For more on Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, check out our full Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse review. Or, for more of the best PC games for a 10 year old, why not try our Family Game Finder
Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse isn't necessarily a kid's game just because it features anthropomorphic animals - it is actually a fairly challenging point and click game, full of puzzles that require (sometimes) advanced logic to solve. That's not to say kids won't manage it though - I played pretty much every point and click game going in the nineties when I was between the ages of about seven and eleven, and managed fine. It mostly depends on whether you think your child will manage the sometimes backwards logic, and whether you're happy with a bit of potential innuendo (which may well just go over their heads anyway) and mild violence.
While it may be a bit tricky for younger kids to get the hang of, Sam and Max contains infrequent uses of adult humour, but little in the way of true mature content, with only occasional episodes of violence, bad language and sexual innuendos. The violence is mostly of the comedic Tom-and-Jerry style - for example, Grandpa Stinky isn't very keen on Max dissing General Skunkape, and proceeds to strangle him, which doesn't really seem to hurt Max in any way. Another instance involved shooting at General Skunkape to make him let go of the steering wheel and fall into the Penal Zone portal - using Bazooka Max (which is your rabbit companion Max, who can for some reason transform into a bazooka), with no blood, guts, gore or anything; just a slightly angry General Skunkape.
As it's a solely single-player game, Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse has no multiplayer modes at all. There's nothing to stop you and a kid working together to solve the puzzles - especially if they're towards the younger end of the scale.
Age Ratings
Format Reviewed: PC
