Grim Fandango vs The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Grim Fandango is an action-adventure puzzle game from Lucasfilm Games (1998) while The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a puzzle game from LucasArts (2009).
What each one is
Steam files Grim Fandango under Action-Adventure and Puzzle. In contrast, it files The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition under Puzzle.
One of the most acclaimed adventure games of all time is now back, better than ever. Grim Fandango Remastered has the all the beautiful art and engaging story fans remember, but has also been remastered to look, sound, and control even better than the award-winning original release.
Back by popular demand, The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition faithfully re-imagines the internationally-acclaimed classic game (originally released in 1990) for original and new audiences alike.
At a glance
| Grim Fandango | The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.8/10 | 7.9/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (91%, 8,905) | Overwhelmingly Positive (95%, 6,227) |
| Critic aggregate | 84/100 | 86/100 |
| Price | $14.99 | $9.99 |
| Install size | 5.86 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | playable | playable |
| Released | 1998 | 2009 |
| Developer | Lucasfilm Games | LucasArts |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Grim Fandango vs The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Grim FandangoAction-adventure puzzle gameThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special EditionPuzzle gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Grim FandangoAdventure, Point & Click, ClassicThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special EditionPoint & Click, Adventure, ComedyThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Grim FandangoScore 7.8 · 91% on Steam · 84 criticThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition ✓Score 7.9 · 95% on Steam · 86 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Grim Fandango8,905 reviews · 1 add-on · 5.86 GBThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition6,227 reviewsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Grim Fandango$14.99The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition ✓$9.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Grim FandangoPlayableThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special EditionPlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueGrim Fandango and The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Mobile
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (GamingPickz Score 7.9)
- The cheaper right now: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition ($9.99)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
AdventurePoint & ClickClassicStory RichComedyCult ClassicGreat SoundtrackSingleplayer
Where they differ
NoirDark HumorThird PersonIndieDifficult
Pirates2DPixel GraphicsNostalgiaFamily Friendly
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Grim Fandango is demanding, for players who want a challenge. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is family-friendly and approachable.
System requirements, side by side
| Grim Fandango | The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | ATI Radeon HD 4650 / NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 / Intel HD 4000 Graphics | 128 MB with Shader Model 2.0 capability |
| Minimum CPU | Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, AMD Athlon™ X2 2.8 GHz, | Intel Pentium 4 3GHz |
| Minimum RAM | 4 GB | 0.3 GB |
| Install size | 5.86 GB | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Grim Fandango · The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Grim Fandango and 1 for The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Grim Fandango and The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition in scope?
Grim Fandango has drawn 8,905 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 5.86 GB. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has drawn 6,227 Steam reviews.
Is Grim Fandango or The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition better?
By the GamingPickz Score, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition rates higher (7.9 to 7.8). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Grim Fandango or The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition?
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is cheaper right now at $9.99, against $14.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.