Monkey Island Returns!
Ron Gilbert, one of the original creators of Monkey Island is back and hijacking the timeline to create his own Monkey Island 3 "Return to Monkey Island". This game is set straight after Monkey Island 2 : LeChuck's Revenge, and is set to be the "exciting conclusion" of what will now be the 'official' (?) trilogy. Ron, with his studio Toybox is joined by co writer/designer Dave Grossman, art director Rex Crowle, and composers Peter McConnel, Michael Land, and Clint Bajakan from the original games.
Guybrush Threepwood, our dashing protagonist, is adrift, and unfulfilled after failing to find the Secret of Monkey island in the previous entry, while his true love, Elaine Marley, has turned her focus away from governing.
Captain Madison, leading a crew of 'hip' young pirates, has suffled the old guard from power, melee island has taken a turn for the worse, and Stan has been imprisoned for 'marketing related crimes'.
Clever puzzles, bizarre situations, and devastating ripostes are all that stand between Guybrush and the glory of being the brave soul to find the Secret so well guarded. In this entry, we will venture through known, yet much changed islands and sceneries, and explore new, uncharted lands such as 'Terror Island' and the chilling outposts of Brr Muda.
Ron promises us a riveting story about ships, fights, love, treasure, betrayal, and root beer.
Monkey Island has already received praise back in the day for being a player friendly point & click, making it very hard to get stuck or kill Guybrush (though we did our best to make sure he did when we could), and with this new entry, it promises to bring point and click to the modern day. Classic controls have evolved, and toybox promises context sensitive interactions, reactive dialog trees, and an updated inventory system.
Now, I don't like bringing attention to behaviour I don't condone, but in this age of anonymity and freedom on the internet, it's also important to me to call out what I think is ridiculous and unacceptable behaviour.
As you have seen in the images above, the art style of this new game is quite interesting. Monkey Island has never been afraid to experiment with different art styles, whether with the original team or those who came after, and with experiments come people who like it, and those who don't.
It's perfectly reasonable to not like an artstyle. Art is the most subjective thing in existence, and just because two people have different opinions over one piece of art, does not mean any of them is wrong.
Harassing the developers and voice actors of a game that's not even out yet because the trailer didn't suit your image of what a monkey island game is, however, is just unacceptable.
If you don't like how a game looks, don't buy it. Make your voice heard with your money. Harassment is never the solution and only invalidates any argument you want to push.
I'm excited to fall back into a franchise with so much history and who did so much for gaming as a whole, and I hope you'll join me to finally learn the Secret of Monkey Island on PC and Switch coming in 2022
Author Spotlight
I'm Leeze, an aro ace content creator/ musician from France. I've been playing games my whole life with a special interest in Indie games as I grow more and more tired of the state of AAA companies. I love to feel the passion indie studios put in their work and I want to do my part to help them grow and flourish.
