Why Tex Murphy Is One of the Best Point-and-Click Adventure Game Series Ever Made

If you were anything like me in the 90s, you were captivated by this new type of gaming style that was called Full-Motion Video, or FMV. It was cheesy, sexy, silly… and often crappy. Mostly crappy, in fact. That’s why I loved even the most hammy of them, but some stood out as exceptional, and none were more loved than the Tex Murphy games.

These games were a jumbled mix of futuristic setting that felt like the past, and immersive detective work with old-fashioned puzzle-solving, all with a B-movie vibe to create something that probably shouldn’t have worked…but did. The Tex Murphy games were ahead of their time and excelled not in spite of their quirks, but because of them. But why? What made this series succeed when so many others failed? Let’s put on our gumshoe garb and investigate what exactly made Tex Murphy so special.

FMV? WTH is FMV?

Even at the time, FMV was a style best known for low-budget acting, weak scripts, and clumsy gameplay integration, with most titles being little more than interactive movies. With the addition of writer/designer Aaron Conners, Access Software flipped the script with Under a Killing Moon.

It was a crazy, potentially dangerous decision to switch primarily to live-action video, a type of gaming that was often the butt of jokes. Yet after a pair of ambitious but underwhelming titles more closely resembling traditional adventures (Mean Streets, Martian Memorandum), the developers made the change and invested in higher production values, professional direction, and stronger narratives. Full-motion video was not treated as a gimmick but as an essential part of the storytelling. The Pandora Directive and Overseer even brought in veteran Hollywood actors such as James Earl Jones, Michael York, Tanya Roberts and Kevin McCarthy, lending credibility to a genre often dismissed as a joke.

These performances were anchored by Chris Jones, the series creator, who also acted as Tex himself. Though not trained, Jones brought an authenticity to Tex – a flawed, wisecracking detective whose awkwardness made him relatable. His deadpan delivery and low-key vulnerability grounded a post-nuclear world filled with mutants, secret societies, and futuristic gadgets.

Tex was no dick…

Tex Murphy is no Dick Tracy, Hercule Poirot or Hannibal Smith (any A-Team fans in here?). He’s not even Angela Lansbury. Tex isn’t slick. He’s broke, unlucky with women, lives above a pawn shop, and eats questionable chili dogs. He fumbles cases, trips over his own jokes and sometimes his own two feet.

"He’s not cool …. he’s real."

Despite the surface similarities, rather than embracing all the tropes of the classic hard-boiled private dick, the games positioned Tex as a man child. He is frequently outmatched, easily distracted, and emotionally clumsy but he keeps falling forward. His mistakes are often played for laughs, but his humanity isn’t reduced to parody. This balance of humor and sincerity made him feel more like me, the clumsy teen that had one hand on the mouse and one hand trying to quickly clean up the root beer I just spilled.

…But it sure was fun playing one

One of the Tex Murphy series’ most overlooked achievements is its use of branching narratives and moral choice. YOU were Tex Murphy. You could shape Tex’s personality and relationships through dialogue and decision making. These choices determined which of several radically different story paths you followed. In The Pandora Directive, your decisions resulted in a whopping seven possible distinct endings.

At a time when most adventure games followed a linear structure, the pioneering Tex Murphy was ahead of its time in embracing a choice-driven system that would later become central to AAA gaming. Way before BioWare made choices color-coded and Telltale turned branching paths into their most prominent mechanic, The Pandora Directive provided consequences for poor decisions. Or were they consequences? I don’t know. I loved making Tex fall flat while flirting.

Another technical triumph that came with Under a Killing Moon was the introduction of fully 3D environments navigated from a first-person perspective, years before this became standard in narrative games. Wandering the streets of New San Francisco, opening drawers, scanning shelves, and uncovering clues through his eyes made you feel even more like you were actually Tex.

This form of navigation pushed aside traditional point-and-click mechanics for more modern exploration gameplay, while still preserving the puzzle solving that made adventure games adventure games. It invited us to become detectives. Observing, deducing, and interacting with the world in ways that were groundbreaking for the early 90s.

“Humor is like Jello…There’s always room for a ’lil more” – Tex Murphy (possibly paraphrased)

Much of the success of the Tex Murphy series is due to its sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious, and occasionally “did he just…..?” humor.

The games often poke fun at adventure tropes, from absurd item combinations to overly talkative NPCs, yet they never lose sight of their goals. Supporting characters provide some giggles without becoming caricatures. The writing is self-aware but never smug, blending slapstick and subtle character-based humor.

Unlike many games that insert humor as a novelty or distraction, Tex Murphy uses it to personalize the world and its characters. The absurdity ends up making the emotional moments more…um…momentous. These games juggle noir, science fiction, romance, and conspiracy, which are genres that typically clash. Noir is brooding and cynical. Sci-fi leans cerebral or dystopian. Romance can be melodramatic. Yet in Tex Murphy these genres coexist because the humor keeps the heavier story beats from overwhelming the player, without ever devolving into parody. That balancing act is rare.

For example, The Pandora Directive is all global conspiracies and danger. Yet with a straight face Tex says stuff like, “Danger is like Jello…There’s always room for more.” The danger he faces may be no laughing matter, but damn if it isn’t comical. These moments don’t undercut the mystery, they make the mystery feel more…. Tex.

From Under a Killing Moon on, the series just let Tex be Tex: awkward, self-deprecating, and occasionally hilarious by accident. This is something that took me years as an improv comedian and sketch writer to understand and will likely never master.

Chris Jones, the game’s designer and star, delivered lines like someone who wasn’t an actor, which made it better. He played Tex like a guy who’s trying to be cool and failing, which is exactly who Tex is. Make no mistake: I'm not calling Chris Jones a bad actor. I’m calling him the perfect actor for that role. He knew what he wanted in the character. Who better to deliver what he wanted than….himself?  

The supporting cast is just as memorable, including:

• Louie LaMintz, the lovable diner owner who gives Tex advice and weird food
• Rook Garner, the conspiracy theorist gun shop owner
• Chelsee Bando, Tex’s on-again-off-again love interest who deserves better

There’s slapstick, dry wit, fourth-wall breaks, and puns galore, but the humor never undermines the story. It boosts the overall experience.

What even is this series?

Few series attempted to merge genres as boldly as Tex Murphy, fusing seemingly incompatible elements into a single cohesive experience without collapsing in on itself. Each game layered these genres together, creating a world that was both bizarre and believable.

What made this blend successful was not the novelty, but the discipline in how it was handled. The world-building was consistent. The technology, social structure, and politics of Tex’s futuristic city made sense within the game’s logic. As a result, the fantastical elements felt believable, and the emotional elements felt earned.

Tex Murphy games juggle:

• Retro futuristic dystopia: For us Blade Runner fans
• Hard-boiled detective noir: Cigarettes, jazz, monologues, trench coats
• Romantic drama: Not just “this dame, that broad, hold my gun” BS – there are real emotional stakes at play
• Conspiracy thrillers: Secret societies, alien tech, government cover-ups, hell yeah!
• Comedy: Both subtle and absurd

By all logic, this mishmash of elements should be enough to cause genre whiplash. But it worked because the writing, music, art direction, and pacing were all in sync. The world was crazy but consistent. The sci-fi tech felt natural in a society where mutants and humans are segregated. The noir elements weren’t just style; they were integral to the mysteries. And because the characters were so grounded in real human experience, the stories never spun out of control.

Tex Murphy still hits today

In a medium often driven by spectacle and novelty, Tex Murphy….well, it was too but for different reasons. Tex may have been a joke to many of those around him, but to us he is a hero. An incredibly, exceptionally, often clumsily, somewhat accidentally heroic hero. He’s not the greatest private eye, but he’s our private eye. And that’s why he’s ranked #10 on my personal list of all-time greatest adventure game series.

But wait!! There is more Tex Murphy still to come. I couldn’t end this before shouting out the awesome work being done in remaking Under a Killing Moon. Yes, while the much-anticipated remaster of The Pandora Directive may be on hold for how, its predecessor is currently being remade by Yuval Dorfman and Mat Van Rhoon, and the project has been given the full blessing of Big Finish Games. For more on this incredible project, you can head over to the project’s website and check out my video on the remake below.