It wasn’t a good year, 2018, was it? Telltale shut its doors, Psychonauts 2 was having publisher issues, and, for the first time in recent/not-so-recent memory, we cannot hand out the coveted Mojo Game of the Year trophy. Not one full game or season we cover was released this year. (I’m just going to give Wadjet Eye’s Unavowed the award -- a truly great adventure game, and it’s the closest we got.)
And Campo Santo sold out, of course. Truly, though, good for them, and we are looking forward to In the Valley of Gods, but I’m not so sure we’ll be covering Valve anytime soon, even if Vanaman starts writing the next episode of Half-Life 2 and Jake redesigns Steam. Selling out is du jour, though, and even Mojo only recently had to navigate around a hostile takeover bid from a well-known adventure site.
Yet, for whatever reason, as all was going to hell, Mojo remained more active than it had been in years. As of December 3rd, we had posted more posts than we saw in 2017 and 2016. Granted, in 2010 we hit more than one update a day, but then we also had Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, Monkey Island 2 LeChuck’s Revenge: Special Edition, two DeathSpanks, Nelson Tethers, and Costume Quest to cover. 2011’s TTG Universal extravaganza, Nelson Tethers 2, and three Double Fine games only added to the pile.
So, there might be fewer news posts now than there was a while back, but there are also fewer games to cover. And fewer companies. Plus, we’re getting old -- JP’s kids (and possibly grandkids) are older than what most of us were in Mojo’s heyday.
Yet, all of that didn’t stop us from recording three podcasts -- the first in more than five years (two still in post-production) -- and seeing a return of elTee and Kroms. We’re pretty optimistic that 2019 will be active, at least in context with the dearth of upcoming games.
What do we got? Psychonauts 2 (maybe) and In the Valley of Gods (allegedly). Ron Gilbert might squeeze something out. Other than that, though? We’ll be relying on your nostalgia.
I can only say personally I tried. I tried to make Mojo more than a nostalgia site, even trying to occasionally cover something a little outside of our wheelhouse. But you know what, I was wrong, it didn’t work, and after Jason threw a tantrum over Larry and ran out of the room decrying the experiment, I can only fall in line and admit what most everybody else at Mojo knew: We peddle LucasArts+ nostalgia. It’s what we do, and soon, even Telltale will be a glimmer in our eye, something that came and went, somewhere in the middle of Mojo’s sordid history.
That’s all to say there is only one proper place to go from this: Run and support us on Patreon.
Written by Remi in 2018. Published in 2022. The typical Mojo lead time in other words.