Poker Night at the Inventory (PS4) Review: Hilarious Poker Game Returns

15 years after it was originally released, Telltale Games’ Poker Night at the Inventory has been lovingly remastered by Skunkape Games. The crossover title brought together gaming icons from Penny Arcade, Homestar Runner, Team Fortress 2, and Sam & Max together for … a game of underground poker. It’s an inherently goofy premise, but the game has a blast with it, and this surprising remaster shows it’s still a lot of fun to revisit.

One major upgrade from the original game is that the actual poker is far more accurate than the original game, which didn’t always play by the technical rules. As a result, it’s a more satisfying game to play, and each of the characters plays with their own personalities dictating their decisions. You can also change the buy-in amount (allowing you to have longer or shorter games), and it’s a solid poker game (albeit one with few options other than playing Texas Hold’ Em) at its core.

However, the real draw is the sense of humor. The four opponent characters all come from different games and are full of witty lines. From Tycho’s nerdy and dry humor to Max’s general sense of chaos, they all make for an extremely entertaining poker night. While there is some inherent repetitiveness, as you’ll hear some of the same stories and punchlines many times, they add a lot of color to what is otherwise a solid yet standard playing poker game.

There’s also an inherent replayability to the game, as you attempt to collect items from each of the four opponents, such as the Heavy’s minigun and Max’s badge. You also unlock a variety of decks and tables to choose from as you rack up wins. Some of these have some fun visual changes to the characters associated with them as well, so they give you a good reason to see them all.

Skunkape Games has lovingly remastered the 2010 poker game. All the character models have been redone, although Tycho is the one who looks the most different, and are now at a much higher resolution. As mentioned, you can now decide on the buy-in amount, plus choose to put either motion blur or film grain filters on, along with improving the poker A.I. Overall, it’s a better-looking and playing game that retains all of the wit and charm of the original.

Poker Night at the Inventory (PS4) Review: Final Verdict

Poker Night at the Inventory remains a fascinating novelty 15 years later. It’s a fun time capsule of four iconic brands (surprisingly still relevant) combining for a fun crossover that now plays better than ever. Whether you are a poker shark or not, you’ll still find plenty to like here, as you’ll be laughing too much to care that you’re losing all your chips.