The International House of Mojo

As many as seventy people bothered to sign up and vote in our 2024 best-of polls. (Hey, we’ll take it!) Who were the winners? And who ran off with the Double Fine Extravaganza prize? Read on.

What Made You Excited for the Future

• Ron “delays” one game, says his next is mere months away.22.11%
• A Vampyre Story 2 Announced: Bill Tiller(’s game) LIVES. 18.95%
• The Booze of Monkey Island: Fan games live! 14.74%
• Mojo soundtracks on YouTube: 32 soundtracks and counting for YOUR listening pleasure – hey, we kept something else going.12.63%
• The SCUMM Bar returns: Legend of Monkey Island has been around for a while, too. 11.58%
• The Adventurer makes its comeback: Why go to Mojo when Mojo once again can come to you? 9.47%
• Mojo’s podcast archive is back online: Only took a decade or so – surely this means NEW podcasts are in our future? 7.3%
• Mojole Reached 1,000: The fact that it keeps going is nothing short of a miracle.3.16%

No surprise that promises of new games came out on top, and seeing Ronzo’s is mere “months away” – whatever that means – the number-one spot was expected. Tiller’s A Bat’s Tale is much further out, so a second place is impressive.

Meanwhile, the resurgence of the fan-game scene must have resonated with our readers, and The Booze of Monkey Island sits comfortably in third place. (One game might not be enough to be considered a “resurgence,” so let me direct your eyes over here.)

Comebacks keep being a theme: We reclaimed a bunch of our content and created The LucasArts+ Soundtrack Collection on the ’tube, with The SCUMM Bar and The Adventurer also waking from their slumber. Our ancient podcast archive can once again be perused – there truly is some amusing content in there – and who knows? Maybe Zaarin will finally finish mixing the lost episode. ¬

And, bless those who voted for Mojole reaching a thousand words – the four regular players sure appreciate it!

Awesome-est Mojo Feature

• Monkey Island 2: Into the Weeds of What Could Have Been33.33%
• The Secret of Cogg Island20.69%
• ICYMI: Return to Monkey Island17.24%
• Demystifying the Lucasfilm Learning Division11.49%
• Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered Review8.05%
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review4.6%
• Relitigating Brütal Legend4.6%

The lesson learned here is that Monkey Island articles pay off, particularly ridiculous deep dives into either a thirty-three-year-old game or the sixth in the series. The latter article was, as shown on the previous page, a consistent top-five Google query for us in 2024. Go figure. All said and done, while having subjective misgivings about ReMI is valid, on the whole, any and all love the game initially got has endured.

The rest of this year’s articles got more of a tepid response, which sort of makes sense. Reviews – and, apparently Brutal Legend – will generally not set the world ablaze, and Lucasfilm Learning is the subject of an… acquired… taste. Jason didn’t even add his byline to it – very unlike his usual snarky self. Speaking of…

Snarkiest Mojo Updater

• Remi51.72%
• Jason36.21%
• Benny3.45%
• Queztone3.45%
• jp-301.72%
• Kroms1.72%
• Scummbuddy1.72%

Alright, so what the hell? How did Jason – Jason – not come out on top? The guy who literally called you an idiot received a paltry 36% while I, the model of effervescence, took home more than half the votes. This is why we shouldn’t have readers. Anyway, thanks. Jerks.

Game of the Year

• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle46.55%
• Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered31.03%
• The Booze of Monkey Island10.34%
• Other10.34%
• Star Wars Outlaws (which apparently was released?!)1.72%

This was one I and, presumably, many of you had to wrestle with. I assume that Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered will be an enduring game for most of us, more so than The Great Circle. Voting for it as Game of the Year when it was originally released in 2010, though? Picking an actual 2024 release was probably more apt within the poll’s context.

As such, The Great Circle is a deserved winner. For most of us, it’s the best Indiana Jones game since The Fate of Atlantis, one that takes the best parts of the movies and integrates them into exploration, discovery, and action. Basically, all that makes Indy Indy.

Elsewhere, The Booze of Monkey Island impressed, being the first fan game since… I don’t even know when… to show off professional-caliber prowess.

“Other?” Apparently, there was a Special Edition of Dark Forces people enjoyed, so yay for that!

Finally, Star Wars Outlaws – god bless its one voter.

Contest Winner

The important part! Who took home Double Fine’s triangle box, alongside the remasters of Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango? None other than:

• sushistrikesback

I know what some of you may think: The #1 Mojole player? This is borderline payola! All I can say is that the random drawing was fully vetted and approved by our top inspectors (). Plus, who would want to deny a Mojole regular anything? Only a deranged person would put themselves through that game’s particular type of insanity. Give them something for their troubles, at least.

Congratulations Sushi!

And, That’s It!

2024, what a year, dumb B.S. aside. Hopefully, we’ll be around next year to write a similar article, slim as the odds are. Thank you all for enjoying Mojo 27 years in!