

If I had, I would have missed a whole lot of fun. After playing the game, I still think there’s a bizarre disjuncture between the flat, simplistic character art and the beautiful, highly-detailed environments, but I’m glad I didn’t let that dissonance prevent me from finding out what the Scruffs really had to offer. Depicted as faintly unhealthy bobble-headed folks with stick bodies and dark circles under their eyes, they looked like a prime example of poorly rendered 2D goofiness. I love the rich, elaborate graphics found in the best hidden object games, and the Scruffs, in their flat cartoonishness, just didn’t light my fire. To be honest, judging by the game’s promotional screenshots, I wasn’t terribly excited about Return of the Duke. And this time, the family’s goal is twofold: to oust the usurper of Scrufford Castle, and to restore Grandpa Scruff to his rightful place as the Duke of Scrufford. This year, the Scruffs are back in a fun and hilarious sequel called The Scruffs: Return of the Duke. Back in 2008, this tight-knit, googly-eyed family hit the casual game scene in an entertaining and unusually creative hidden object title called unsurprisingly, The Scruffs.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Scruffs. The kooky Scruff family returns to Scrufford Castle for their patriarch to reclaim the title Duke of Scrufford
