LUCASARTS’ GRIM FANDANGO PRESENTS A SURREAL TALE OF CRIME, CORRUPTION AND GREED IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD

Dramatic New Graphic Adventure from the Creator of Award-Winning Full Throttle Expected to Release in the fall 1998

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- September 7, 1997 -- A dramatic and mythical story of crime and corruption set in a surreal world inspired by Mexican folklore comes to life in Grim Fandango, a new graphic adventure from LucasArts Entertainment Company. Grim Fandango, expected to release in the fall of 1998 on Windows 95, combines elements of classic film noir with a mysterious and engaging story spanning the four year search for redemption by Manny Calavera, a travel agent in the Land of the Dead.

Manny, a true working stiff, is stuck in his own personal purgatory with the ultimate dead-end job. Employed by the Department of Death, Manny must pick up people in the Land of the Living, bring them to the Land of the Dead, and set them off on a four year journey across the underworld -- an excursion that all souls must make before they come to their eternal resting place. Manny can’t move on until he meets his sales quota, but what he doesn’t know is that the cards are truly stacked against him. He’s caught in the middle of an embezzlement ring that’s preventing him from getting the right clients. Manny soon finds this out and steals a prime prospect, setting in motion a chain of events that not only threaten his job, but the eternal destiny of his soul.

At the heart of Grim Fandango is a gripping story about one man’s journey in a dark underworld fraught with mystery and intrigue. Inspired by the films Chinatown, Casablanca and The Big Sleep, the game’s four year saga intertwines the themes of classic film noir with exotic mythology of ancient Mexico. The two genres share elements that are at the core of Manny’s struggle: danger, drama, greed, the passage of an innocent person through a dark and perilous realm, and finally, redemption.

"Grim Fandango is the most ambitious graphic adventure that LucasArts has ever developed," says Tom Byron, product marketing manager for LucasArts. "Tim Schafer, whose other projects at LucasArts include the popular graphic adventure titles Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle, has successfully undertaken a different approach to Grim Fandango by turning the technical limitations of 3D into an art style."

Graphically, Grim Fandango draws inspiration from Mexican Day of the Dead folklore art and the film Nightmare Before Christmas, showcasing a unique approach never before seen in an interactive title. Characters come to life as skeletons, depicted in a primitive yet realistic folk-art style. Architecture is a combination of Aztec, Mayan and Art Deco, providing Grim Fandango with an exotic and mystical tone. Vehicles are wildly exaggerated custom hot rods, in a style reminiscent of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth’s outrageous creations from the 1960s. Grim Fandango features more than 50 mysterious characters and 90 locations, all beautifully rendered in stunning 3D animation.