“I am Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate!”
Between Guybrush uttering this iconic quote in Return to Monkey Island and our reintroduction of familiar characters like used ship seller Stan S. Stanman and Cobb, with the “Let’s Be” badge ask me about the Loom”, I was engulfed in a smoke of nostalgia. And you’ll be eating all of these too if you’re a fan of Monkey Island. What is of interest to Monkey Island enthusiasts is that we can tell you what makes the series so unique. It is the earnest innocence of pirate hero Guybrush Threepwood and the bizarre and self-righteous humor of the series. But most of all, it’s a silly puzzle you’ll need to solve in the original Secret of Monkey Island: the sheer hilarity of shipping a super-sour concoction of a pirate beverage called is grog across an island without melting its cup and burning your hand along the way.
There’s still so much fun to reminisce about Return to Monkey Island, a point-and-click adventure game that hasn’t lost its massive appeal and appeal since the last Monkey Island game of the creators. created Ron Gilbert, almost 30 years ago. old. It seems very little time has passed since then, with the premise that its gripping story faithfully crafted from a structure on Monkey Island feels refined to the point of near-perfection. .
Guybrush is heading to the island of the same name in search of its biggest secret, and he needs a boat and crew again. He stopped by Melee Island, the favorite haunt of any powerful pirate and others in the Caribbean, and ran into a few old friends and younger friends there. The Voodoo Lady makes some dramatic statements about the nature of Guybrush’s ill-fated expedition, which he ultimately spent every possible resource on on his journey to Monkey Island. Hijinks, which may involve skillful use of chicken and other chicken-related products, follows. You get the drift.
The essence of Monkey Island lies in its signature goofy fanfare and genuine sense of humor, which Returns to Monkey Island radiates. It’s hard to get into the specifics without diving into spoiler territory, but there are plenty of hilarious jokes and self-aware jokes that leave me wheezing due to the game’s perfectly humorous timing. play. An early script, which introduces the ability to quickly skip dialogue, gives you a rambling monologue about the function, history, and subtle beauty of the anchor.
Return to Monkey Island strung together groundbreaking stories with a remarkable timing of humor. There are arrangements for jokes that later lead to ridiculous conclusions. There are plenty of fourth-wall-breaking references poking fun at everything from pop culture to video game idiosyncrasies. There are points of return to past jokes like the eye-catching, immaterial texture of Stan’s jacket, which never ceases to be funny. Such humor is not just poignant; it’s thoroughly infused into every part of Return to Monkey Island, from its wacky cast of characters to how its puzzles are played, like a specific quest involving a mop, some grease, and one small hole. Returning to Monkey Island reveals personality, with plenty of charm to spare.
Given the popularity of the series, it would be easy for Gilbert and his studio, Terrible Toybox, to create a new Monkey Island game simply based on fan affection for the series – one knowledgeable winks, some inside jokes, or allusions to Monkey Island long-running jokes (and there are plenty of them). But while Return to Monkey Island is a sequel to Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, Terrible Toybox isn’t content to just let the game serve as a complicated return to previous games.
Notably, there’s the game’s refreshed art style. Far from the spirit of the series, this is like a much-needed fresh coat of paint on a beloved but legacy series, symbolizing the new yet familiar direction Return to Monkey Island is taking. presently. For example, the scrapbook, a nifty feature that briefly recounts the colorful exploits of the famous Mighty Pirate, is intended to ease new players into the game and serve as a summary off for a series of films spanning three decades.
There’s also a great hint system that weaves into the story and it’s well thought out and incredibly useful for people like me who can get cornered by its puzzles and it does not reveal all the answers at once. The clues, presented through a spell book, are gradually revealed depending on the obstacles you are facing, encouraging you to discover the solution to the puzzles on your own. This is done by presenting keywords that might inspire a solution – an obvious one, perhaps – or through vague clues that gently steer you in the right direction.
And then there’s the refreshing point-and-click interface, which is more intuitive than the archaic “nine verbs” menus of traditional point-and-click titles. You will no longer have to randomly drag random verbs into these to accidentally discover what you can do with them; This new interface streamlines such interactions for inspecting or using these objects. As a result, the Guybrush bits of humor and sarcasm associated with the abuse of these items in older Monkey Island games are gone in this title. You won’t be able to talk to random artifacts you’ve taken off the shelf or mix unrelated things together. Fortunately, such jokes are largely unimportant in the first place (you shouldn’t worry anyway; Back to Monkey Island is a bunch of great jokes).
You can even choose between two difficulty modes, allowing you to choose between an experience that prioritizes the story over its puzzles, or another for puzzle enthusiasts who like a bit of a brain challenge. . The sum of these points to an extremely thoughtful design that makes Return to Monkey Island an adventure anyone can join – an adventure that can be equally enjoyable for those new play, especially for those who might be nervous about getting into a series with a history of decades.
Then again, distilling it down into its ingredients wouldn’t quite encapsulate the splendor of this Monkey Island sequel. Instead, I’ll point out that Return to Monkey Island is like a trip back home, back to the sepia-toned days, where I first relived the exciting adventures of the intrepid Guybrush Threepwood in Monkey Island Secret years ago. It’s also why, despite Terrible Toybox’s extraordinary efforts to make Return of Monkey Island more accessible to new players, fans of the original series will still make the most of the experience. point and click this. They are people who will be happy to glimpse, such as the shard of molten metal that Guybrush used to hold his grog as they recall the absurdity of that puzzle in their heads. Return to Monkey Island is full of nostalgia and non-stop humor, and I’m a kid again, laughing at Guybrush’s last attempts to distract his opponents by saying, “Let’s go look behind you, a three-headed monkey!”
