Readers of a certain age will fondly remember Dexter’s Lab, the late 90’s cartoon about a boy genius who saves the world as much as he causes problems for himself with his madcap inventions.
The final episode of the Cartoon Network show was aired in 2003, but that hasn’t stopped one dedicated fan from putting together his very own Dexter’s Lab video game, over 15 years since the show ended.
This remake of the beloved cartoon show is being put together by Culosoman in Media Molecule’s robust sandbox creation title Dreams, and I have to say; more than any of the other projects I’ve seen from the early access game thus far, this Dexter’s Lab effort really shows off what you can do in Dreams if you put your mind to it.
Culosoman’s work is, in a word, stunning. The character models and environments look like they’ve been pulled directly from the cartoon show, and the way Dexter’s little legs scuttle as he moves about is seriously incredible – and hilarious. You can explore Dexter’s titular lab, as well as his entire house and a good chunk of the street that the hero lives on.
There are plenty of details for fans of Dexter’s Lab to obsess over as well, including a surprise cameo from Dexter’s mum, and a neat reference to his arch-rival and all star jerk Mandark. You can check out the project’s progress so far in the video below.
At the moment, there’s nothing much to do in the game beyond wonder around and bathe in the warm nostalgic glow of a time when everything in your life was less completed and happier.
While I’d argue that alone is probably enough for a Monday, there are apparently plans to introduce missions and actual gameplay at some point, which I find incredibly exciting.
Dexter’s Lab has an incredibly malleable format, and the amount of gadgets, robots, and other scientific devices could open the door for all manner of gameplay possibilities, to the point that I’m somewhat annoyed that this isn’t an official release.
All in all, it’s probably for the best that a fan is giving us a Dexter’s Lab game instead of Cartoon Network to be fair, even if it never gets finished. Most of the officially licensed CN games tend to be a bit naff.
Omlette du fromage.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.