The graphic adventure genre isn’t experiencing its liveliest moment right now, that’s for sure. Worse, it’s managed to stay afloat, changing its style and themes in the more than 35 years since Lucasfilm Games released Maniac Mansion, later followed by The Secret of Monkey Island. In that time we’ve had products heavily inspired by the humor of those early games like Broken Sword or Simon the Sorcerer, through to modern day adventures like Life is Strange and even to some extent the horror games of Supermassive. But when we think of graphic adventures, the name of a blond boy with a slogan, a white shirt and a naivety bigger than the ocean springs to mind for almost everyone: Guybrush Threepwood.
And although this would be his fifth adventure in video games, its creator Ron Gilbert he only took care of the first two shipments, and that 31 years ago (which are more than 170 in pirate years). Fans have been begging for a new installment of Monkey Island for years, and with the arrival of the pandemic, Gilbert seems to have had a strong pang of nostalgia and nostalgia reunited the entire original crew (Dave Grossman, Michael Land, David Fox, Dominic “Guybrush” Armato) and began work on what he called “the Manhattan Project of video games” to fulfill a promise. Because if there’s something we didn’t know what it was until today, it’s that What is the secret of Monkey Island?.
And that’s what the story is all about, which I won’t even begin to go into the details of, the plot or the outcome of, not to spoil the surprise for anyone, but I will say that Return to Monkey Island is a smooth conclusion to the stories and characters that have occupied the imaginations of the most seasoned gamers over the course of 30 years, and it’s a direct and sincere love letter for them (like the one LeChuck would write to Elaine). If you’ve already been through the original and LeChuck’s Revenge you can jump straight into the adventure, but if you’re a new cabin boy on this ship the team at Terrible Toybox had a great idea to make it happen a scrapbook in the main menu, where you can learn the whole story of the first two Monkey Islands step by step. Return to Monkey Island is for kids 30+ who grew up listening to these tales of spitting contests, secret grog recipes, rubber chickens with pulleys and three-headed monkeys. And to make the game a continuous feast, Guybrush finds it here and there Trivia Cards about details and knowledge of the previous ones (some are really damn, and that I’m coming straight from playing before analyzing these).
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Guybrush and LeChuck could hardly sustain the story if they weren’t surrounded by such a broad and charismatic cast of characters who return to make us smile with nostalgia and two seconds later have us laughing and drying our laughter tears . Here are Otis, Carla, Stan, the SCUMM Bar, the Watcher and so many others, new and old, with whom it will be impossible not to stop for a few minutes to exhaust all possible dialogue options. And by the same token, I was able to devote more time than it would make sense to let Guybrush stand still and get carried away. fantastic music by Michael Land and the sound effects. I don’t know how, but the “main theme” sounds better than ever.
Let’s talk about this contentious topic on networks that is driving Ron Gilbert nuts. Its artistic part and the redesign of the settings and characters. I can understand the shock being great, especially when we consider the original (and pixelated) versions and even the special editions released in 2009. But I also think it was a positive decision for two reasons: it serves the story by introducing us to Monkey Island as a caricature of himself, and at the same time the new Dinky game engine has created some fantastic transitions between scenes and movements of the stage that come to life and with them the memories of the previous episodes. A risky decision when your game relies on nostalgia like this, but as a standalone title it clearly benefits. I have nothing but praise for the game controller, as the Nintendo Switch version I used for the test was not only stable (more so than other recent Devolver Digital titles, like the disastrous version of the otherwise great Cult of the Lamb), but its simplified point-and-click controls seemed almost more appealing to me than playing it with a keyboard and mouse.
Also, I think if there was one thing someone could worry about before playing the game, it would be if it would still have that magic (voodoo) that the 90’s originals had. sense of humor It may be timeless, but repeating the same jokes would have been awful. Fortunately, Return to Monkey Island knows how to take just enough to reference itself (constantly, yes) and take the opportunity to offer harsh criticism of the decay of traditions and changes in life. Guybrush has changed, he’s older now, doesn’t last as long under water and his marriage to Elaine lost that fire from the start. And so he embarks on one last adventure against his nemesis LeChuck to uncover the mystery of Monkey Island once and for all. Got the idea? I am sure that the line between the universes of Monkey Island and Unknown 4 It’s finer than we think.
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Yes, there were times when I doubted if the puzzles were too easy. There are two game modes, Casual and Hard, and in the first half of the game the Hard mode became quite manageable. Am I so absorbed in Ron Gilbert that his riddles and clues seem easy? Well, that was half. From there the complexity and the “I have to get the other person to do it and at the same time be able to endure something like this” becomes devilish. Then I was able to try the casual mode, and I’ll admit I used that Note book that comes into play. One way to ensure this Anyone who plays can reach the end without having to ask for outside help.
I wish I had more time to indulge in Return to Monkey Island’s thousand witty lines, but being in time for the review meant I sacrificed some of the post fun, you, the reader, to it encourage. There I already know the secret of Monkey Islandand I strongly encourage you to do the same.
