, journalists, historians and influencers, the video does a great job of explaining why bringing back bad video games is just as important as revisiting classics.

Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties provides a fascinating snapshot of the culture of video games in the early 90s, not to mention the market trends of the time, and wider attitudes in general.

It’s for this reason that it’s important to preserve video games and make them available to modern audiences (even the bad ones), else we risk losing them forever.

It’s also worth pointing out that Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties is hilarious, falling firmly into the “so bad, it’s good” category.

PDWT may be a badly made game with a terrible script, awful “gameplay” and crappy presentation, but that shouldn’t stop you from picking up a digital copy (physical versions are sold out) and having a good larf.



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