Carmen Sandiego Is Back! You Can Play As Her in 2025
We're on the case!
Carmen Sandiego hasn't received a new game for quite a few years, but one is coming out in 2025, on all consoles. That means we will see Carmen on the Nintendo Switch, and here's the twist: we're playing AS Carmen Sandiego!
Chasing Carmen Sandiego was a favorite pastime of edutainment game viewers for years. The elusive thief and her crooks from V.I.L.E. would go around the world, through time, and even through the written language to commit the most impossible thefts. Players could grow from gumshoe to master detective by solving the clues with limited resources. They also learned interesting facts about US states, the Vikings when they landed in what they would call Vinland, and different countries.
This new game flips the script; rather than Carmen sending out cronies to steal for her, we help her commit thefts to stop the organization V.I.L.E. from hurting the world. It's a new take, being the criminal for once.
A history of crime
As Nintendo Life reports, the new game will mark Carmen's premiere on the Switch. In the game, rather than learn facts about grammar, geography, or history, the player will go on many adventures to track down thieves and put them behind bars. There will also be an ACME Files mode that pays homage to the original 1989 game, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? If black-and-white files aren't a player's style, they can choose to glide, climb, and run as Carmen, and she plans to do it all to take down V.I.L.E.
Broderbund Software, Inc. made the first two Carmen Sandiego games, including Where in the World. The Learning Company later acquired them as well as the franchise, and currently, HarperCollins owns the Carmen IP. IGN reveals that Gameloft and HarperCollins Productions are releasing this new game, a commissioned collaboration from Netflix. The streaming service features an animated series based on the Carmen IP and also created an interactive film called To Steal or Not to Steal, based on the animated series.
Currently, the game's trailer hasn't revealed if it will integrate the Netflix show's continuity or create a new one. Time will tell, since the animated adaptation created quite a narrative to follow Carmen's journey from a naive thief to a respected antihero.
From suspect to protagonist
Many Carmen Sandiego games focus on hunting her down as the greatest thief. She sends her cronies to steal valuable items because she likes the thrill. The Chief, a no-nonsense woman with a powerful voice, would then send you on missions to catch these crooks, where you find the clues to either issue a warrant or locate their hiding spaces. The Math and Word Detective games are the exceptions, where the player has to sneak around V.I.L.E. hideouts to find clues and avoid getting caught by Carmen's henchmen.
The Chief's absence in the trailer is the most notable, as the original actress Lynne Thigpen sadly died in 2003. She did have replacements like Chase Devineaux and a new chief with a no-nonsense attitude, but her performance was iconic. So the game is going in a different direction, by making Finn Wolfhard's character Player the liaison for Carmen. Player is a child White Hat hacker who helped Carmen escape from V.I.L.E. and inspired her to take down the criminal organization. As her literal guy in the chair, he gives her the intel needed to track down V.I.L.E. and their thefts.
The new game makes the right call by subbing in the player from the Netflix series for the Chief. No one can match Lynne Thigpen's serious demeanor. Putting in Chase Devineaux from Word and Math Detective would confuse people with his animated counterpart, and most don't remember the chiefs that came after in Treasures of Knowledge and so forth.
Having Player give Carmen the assignments means that he fulfills the Chief's role while being his own person in the game. No one will compare him to previous head detectives. It also changes the main dynamic from boss and employee to friend and thief, creating more camaraderie. The developers also promise Easter eggs for long-time fans of the franchise and plenty of fun adventures.
Carmen certainly seems ready to steal the stage and the spotlight. We'll find out more as the clock ticks toward 2025.
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