By: Terrible Toybox
For: PC, Xbox Series S/X, PS5, Switch
Rating: ★★★★
REVIEWED BY MICHAEL ROBERTSON
In this age of remastering and remaking games, having a brand new sequel to an old series is a rarity, and it’s even more rare for the original creators to return as well.
Yes, the Monkey Island series has returned, and although I’ve heard of these games before, I’ve never played them, which seems to be sacrilegious among point-and-click enjoyers. Let’s see how good a game can be when all of the references are going over my head.
Return to Monkey Island puts you in the shoes of Guybrush Threepwood, a clumsy and disorganised - but charming and humour-minded - pirate, who is recounting his previous adventure to find the Secret of Monkey Island to his son. Thankfully, you do not need to have played the other games to understand this one.
You arrive back on Melee Island finding a lot changed and the evil ghost pirate LeChuck, Guybrush’s nemesis, preparing to sail back to Monkey Island to find the secret; Guybrush is scrambling to find his own ship to get there first.
The game is a point and click adventure, meaning that most of the gameplay is interacting with literally everything, as who knows what could be important later - because sooner or later you’ll reach a dead end and have to find the one item you missed. That small object you passed an hour ago? Yeah, it’s important, pick it up.
While this style of gameplay can be a tad tedious, the excellent voice acting and writing keeps things ticking along.
Point-and-click games don’t often appeal to a wide audience, so attempts have been made to ameliorate some of the more unfriendly aspects of the genre. There’s a to-do list item and a recap option when you load a game to remember where you are at, and items and important points are placed more openly so you don’t have to "hunt pixels" to find them.
The biggest accessibility change is the introduction of the "hints" mechanic. Early on you are given a hint book, which is more like a full in-game walk-through. Stuck at a puzzle? Just open the book and ask it to help. It will start by giving you vague hints, but keep asking the book to continue and you’ll get the answer to the puzzle.
Unfortunately, the ending was a massive let-down, as it felt like they wanted to do something interesting and subversive, but it just fell flat on its face and ended the game with a sour note, which I really don’t think it deserved.
All in all, Return to Monkey Island is a solid game. Excellent writing, excellent music, great story, and more accessibility for a genre that can be infuriating. The puzzles can be obtuse and time-wasting and the mismanaged ending sours my final thoughts on it, but it’s overall a great package that I recommend if you don’t need 24/7 action.
Fans of Guybrush’s prior adventures will probably get a lot more out of it than I did, and I’ll be playing the Writer’s Cut mode (described as "More Blather, Worse Pacing") to see what changes that game has at some point down the line.
