Return to Monkey Island Review: Return of the Monkey

The legendary Monkey Island series is a piratical franchise that has been helmed by many captains over its decades of existence but fans have been waiting a long time to see the original creator Ron Gilbert return. Now after 30 years after Monkey Island 2, Gilbert has once again assumed the director’s chair to continue his vision of Guybrush Threepwood’s adventures.

The ending of Monkey Island 2 was bizarre and metafictional, and it was never really satisfyingly addressed in any of the games since. Return to Monkey Island starts off right where Monkey Island 2 ended, and it’s a continuance that’s equally strange and subversive to our expectations, and it actually gave me what felt like a funny and satisfactory explanation of where I’d left off in Monkey Island 2 decades ago.

The main character is, of course, the inimitable Guybrush Threepwood, the once hapless aspiring pirate turned hapless practising pirate. Skilled at holding his breath, and making innovative use of bizarre and random items (like a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle), Guybrush is still as quick-witted as ever, but he’s a lot wiser as he’s gone through more adventures. Dominic Armato returns to voice Guybrush and gives the character a sense of sweetness and innocence, with enough eye-rolling sardonic put-downs to make him a well-rounded comic protagonist as ever.

A significant source of the humour is how the world of Monkey Island has changed in line with our own. The once aptly titled Scumm Bar has been gentrified, going from a filthy hangout for scurvy pirates to a gentrified boutique bar. The three grizzled sea dogs who once led the pirates on Melee Island have been replaced by fresh-faced, clean-cut, hip youngsters. The new pirate lords make Guybrush feel prematurely old and grizzled (even as he still struggles to look it).

One thing that hasn’t changed is how Guybrush still is searching for the elusive secret of Monkey Island, much like his longtime rival, the villainous ghost/zombie/shapeshifter pirate LeChuck. Both of them are still in love with the beautiful and spirited ex-governess Elaine Marley. If anything, the storyline of the game drives closer to discovering the actual secret of Monkey Island than any of the other titles. There are even multiple endings to pursue (and even one surprisingly dark one, though it’s difficult to get it).

There are plenty of in-jokes and references to past Monkey Island games. Beloved bit characters return, such as the bitter talking skull Murray and the always wildly gesticulating salesman Sam. If you’re eager to prove your devotion to the franchise, you can even find trivia cards scattered around that will test your knowledge of past titles in the series.

As well as revisiting Melee Island, Guybrush also gets the chance to explore all-new islands. All these new locations are really well integrated within the existing Monkey Island lore, and even though they’re strikingly different visually, such as an amusingly anachronistic Viking-themed island, they all keep the same light-hearted feel.

What’s great though is that even though there’s plenty of stuff for long-time fans to enjoy, neophytes to the series can enjoy the game just as much as the humour is pretty universal. For those wanting a refresher or complete newcomers to Monkey Island lore, there’s a “Guybrush’s Scrapbook” option provided on the main menu, allowing players to revisit lore from past games, all magnificently narrated by Guybrush himself! 

Indeed, plenty of the humour comes from some of the great new characters such as the aptly named Locke Smith, an expert in, you guessed it: locks! There are plenty of puns in Monkey Island as always, but there’s enough self-awareness about it to stop it from becoming too groan-inducing (indeed Locke Smith is aware of their own name is a pun).

The one problem with the classic Lucasarts point n’ click adventure titles is that many puzzles would be mind-bogglingly unintuitive. Fortunately, that’s not the case here. The in-game prompts for interacting with objects give you a much better idea of what you might be attempting to do when mousing over an interactable item. Right-clicking an item will have you attempt an action and left-clicking an item will have you observe it. If you mouse over a chef’s mop, you’ll get an option to “admire the mop” with a left click, whereas you’ll get an amusing choice to “surreptitiously abscond with the mop” with a right click. Not only is this an entertaining innovation that provides plenty of hilariously precise verbs and adverbs, but it also really helps point you in the right direction with puzzles.

Even on the rare occasions one might get stuck on a puzzle, there’s a handy hint system that gives gradually more obvious clues till the solution to each quandary can be found. Handily, there’s also a “to-do list” to help keep track of objectives, which is a welcome addition for those who sometimes lost track of things in the original two Monkey Islands.

The art style of Return to Monkey Island has been divisive. The original two games had a style that mixed pixel art with more realistic portraits when the characters were close up. Curse of Monkey Island had more of a Disney-esque style. Return to Monkey Island keeps the 2D style of the first Monkey island trilogy, which is a big reason why revisiting Melee Island feels so instantly nostalgic and recognizable. However, the character designs have a much more exaggerated, cartoony, caricatured look. It’ll certainly irk some, but it actually works pretty well for many of the visual gags and is fitting for the comic tone.

Likewise, the music is worthy of mention. Though the tunes certainly sound crisper than they did 30 years ago, they definitely have the same delightfully whimsical Carribean vibe. Amazingly, the composers of the original two games, Michael Land, Peter McConnell, and Clint Bajakian, are back, with their score once more evokes my childhood sense of wonder at a piratical world full of fun and adventure all over again. 

Like the older but wiser cast of characters, the puzzling gameplay has matured, taxing your wits, but not your patience, never leaving you so bogged down with frustration that you can’t enjoy the comedy. Some gaming franchises age like milk, some age like wine, but Return to Monkey Island has aged like the finest bottle o’ rum.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: PC, Playstation 5 (Reviewed), Switch; Publisher: Devolver Digital; Developer: Terrible Toybox; Players: 1; Released:  8th November 2022 (PC), 

Full disclosure: This review is based on a review copy of Return to Monkey Island provided by the publisher.