Return to Monkey Island: Ron Gilbert is being bullied for the art style

Because they don’t like the new art style of Return to Monkey Island, “fans” bully series creator Ron Gilbert. Now he no longer wants to talk about the game.

Ron Gilbert, the creator of the pirate point-and-click adventure Monkey Isl and, who has returned to the series with Return to Monkey Island after years of absence, has lost interest in sharing new information about the game. Especially since the reveal of the gameplay during the Nintendo Direct Mini a few days ago, there has been a heated discussion on the net about the game’s completely new art style. While some celebrate the edgy, straight-line style, others are less enthusiastic about the artistic direction, but are still excited about the game. And there’s a particularly vocal proportion of “fans” who are unconstructive about the art style, to say the least.

Gilbert writes: “I’m closing the comments section. People are just mean and I need to delete comments with personal attacks.” However, the continued toxic comments went so far that Gilbert no longer felt like sharing new information about the upcoming release. “It’s a great game and everyone on the team is proud of it. Play it or don’t play it but don’t ruin it for everyone else too. I won’t be posting about the game anymore. I enjoy the joy of sharing leaving.”

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Dominic Armato, the voice actor for protagonist Guybrush Treepwood, also spoke up in a lengthy Twitter post. Disgusted, he tweeted, “You guys did a great job. I’ve seen a lot of passionate but polite or near-polite discussions, but the comments on Ron’s blog were an absolute shitshow.”

The creator of the series had already commented on the criticism of the art style on his currently unavailable blog in May. “It may not be the art style you wanted, but it’s the one I wanted.” What makes him saddest is that the harshest criticism comes from hardcore Monkey Island fans, of all people.

Return to Monkey Island will be released in 2022 as a timed exclusive for Switch. A PC version will follow at a later date.