Zak McKracken Goes Looking For Hot Coffee: A New Homage Adventure for Lucasfilm Fans

Many believe the graphic adventure genre is exhausted, especially after what happened with Telltale Games, but there are some enthusiasts who not only keep it alive, but work to expand its influence. That's how we arrive at XR-21 Productions, a one-person operation that has just released Zak McKracken Goes Looking For Hot Coffee (In Several Wrong Places), a “love letter” to the old Lucasfilm Games adventures. The game is free, finished, and you can download it today.

30 years ago, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders hit the market, the second graphic adventure from Lucasfilm Games (later LucasArts) to use the famous SCUMM system from Maniac Mansion. The game was very well received and got versions for other platforms (including the Atari ST and the Commodore 64, which began its decline in 1988), but despite its relative popularity, Lucasfilm never planned an official sequel.

Naturally, its fans didn't sit idle, and it was in 2008 that the German studio Artificial Hair Bros. released Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space, for free. However, the story doesn't end there, because XR-21 Productions (a “one-person operation” according to its official page) has been working for eight years on a... pre-sequel?

That's right, Zak McKracken Goes Looking For Hot Coffee (In Several Wrong Places) is a sequel to the original game, but a prequel to Between Time and Space. As its name suggests, Zak notices a coffee crisis around the world: all crops have disappeared, and nobody has the slightest idea why. Problems don't take long to arrive, with Zak discovering a conspiracy deeper than many imagine.

The download of this game is just below one gigabyte. Unzip the .7z file using the 7-Zip application, and a double click on the executable will start the adventure. To switch from windowed mode to fullscreen and vice versa, you'll need to make a small edit in the config.ini file, and if you decide to download an updated build in the future, it's important to note that old savegames aren't fully compatible.

What else can we add? Graphic adventure, classic character, more than decent graphics, puzzles, several hours of entertainment, and completely free. Zak McKracken Goes Looking For Hot Coffee is a very interesting option, even if you haven't played the original title. Its main limitation? It's not available in Spanish: the only languages to play it are English and German.

Official site and download: Click here