Return to Monkey Island is a return to point-and-click greatness

Over 30 years later, the legendary ’90s adventure franchise finally gets a worthy sequel to the Monkey Island name.

The truth

If you’re a kid from the 90s, you might remember the popular video game series Monkey Island. Monkey Island was released in the heyday of LucasArts – a subsidiary of Lucasfilm that was hugely beloved not only for its Star Wars games, but also for its quirky and heartfelt point-and-click adventure games like Maniac Mansion, Sam and Max, and the Indiana Jones Series.

The first two games in the Monkey Island series, from legendary developers Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, received critical acclaim, but the series suffered a downturn after Gilbert’s departure. Since then, the IP has more or less oscillated up and down, with those first two games remaining a bar that none of the others in the series have managed to reach. Maybe it’s because that spirit is gone, or because the point-and-click genre didn’t really survive past the ’90s, and the more that’s a shame.

Gilbert and Grossman are back for Return to Monkey Island, which is a direct sequel to the second game, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, released in 1991. It’s no coincidence that it’s the best game ever. series since their departure.

Good

It’s a new Monkey Island game! In 2022! That should be enough.

Seriously, though, there’s a texture, and more importantly, a sense of humor to the Monkey Island games that isn’t exactly lost in 2022, but still feels like a delicious throwback. It’s the kind of humor where so many jokes are thrown at the wall that it can be hard to follow the plot – basically, former explorer Guybrush Threepwood is trying to uncover the secret of Monkey Island, again . Every riddle is a chance for another gag, whether it’s a quest to find the legendary mop tree to create a mop that will leave you on a pirate ship, or cheating on three tries to become queen. of a sick nation (makes sense, I promise).

There’s not much to the gameplay – you point, you look, you click – but Return to Monkey Island is smoother than any of the pirate ships featured. The art style, which looks like a pop-up book, looks like a fitting update to the pixel art style of the original games – lo-fi, but full of care and character. The puzzles can be tricky, but if you’re really stuck you can always toggle the difficulty and ask for some hints. I would recommend against it, because wandering around figuring out what to do is half the fun with games like this!

The bad

Point-and-click adventure isn’t the easiest genre to get into these days. If you’re not already passionate about solving purposefully obtuse puzzles, then this probably won’t be the game to get you across the line. It’s not action-packed or fast-paced, and while I beat it in a fairly quick six hours, I can imagine it taking up to ten hours, especially if you dedicate yourself to exploring every nook and cranny. , or more likely , getting stuck and not being able to figure out how to progress.

The verdict

That a new Monkey Island game exists in 2022 is a delight. The fact that this isn’t just a half-hearted resurrection of the franchise, but a witty resurrection, feels like a small miracle. Even for those unfamiliar with the originals, it’s a deeply charming and hilarious game.

Return to Monkey Island is available now on Windows, macOS and Nintendo Switch.