Return to Monkey Island (2022)

When Ron Gilbert first revealed Return to Monkey Island and shared the initial screenshots, the backlash was intense. Much of the criticism focused on the art style, and at the time it seemed overwhelming—and unfair. Even I briefly joined the skepticism and wrote somewhere that I found the visuals disappointing. Without context, the presentation did look unusual.

And yet, like many others, I bought it on release. Thankfully, I was wrong.

The game turned out to be fantastic. The visuals work beautifully in motion, the music is excellent, the humor is sharp, and the worlds and characters feel authentic. It is clear that Ron Gilbert had full creative control and was finally able to shape the project according to his original vision. The relatively late and somewhat surprising announcement already felt special; I would hardly have dared to hope for another true Monkey Island sequel.

I played The Secret of Monkey Island as a child, and the moment when the first notes played through the PC speaker while the island emerged from the fog is permanently etched in my memory. Seeing Guybrush return in a modern continuation, now playable comfortably on the Switch, felt deeply satisfying.

I could not have wished for a better outcome.

Coming hot off the heels of replays of the original and Curse, this game is pretty crap by comparison. Both of those games had multiple laugh-out-loud funny moments and I sorta kinda chuckled ONCE during my entire playthrough of Return.

Furthermore, the removal of any kind of verb sheet or the like kills all sense of player agency in a point and click adventure game. Being able to choose the nature of your interactions in adventure games is what makes them feel alive and interesting, the best ones are like digital toy chests that you can play inside and poke and prod and see how they respond. Return's watered-down, context-sensitive system is hardly a replacement and essentially strips the soul out of what made LucasArts adventure games enjoyable. I don't think the new art style is as bad as others do, but I do miss the classic frame-by-frame animations. These modern 2d animations that are basically just glorified asset scaling and drag translations have none of the same charm.

That being said, Part IV here is a pretty solid and satisfying puzzle-solving experience as far as modern adventure games go. The whole game should've been like that. And bring back the damn verb sheet. Was Curse's THREE choice sheet really THAT complicated that it needed to be excised entirely?

Also, the ending of this game is truly terrible -- both narratively and adventuringly. I get that that's the joke, but the joke's not funny and the ending is still terrible.

Monkey Island has lost something. It's a game created by people resentful of their franchise. (As much is said in the digital liner notes included with the game.) In that way, it's fascinating. How does one return to the franchise that both sparked your career and continues to eclipse it?

The original Monkey Island duology is beloved for a reason. Despite their "obtuseness", they are games filled with depth, wit, and mystery. They demand just as much depth, with and mystery from the player as well.

This new game, by contrast, is streamlined, graceful, and toothless. It has no interest in demanding too much from the player and has more in common with Freddi Fish than it's original games. (There is a moment in the 4th act when the world opens up and becomes slightly more mysterious.)

The characters and story are also not what they once were. Neutered shadows of their former selves. Again, the resentment for the world is felt with how flippantly the returning characters are both included and disregarded. (The lack of Tim Schafer's voice is also felt in this reboot. Perhaps he was always the visionary that gave the franchise it's glow.)

I still enjoyed the game. Perhaps I would enjoy it more if the it didn't bear the "Monkey Island" name. Perhaps the creators would have enjoyed it more too.

I have to confess... I haven't played the previous Monkey Island games and for the first hours of this one I was frustrated. Thanks to cultural osmosis I know a lot of the jokes of those games and I was bombarded with references to three-headed monkeys, doing things like a cow and asking about Loom. Is this gonna be a nostalgia fest?

It was, but gladly, not for long. After a couple of hours, I was fully immersed in the puzzle solving and weird but lovable characters. It's a traditional adventure 'point & click' game with nothing special gameplay-wise (except for its great hint systems), but that was absolutely ok.

You can find my full review in spanish in GamerFocus.

The ending was weird tho.