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Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

in library

4.5/5

( 50 Reviews )

4.5

50 Reviews

English
5.995.99
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
Safety and satisfaction. Stellar support 24/7 and full refunds up to 30 days.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
Description
It's 1997, and the world is a dumber place than ever... Space Aliens have built a stupidity machine that's slowly reducing everyone's IQ to single digits. Worse yet, the only person who can stop them is Zak McKracken, reporter for the disreputable National Inquisitor, who dreams up stories about car...
User reviews

4.5/5

( 50 Reviews )

4.5

50 Reviews

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Product details
1988, Lucasfilm, ...
System requirements
Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10, 1 GHz, 256 MB RAM, 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 (compatible w...
Time to beat
5 hMain
8.5 h Main + Sides
13 h Completionist
6 h All Styles
Description
It's 1997, and the world is a dumber place than ever... Space Aliens have built a stupidity machine that's slowly reducing everyone's IQ to single digits. Worse yet, the only person who can stop them is Zak McKracken, reporter for the disreputable National Inquisitor, who dreams up stories about carnivorous cantaloupes and vegetarian vampires.

They've taken over the phone company... Sure, it sounds like another one of Zak's tabloid fantasies. But while most people wouldn't believe him, he finds three who don't need convincing--Annie, Head of the Society of Ancient Wisdom, and her friends, Leslie and Melissa, two Yale coeds who traveled to Mars in their modified van. The four of them must piece together fragments of an ancient puzzle, unmask the aliens, and destroy the stupidity machine.

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a classic point-and-click adventure with four controllable characters. Solve puzzles and interact with the crazy world using the old school verb command interface. Go on adventures all across the globe and even into space. If you're looking for an actual globe-trotting adventure from days gone by, you cannot miss with Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders!
  • Crazy off-the-wall humor.
  • Beautiful late 80s pixel graphics, perfect for any retro gamer!
  • Challenging, mind-bending mystery!
  • No typing required! Just point-and-click to solve puzzles and talk to the crazy characters that live in Zak's world!
Goodies
manual hintbook newspaper (German) newspaper (English)
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS OF USE REQUIRED TO PLAY

This game is powered by ScummVM

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS OF USE REQUIRED TO PLAY

This game is powered by ScummVM

Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
Safety and satisfaction. Stellar support 24/7 and full refunds up to 30 days.
Time to beat
5 hMain
8.5 h Main + Sides
13 h Completionist
6 h All Styles
Game details
Works on:
Windows (7, 8, 10, 11), Linux (Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04), Mac OS X (10.7.0+)
Release date:
{{'1988-01-01T00:00:00+02:00' | date: 'longDate' : ' +0200 ' }}
Company:
Size:
117 MB

Game features

Languages
English
audio
text
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User reviews

Posted on: September 30, 2025

toXe.

Verified owner

Games: 143 Reviews: 1

lucasarts nostalgia!

nostalgia feelings for a few bucks. one of the first games i ever played and im glad it lives forever on gog!


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Posted on: October 21, 2020

Prah

Verified owner

Games: 1210 Reviews: 97

A classic but does it hold up?

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is the second LucasArt game to use SCUMM, and playing it you're in for a treat. Playing as the tabloid journalist Zak McKracken you stumble upon an extraterrestrial conspiracy to dumb down and I suppose enslave the earth. Of course you have to be the hero! As Maniac Mansion, you also have several playable characters; well there's four and in this game you will need to play with them all which makes for interesting gameplay.The game also has some randomized codes and mazes and , which I assume is there to drag out the time. This is something the game could have done without. It's also one of the early titles of LucasArt, which means you can make mistakes and end up locking yourself in; like the Sierra point n clicks. Playing the FM Towns version makes the game look much better and the environments are quite goodlooking, although I feel they could have done a better job making each airport a bit more unique, like seriously? In conclusion, while it might not be good as someone's first point n click; it's definitely a fan favorite and worth a playthrough!


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Posted on: March 19, 2015

dimwitflathead.493

Games: 229 Reviews: 3

Great game

You cant beat the old great classics. :) This is one of my all time favorites. I highly recommend this game. If you like Maniac Mansion you will like this one too.


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Posted on: March 20, 2015

Routs

Verified owner

Games: 689 Reviews: 1

A classic from my childhood

I played this game when I was just a kid. These screenshots looked way too advanced for what I remembered it to be but then I realized that I had played it on my trusty Commodore 64 back in the day. Obviously my quick review is full of nostalgia so I can't guarantee you'll love it today. It was a fun game that was out there enough but engaging at the same time. As a kid I sometimes struggled with some of the puzzles as they aren't always completely logical. Certain interactions aren't what you expect but there were multiple ways to solve certain problems. Needless to say, I can't wait to fire this up again and take a trip down memory lane. This was one of the first games I was "hooked" on as a kid and it'll be a blast to fire it back up. For the price, it is definitely worth trying out.


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Posted on: September 19, 2024

bruners

Verified owner

Games: 312 Reviews: 4

Not too hard, still fun, A+ storytelling

Humor is always essential in these games, ZM entertains. The cinematic production gave this game such an epic feel. Music is excellent, characters fun. The point and click buttons (pick up, open, etc.) is just too slow. Monkey Island occasionally address this by having default actions happen on click but ZM you're going to have to click half a dozen times just to open a drawer.


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