The sixth entry in the Monkey Island series of games, Return to Monkey Island received an earlier release this year for macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC platforms. After earning highly favorable critical and fan reviews, the newest adventure of Guybrush Threepwood and his cast of supporting characters is coming to the remaining current generation consoles.
Return to Monkey Island was announced last April 4, 2022, to the delight of the long-time fans of the Monkey Island series of point-and-click adventure games. Apparently, the original creator Ron Gilbert reunited with designer Dave Grossman to develop the new game in secrecy.
— Ron Gilbert (@grumpygamer) April 4, 2022 After being developed for two years, Return to Monkey Island made its debut on the Nintendo Switch, macOS, and Windows PC platforms on September 18 of this year. Along with Lucasfilm Games, Return to Monkey Island was developed under Terrible Toybox and published by Devolver Digital. The game brings back Guybrush Threepwood, the dashing and hopeful hero of the Monkey Island games. Having settled down with his main squeeze Elaine Marley on Melee Island, Guybrush will revisit old locations to relive the story of how he found the secret of Monkey Island, telling the story to their son, Boybrush. The game is a direct sequel to the ending of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, which is often included in lists of the greatest games of all time. There were later Monkey Island games, with the more recent entries having been developed by Telltale Games. But this is the first Monkey Island game that creator Ron Gilbert has worked on since 1991. This game also sees voice actor Dominic Armato reprising his role as Guybrush Threepwood. Return to Monkey Island is a return to form of the classic 2D point-and-click adventure games. Aside from the Monkey Island games, this style of play was made famous and financially successful by such games as the King’s Quest series, the Gabriel Knight games, and other LucasArts games, such as Day of the Tentacle and Maniac Mansion. Return to Monkey Island features the usual gameplay elements of 2D point-and-click adventure games such as exploring locations, collecting key items, finding clues, and solving puzzles. Plus, it adds more modern features, such as tooltips over hotspots, a hint system, multiple difficulty modes, and a more intuitive interface and inventory management. According to the official website, Return to Monkey Island is the exciting conclusion to the entire Monkey Island series. Although the story does conclusively resolve the secret of Monkey Island, new games based on the story and setting may still be developed in the future. Return to Monkey Island will be released on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 8, 2022. It will also be available through the Xbox Game Pass on the same date.
