In honor of the spooky season I finally managed to start Grim Fandango Remastered. The game was lying around on my hard drive for a while, but I never found the time to play it. But with Halloween and the Day of the Dead approaching I decided to plunge into it.
The game was first released October 30, 1998 *booo* by LucasArts and then again as a remastered version in January 2015 by Double Fine Productions. The remastered game is available for literally all platforms, even mobile devices.
Setting
The game is set in the Eighth Underworld, a purgatory-like part of the Land of the Dead, where all recently departed souls congregate before they are allowed to continue their journey to the Land of Eternal Rest. Here we meet Manuel "Manny" Calavera(1), our hero and a travel agent of the Department of Death (D.O.D). The company headquarters is in El Marrow(2), a large town with wide streets and tall skyscrapers and the starting point of this adventure.
Prologue
Manny is disguised as the Grim Reaper as he enters his dimly lid and smoky office. There he finds Celso Flores waiting, a very nervous new customer who is about to start his four-year journey to the blessed afterlife. Manny wants to sell him a luxury travel package but after checking his computer he realizes that Celso only qualifies for the Excelsior Line a.k.a. a walking stick with a compass built into the knob. After seeing Celso off outside the company headquarters Manny returns to his office rather disappointed. We learn that he himself is stuck at the Department of Death working off "a little debt to the powers that be...", but without some high-commission cases Manny won't be able to leave.
Manny's Office
Back in his office Manny rambles on about the dead-end position he is stuck in and that he needs better clients to get on with his career (and afterlife). In this moment he gets a memo with the pneumatic dispath system.
Go to the pneumatic tube with the raised red flag and take the container. It contains a memo by Mannys boss Don Copal(3). He informs his employees that a mass poisoning is happening back in the Land of the Living and that all are encouraged to get their share. It's the perfect opportunity for Manny to get a good client.
After you read the memo go to table with the books and take the card deck. You can also check the computer but it is still busy processing the Flores case.
Leave your office, go down the floor and talk to Eva, the secretary. You can flirt with her and ask her about how she got stuck with the D.O.D. This will get you the achievement "You know the rules". She also tells you to hurry off to the poisoning.
Turn left, go down the floor a little bit and use the small elevator on your left side. It leads to the garage.
The Garage
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| Fig. 1 Map of El Marrow, Street Level |
Down at the spacious garage you see the D.O.D. vehicles and the exit to the Land of the Living. Go all the way to the farthest corner of the garage and meet Glottis. He's an elemental, not a calaca like the other characters in the game, and also a very talented mechanic. He tells you that rival travel agent Domino Hurley has given Mannys driver the day off. So Manny's stuck again unable to get to the poisoning.
Question Glottis about his backround to get the achievement "Thick, black, nauseating fumes...". You should also ask him about becoming your driver. He is reluctant, but after persuading him Glottis will give you a work order to sign by Don Copal.
Return to Eva. Tell her you need Don Copals signature. She will try, but the boss is busy. Use the card deck in your inventory with the hole punch on Evas desk. You will need it later.
Turn around and go down the floor again. This time use the large elevator to get down to the lobby. You can click around in the lobby to get some additional information, but all doors will be locked except for the front door that leads to the street. Also note the big statue on the left side. It depicts Mictlantecuhtli, the most prominant of the Aztec gods of the dead and the king of the lowest, most northern part of the underworld. He was also the previous head of D.O.D.
Go outside and to the right. You see the Day of the Dead celebration down the street with some booths. The right one has a clowns who twists the ballon animals. Talk to him and try to scare him into popping one of his balloons for the achievement "Lousy bony fingers!". Get all of the ballon animals, the one of Robert Frost (Nothing Gold Can Stay), especially two of the dead worms. Go to the next booth with the bread and take a loaf. Skeleton pigeons might sit on the roof of the adjacent booth. You can scare them for the "Run you pigeons! It's Robert Frost!" achievement.
Go back towards the entrance of the D.O.D. There is a dark alley on the left. Enter it and walk to the end. Use the rope to climb the building. When you reach the office floor climb through the window of Don Copals office. Don't worry, he's not home, because he used the rope to sneak out and visit the festival. Use the computer and change the automated answer of the intercom system to the one that allows Eva to sign forms.
Return to Eva to get the work order signed. Be impressed by her power and drive off to the Land of the Living.
The Land of the Living
When you arrive in the Land of the Living you are greeted by your rival Domino Hurley. He has the dead nun Sister Calabaza(4) in the back of his car, although lacking a scary face. After that you enter the diner where the mass poisoning occured.
First of all, scare all the living beings in the diner.
After that look closely at the body bag in the middle of the floor. Use your scythe with it to reap Bruno Martinez' soul.
You return to the Eighth Underworld with Glottis and your new client. But unfortunately he is a mean tempered little man, who only qualifies for the cheapest travel package: Being foamed inside a coffin and send to the Ninth Underworld by mail, the only benefit being a complimentary mug (remember it, it will come in handy later). Suddenly Mannys boss bashes into the room and scorns him for being unsuccessfull with his clients. He even threatens to fire him which enrages Manny, but also makes him miserable.
Back at the D.O.D.
Back at the top floor Manny can waltz into Domino Hurleys office and speak to his rival who is busy punching a speed bag. You can also drink his scotch, but you still need a potent client to avert being fired.
Use the big elevator to get down to the lobby again. Here you meet Juan Brennis, another elemental. He used to operate the elevators, but is now responsible for the pneumatic dispatch system of the building which gets constantly crashed by the salesmen who use it to throw away their empty bottles. Talk to Juan to get the achievement "Like a pixie!".
Go left into the server room and take the fire extinguisher. Check the door to the server, but it's locked. Look through the window and remember the red tube.
Return to the lobby and go into the right room where you foamed Bruno Martinez. Use one of the dead worm ballons from your inventory with the red foam dispenser and the second ballon with the blue dispenser.
Go to your office and use the two ballons with the pneumatic dispatch system. They will crash the server.
Go back down to the server room. Juan is inside for repairs. Reach the open door and lock it so it won't close after Juan leaves. After he has left, go inside the server and put the pinched card from your inventory into the red tube. It will stop an important message with some information on a premium client from reaching Dominos office.
The message gives Manny information on Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, an extremely virtous soul and Mannys ticket out of El Marrow. He sets out with Glottis on his newly upgraded Bone Waggon to beat his rival Domino and get to her faster. After reaping her soul Manny and Meche are back at the office, where Manny is trying to sell her a premium travel packages. But when he checks his computer, he finds out that she doesn't qualify despite her flawless life.
Talk to Meche and try to find out if she held back some dark deed. Ask all the questions for the achievement "I could do something bad right now...".
Leave the office and walk to Evas desk.
Mannys boss will order him into his office where Domino is waiting. They will blame Manny for botching the job with Meche, who left to begin her four-year journey to the Ninth Underworld on foot. After being fired Manny is locked into Glottis hut down in the garage.
The Big Escape
Manny tries to escape but is stopped by the locked door. A shadowy figures appears and tests his loyalty to the D.O.D. Only failing the test will result in Mannys release, because his jailor is actually Salvador "Sal" Limones, the founder and leader of the Lost Souls Alliance (L.S.A). He takes Manny back to the dark alley next to the D.O.D. building. An elevator is hidden there that leads to the secret underground hideout of the L.S.A. Manny meets Eva there, who is a spy for the rebellion.
Talk to Salvador about the rebellion and the corruption within the D.O.D. to get the achievement "Precisamente, amigo."Also empty Evas dialog options to get the "Join or Die! Again!" achievement. She will also tell you the L.S.A. needs Mannys teeth to get into the D.O.D.s computer system.
Leave the hideout and go down the alley back to rope and climb to the office floor. Climb through Dominos window. Access his computer by guessing Dominos password. You'll fail, but get the achievement "'ARROGANT FRAUD' doesn't work." Go to Dominos speed bag and punch it a few times to get his mouthpiece. Before you leave open the drawer of Dominos desk to get a green coral. Use it as an anchor with the rope that is tied around the gargoyle outside of Don Copals office window.
Throw the rope across the gap and climb to the ladder. On the roof try to dispel the pigeons. Put one of your balloon animals or the Robert Frost balloon into the bowl and crumble the ceremonial bread over it. The pigeons will eat it and the balloon will burst, scaring the flock of birds away. Now you can get the eggs from the pigeon nest.
Climb down the rope and go to the garage back into Glottis' hut. Use the mouthpiece with the little dispenser to fill it with silicone. Put the mouthpiece into your mouth *yikes* to get a print.
Return to the hideout, give the mouthpiece to Eva and the eggs to Sal for his army of plumaceous messengers. In return Sal leads Manny through some tunnels out of El Marrow to the outskirts of the Petrified Forest.
Notes
- Spanish for "skull". Also the edible skulls made for the Day of the Dead.
- Marrow is a vegetable related to pumpkins, but also the soft substance inside of bones, in which blood cells are produced.
- The name means "incense" and denotes a resin from a tree native to Central America. It was used in rituals and medicine, B. Stross, Mesoamerican Copal Resins, in: T. Jones/C. Young, U-Mut Maya 6. An unofficial collection of papers, reports, and readings by attendants of the Advanced Seminar on Maya Hieroglyphic Writing held at the University of Texas at Austin (1997) pp. 177-186.
- Spanish for "pumpkin" (speaking of Halloween :-).