Choose Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone
Choose Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone if you want an Action experience. Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone launched in 2010.
Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone vs Not Another Weekend
Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone and Not Another Weekend both land in Adventure on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both are Adventure games on Steam. Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone (2010) is 11 years older than Not Another Weekend (2021). Both sit near 93% positive on Steam (Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone: 238 reviews, Not Another Weekend: 69). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Not Another Weekend
Choose Not Another Weekend if you want an Indie game with Custom Volume Controls, Playable without Timed Input, and Mouse Only Option. On Steam, it's the newer release (2021) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Not Another Weekend launched in 2021.
Both Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone and Not Another Weekend sit in Adventure on Steam, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Steam reviews are nearly tied (93.3% vs 92.8% positive), so genre fit is the cleanest tiebreaker — scroll the table for the feature-by-feature view.
Side-by-side comparison
 Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone |  Not Another Weekend | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2010 | 2021 |
| Genres | Action, Adventure | Indie, Adventure |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Steam Deck | Deck Playable | Deck Unsupported |
| Price | Price unknown | 9.99 USD |
| Steam reviews | 93.3% positive (238 reviews) | 92.8% positive (69 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Single-player only |
| Developers | Telltale Games | Animatic Vision, Dead Blue Friends |
Side by side
- Both are Adventure games on Steam.
- Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone (2010) is 11 years older than Not Another Weekend (2021).
- Both sit near 93% positive on Steam (Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone: 238 reviews, Not Another Weekend: 69).
- Steam Deck: Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone is Deck Playable, Not Another Weekend is Deck Unsupported.
Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone vs Not Another Weekend — FAQ
- Should I play Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone or Not Another Weekend first?
- If you want chronology, Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone (2010) came out before Not Another Weekend (2021). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone and Not Another Weekend similar?
- They overlap on Adventure on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.