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Cronela's Mansion is a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion planned for 2025

Based on the point-and-click SCUMM games of yesteryear, Cronela's Mansion will be getting a Kickstarter in late summer 2024.

TJ Denzer

May 16, 2024 7:50 AM

Image via Straynus

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It’s been a long time since we’ve had anything quite like Maniac Mansion, but Spanish developer Straynus is stepping up to fill the gap. The developer unveiled Cronela’s Mansion, which is a point-and-click adventure based on the popular SCUMM system games like Maniac Mansion. Straynus will be launching a Kickstarter for the game later in summer 2024, with plans to launch on retro and modern consoles sometime in 2025.

Cronela’s Mansion was fully unveiled with a trailer, as well as links to the Kickstarter page on which its crowdfunding campaign will launch when it’s ready. The game will feature a point-and-click system where players will explore and check everything for items that can help them move the game forward, as well as a sprawling environment full of puzzles to solve and mysteries to unravel. It also appears that the game will have different visual modes, including full color and classic NES and Game Boy styles. This makes sense given that in addition to launch plans for Nintendo Switch and PC, Straynus is also planning to make copies that can play on NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance systems.

Everything about Cronela’s Mansion looks ambitious to say the least, but there are no doubt many fans who would love to have another truly fleshed-out game in the style of Maniac Mansion. The last true-to-form game of this style was Ron Gilbert’s own Thimbleweed Park in 2017, which don’t get us wrong was great, and 2022’s Return to Monkey Island was pretty dang good, too. That said, Cronela’s Mansion looks like quite the well-thought-out love letter to Ron Gilbert and LucasArts works.

With the Kickstarter coming this summer, it will be interesting to see how the turnout goes for Cronela’s Mansion. Stay tuned for further updates on the game, such as when its Kickstarter launches, here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.