I’ve been aware of the Leisure Suit Larry franchise since the early 2000s, watching the series evolve and mutate, through changing up the main character, different developers, shifts on the focus on raunchy content and even the odd phase, in which the series experimented with a 3D approach to game design, rather than its typical 2D adventure-game style aesthetic.
The latest entry to the series, Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry, (nice little nod to D4) is a return to form for the series, with the title embracing a classic point-and-click style of gameplay, on top of a simple but vibrant cartoon aesthetic, that uses colours reminiscent of the series from when it first began, back in the 80s. Wet Dreams Don’t Dry also sees the return of Jan Rabson, lending his iconic voice to reprise the role of Larry Laffer, who sounds sleazy as ever alongside the rest of the mostly-stellar voice acting present in the game.
Plotwise, Wet Dreams Don’t Dry revolves around Larry waking up in the 21st century, in many ways, as a literal relic of the past. Technology is a huge part of the narrative (aptly-so), with the story really picking up after players discover a smartphone, lodged deep inside a pile of goop, in the washroom of the first bar that Larry enters in the game.
Turns out the phone, which is manufactured by the company Prune, a parody of Apple, is a highly advanced prototype, featuring a Siri-like hologram AI, who instructs Larry to return the phone to Prune. Players eventually get the opportunity to name this AI companion, who also happens to look a lot like Halo’s Cortana, which interestingly enough, is also the name given to Microsoft’s own AI assistant. This marriage of Apple and Microsoft inspired designs also spills over into Prune’s founder, Bill Jobs (while somehow, also acting as an easy sex joke).
From here, players quickly discover that Prune is basically the umbrella company behind many of the modern-day conveniences of the 21st century, that being specifically, services like Uber and Tinder, which in-game are referred to as Unter and Timber, respectively. Upon returning the Piphone, Larry decides to make it his goal to go on a date with BJ’s secretary, Faith, (who happens to look a lot like Robin Wright) but upon asking her out, is swiftly rejected, due to Larry not having enough points on Timber.
Faith informs Larry that she’d only date him if Larry could get his Timber level to 90. This nicely sets up the overarching plot of the game, while giving a Larry a reason to go out and try and get laid with as many people as possible.
Gameplay in Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry, as mentioned before, utilizes classic PC adventure game tropes, such as combing each area for items, combining them, bartering and slowly making progress within the various environmental puzzles strewn about the game world. Like previous entries into the series, Wet Dreams Don’t die takes place in the fictional city of Lost Wages, which with its latest incarnation features several large explorable areas, including places like sex stores, bars, hipster dives and beaches.
Traversal is handheld with Larry’s in-game Piphone, which lets players call an Unter and fast travel throughout the ever-expanding map. Key moments and interactions with the various dates Larry can go on in the game, sometimes unlock special gallery images that parody Instagram posts, which as Larry, players can view through the in-game, Instacrap app.
As per any entry into the Leisure Suit Larry series, Wet Dreams Don’t Die contains more than its fair share of immature, often gross, sexual humour, yet that’s what makes these games appealing, and Wet Dreams Don’t Die is no exception.
Perhaps due to the lack of point-and-click adventure games, or perhaps simply due to the bright and fun presentation but something about Wet Dreams Don’t Die had me coming back for more, that is, after the shame of viewing some of the content in the game wore off.
