Emulation: ScummVM 2.8.1 Released

I’m a huge fan of old Point and click adventure games, and ScummVM is typically one of the first things I install on a hacked console (that, and Doom, of course). Available for your favorite platforms (Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, PS3, PSP, Windows, and much, much more), ScummVM 2.8.1 has just been released. This is mostly a maintenance release, but I realize I haven’t talked about scummVM in a while!

What is ScummVM

Those of us who grew up in the nineties will probably fondly remember some of the old LucasArts and other point and click adventure games. Others… might still want to check the oddly dated but cute graphics of some of these games!

From the official ScummVM page:

ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!

ScummVM supports many adventure games, including LucasArts SCUMM games (such as Monkey Island 1-3, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, …), many of Sierra’s AGI and SCI games (such as King’s Quest 1-7, Space Quest 1-6, …), Discworld 1 and 2, Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2, Beneath A Steel Sky, Lure of the Temptress, Broken Sword 1 and 2, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Gobliiins 1-3, The Legend of Kyrandia 1-3, many of Humongous Entertainment’s children’s SCUMM games (including Freddi Fish and Putt Putt games) and many more.

ScummVM 2.8.1. – What’s new

ScummVM 2.8.1 is mostly a maintenance release

This update includes upgrades for the following engines: AGI, AGS, GRIM, SWORD2, MM (which is now enabled — it was skipped 2.8.0 by accident), mTropolis, NANCY, SCUMM, TWINE, Ultima, and V-Cruise.

The Android, Atari and macOS ports received multiple bug fixes, mostly for improving overall stability and preventing some crashes that have been seen under certain circumstances.

See more details on the release notes.

Version 2.8.0, which was released late last year, added support for some new games:

• Added support for macOS versions of Syberia and Syberia II.
• Added support for The Vampire Diaries, Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill, Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger, Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion, Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower and Nancy Drew: The Final Scene.
• Added support for Reah: Face the Unknown and Schizm: Mysterious Journey.
• Added support for Might and Magic Book One.
• Added support for Muppet Treasure Island.
• Added support for Primordia, Shardlight and Technobabylon.
• Added support for The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, Strangeland and Whispers of a Machine.
• Added support for Stranga and Cloak and Dagger’s AGS games.
• Added support for Adibou 1.
• Added support for Dark Side.
• Added support for Kingdom: The Far Reaches.
• Added support for Escape From heck.
• Added support for Wrath of the Gods, Gadget: Invention, Travel and Adventure, The Dark Eye, and 4 other Director titles.

New platforms:

• Added libretro new shiny port.
• Added Atari port.

Download ScummVM

You can download ScummVM for the platform of your choice from the official download page here. Tu run the game on PS Vita or Switch, you’ll need a hacked PS Vita or Hacked Nintendo Switch respectively.