Return to Monkey Island - Review

Can you believe it, 32 years have passed since Guybrush Threepwood set out to become a Mighty Pirate, in the original adventure game The Secret of Monkey Island. While I was a bit too young to really understand that game, when the third game The Curse of Monkey Island released, I was hooked and went back to play the first two games. Now more than a decade after the last time we saw Guybrush, LeChuck and the rest of the motely crew, a new story is here. After such a long wait and with the original series creators returning, is this a worthy return, or has the age of pirates long since passed?

The Secret of Monkey Island set up the adventures of Guybrush, LeChuck, Elaine and a host of characters and while Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge didn’t reveal what the secret of Monkey Island was, it told a great story, nonetheless. Throughout the adventure, Guybrush will find himself entangled in a series of ever complicated webs, all on his quest to discover what the Secret of Monkey Island is all about. The problem is, I can’t really say anything about how the story begins, unfolds or even really anything about it, without spoiling anything and I want everyone to experience this for themselves, especially long-time fans like myself. What I can say is that there are plenty of returning characters, of course Guybrush and LeChuck are present, but there are also a host of new folks to meet as well. Some of them are more once off characters, they serve a purpose and then are gone again, others are new and important to the story, but none of them felt all that compelling to me, but that could be due to my fondness to the originals.

While series creator, Ron Gilbert, has said that this one plays out as more of a direct sequel to the ending of Monkey Island 2, seeing characters like Murray and more appear, was a treat that never got old. In addition to some recurring characters, there was also an insane amount of joy to be had with references galore to the other games in the series. At one-point Guybrush was asked about his adventure after he accidentally turned Elaine into a gold statue and the response he gave, whilst entertaining was not accurate and when he got called out on it, I couldn’t help but laugh. In fact, that is something that honestly surprised me, with just how funny the game is and yes, some of the jokes are references to past games, the call out for the three-headed monkey is always welcome, but the new stuff was just as good. Again though, I can’t give specific examples, without spoiling what lies ahead for players, but rest assured, if you were a fan of the humour in the other games, this will be right up your alley.

As the technology that powered the series evolved over the years, so did the gameplay, in the first two games it was text prompts that took up half the screen. The third game introduced the coin, which let you interact with the world and the people within, with context to the scene and it got even more refined them then on. In Return to Monkey Island, the system has been streamlined even more, now the game will present you with an option for each mouse button, the left is usually talk and the right is interact, but it is not always the case. Using the inventory is pretty straight forward, as the same left and right interaction applies here, left will pick up the item and right will inspect, admire or otherwise comment upon it. There were a few times when the options got swapped around, which had me talking instead of grabbing, but those were few and far between, but for the most part it works incredibly well.

The puzzles, a stapple of the series, also feel fresh and while the general gist of get item 1, to access item b and then destroy/pickup/laugh at character f, still feel familiar, there is a lot of fun to be had with them. One of the bigger quest lines is to locate five golden keys and while early on, it does feel more like the quest in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the non-HD version, in that you have to do so much to get so little, once pieces start to fall into place, the quest feels worth it. There may not be any rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, but there are some items that do get repeated use and I will admit I often forgot about them, to the point that when I realised, I felt foolish.

I say realised, but I will admit to the occasional check of the new hint book system, which is exactly what it sounds like a system designed to give you hints. Basically if you get stuck, you can crack it open, select the puzzle you are stuck on and the game will see where you are at and given you a hint. Now it is important to note that it does not explain each step-in detail, but it may point out that you need to do something and then ask how would you do it. The hints are actually quite clever and when I did make use of them, I found myself slapping my head, as if to say duh and then I was on my way. There was a use of it, in the later part of the game, where I was doing something and I knew I was on the right track, but I just couldn’t get the right combination, when I tried something and it failed again, I checked the book and it told me to think of a different tactic and the moment it said it, I felt like a fool, but in the best way possible.

The game is actually one of the most user friendly in the series, if you don’t count the original special edition of the first game, when they added pictures for the objects, rather than the text descriptions. Apart from the usual game options, you can also increase the size of the interaction fonts, meaning when you see ‘grab this’ you can actually see the text. Another great inclusion is that you can now press and hold Tab on your keyboard, to highlight all the interactable elements within view, be they people or things. In fact there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts to enjoy, some are explained to you early on, some however are not. While for me the game is best played with a mouse, it does support controllers, given its also coming to Switch, that makes sense and it works fine, being able to direct Guybrush with a control stick was much nicer than clicking everywhere, but the rest of it felt better with a mouse.

Now, we will talk about presentation, something that clearly divided the fans and inflamed the internet and for absolutely no reason, I myself even said that I wasn’t a fan of Guybrush’s new elongated head when it was first shown off. Having now spent hours touring the new look Melee Island and beyond, I can say that the art style is sublime, razor bomb even and each time there was a new location or character, I just fell in love a little bit more. There are of course some returning locations and characters and while the series has had a new art style with each instalment, they have always kept a consistent look, so you know who is who. This new art style makes it easy to recognise the more memorable folks and locations, but some of the lesser known may take you a moment to get. What makes things great is that at any point, you can take a screenshot of the game and you will have something that you could find in a book, it is just that wonderful. Much like story beats, there are some locations I can’t talk about, or characters, but the later portions of the game feature some great visuals as well.

There is something that does bother me though and it’s the eyes, the game gives all the characters black dots for eyes, except for LeChuck, he has red pupils and Murray has holes where his eyes would be. When you are looking at the characters from a distance, it really isn’t an issue, but the game does love to throw in a lot of close ups. When that happens, apart from a few instances where highlights are applied, the eyes are still just black dots, only larger and the result is more akin to voids rather than eyes. Apart from that, I really can’t fault the visuals, they just work really well.

Fans of the series will know doubt say that the music and audio is perhaps just as important as anything else and the attention for the audio in the game is spot on. The original games composers are returning and while some melodies are also returning, there is a wealth of new music to enjoy, one of the new islands you visit has a great score to go along with it. Once voice acting was brought into the series, there has been a recurring cast of actors, bringing the roles to life with Dominic Armato leading the charge as Guybrush and the same is happening here. Hearing the voice of Guybrush, Elaine, Murray, Wally, The Voodoo Lady and more, all sound exactly like you remember, it is something that never gets old. While some of the voices sound older, that is what happens when times passes, but the difference actually works in the games favour, as all the characters are older now. Of course, with a host of returning actors, there is one actor who retired and opted not to return and that was Earl Boen, so the role of LeChuck was performed by veteran actor Jess Harnell, best known as a Transformer in the live action movies and all Wakko Warner.

There is no way to get around it, the voice is not the same, but that is ok as the voice we get is still good, there are a few times when I would hear lines and I could hear Boen’s LeChuck in the mix, just with how they were said. Though across the game, Harnell managed to make the role his own and if there are more adventures for Guybrush and LeChuck, keep Harnell in the role would be a very welcome addition to the cast.

Return to Monkey Island is an incredible game and while yes, I am biased as a long-time fan of the series, the new additions like the hint book, make it so welcoming that even people who have sworn off adventure games will like this one. The puzzles are inventive and sometimes frustrating, but the end result can be so satisfying that all the effort never feels like a waste, the ending however, that is something you will have to decide for yourself. Having now learnt the Secret of Monkey Island, does my 25 year long obsession with the series feel justified? Maybe, because I can’t tell you what the secret is, I am sure the monkey’s are watching me to make sure I don’t, it is hard to explain my answer. I will say that if you are a fan, you won’t be disappointed with how the game ends.