Thimbleweed Park is a wacky X-Files murder mystery packed with dad jokes

Messy hair and a sweater from 1992 were the right choice for my last interview at PAX West, because I got to chat with Ron Gilbert and David Fox of Terrible Toybox, two developers behind some of the best adventure games of my childhood: Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside to name a few. 

They were showing off a new segment of Thimbleweed Park, a new take on classic adventure game design where you investigate a murder in a small town. It's Twin Peaks meets The X-Files meets dad jokes—and I dig it. In the short sequence Gilbert showed me, we were introduced to Dolores, one of the five main characters through a playable flashback. She lives in a huge mansion with her kooky inventor uncle who plans on leaving her his life's work, a huge pillow factory. But Dolores has dreams of working game development, so after getting her favorite videogame magazine in the mail, you help her apply for the job through a series of classic point-and-click puzzles. 

For more, be sure to check out the interview above or the official trailer for Dolores below. 

James Davenport

James is stuck in an endless loop, playing the Dark Souls games on repeat until Elden Ring and Silksong set him free. He's a truffle pig for indie horror and weird FPS games too, seeking out games that actively hurt to play. Otherwise he's wandering Austin, identifying mushrooms and doodling grackles. 

Latest in Adventure
Inside
Limbo and Inside studio demands compensation from co-founder Dino Patti for alleged 'unauthorized use of Playdead's trademarks and copyrighted works'
Two characters sitting on a bench talking
Wanderstop review
Zoe showing off in front of Mio
Split Fiction review
Rusty Rabbit chomping a carrot like a cigar
Rusty Rabbit turns Yakuza's Kazuma Kiryu into a fluffy bunny
Pathologic 3 screenshot
Get ready to get weird in Pathologic 3: Quarantine, a free 'prologue chapter' about a young doctor looking for immortality in the world's most miserable town
A young woman's face bathed in light
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 review
Latest in Features
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
Monster Hunter Wilds' new gyro controls are a fantastic option for disabled and able-bodied players alike
Manhunt 2
I played the notoriously ratings-board-ravaged Manhunt 2 and was quite glad for the censorship actually
A busy marketplace in The Bazaar.
The Bazaar could be the future of autobattlers, if it stops strangling itself to death with its own microtransactions
Marvel Rivals characters - Hulk with his hands out as if he's grabbing the camera.
Marvel Rivals' growing roster of heroes scares me, but the game's director seems sure that all is under control: 'Everything is progressing smoothly'
Rainbow Six Siege year 9 season 2 key art - two Rainbow Six Siege operators facing each other
'Siege 2 was never on the table': Rainbow Six Siege X director explains why the 10-year-old FPS doesn't need a sequel
Gallica and the protagonist from Metaphor: ReFantazio.
The best deals in the 2025 Steam Spring Sale