I've never been a die-hard fan of point & click adventure games, but somehow throughout the last few years I've ended up playing quite a few of them. The reasons most of them have for sticking are usually a combination of a story that's compelling enough to want to see through and puzzles that feel satisfying to solve.

Having said that, the plot in the previous Monkey Island games (of which I've played all) didn't really stick out in my memory at all. I could remember some vague things, like the characters and their broad characterizations, but as far as the events of the previous games go, it's all blank. And maybe that's ok.

The story this game tries to tell had me feeling kind of bummed out at the end of it, but after reflecting on it for some time I've come to appreciate just a tiny bit more.

Me and my girlfriend have played through a lot of the games in this series by the time Return to Monkey Island came out, and I admit this one is easily my most favourite of them all.

I can't find the right words to describe all my thoughts and feelings on this game in a concise way, but there is something about the earnest cheerfulness this game presents to us, the players, that I find to be so deeply touching. By the time we reached the end of the game we ended up crying together, left with this vague but intense notion of bittersweet longing for... something. Perhaps we were left with a strengthened hope and belief in the fact that despite the inevitability of us growing older, we don't necessarily have to grow up and let go of looking at things with childlike wonder. Both of us are very much children at heart, and in so many ways this game felt incredibly affirming with that. Things change, as do people, but that doesn't mean we have to let go of the simple things in life that manage to spark joy in our hearts.

It was an incredibly beautiful experience and I already can't wait until we get to replay this game together again.

There is an implied spoiler in this review, however, it is one EVERYONE who pays money for this game should know. I don't go into any detail about what happens in the plot.

I am so torn on how to review this. As someone who never played Monkey Island, I came in ready and willing for a high seas adventure game with a camp atmosphere and plenty of references I wouldn't get, but enjoy on behalf of those hardcore fans.

As I played through it, I enjoyed every minute of it. The narrative felt small scale, but that was kind of the point! Two washed up pirates chasing their former glory in middle age. But it was exciting, funny and clever for a solid 8 hours. Then, the game ended. Abruptly. In the most insulting way possible. I cared about the plot, and was had tempered expectations, knowing it was going to go meta. But not like this.

Everyone who thinks of playing Return to Monkey Island deserves to know that there is no conclusion to the events of the game. It is as close as possible to being a book with the last 4 chapters torn out.

I dont give a shit about Ron Gilbert being a bitter washed up sod, I deserve an actual ending to this pirate adventure game I paid actual money for. If you wanted to make a surprise statement about your midlife crisis, make this shit free. Or maybe they want you to pirate it, in the spirit of the game?

Either way, I no longer have a desire to play these beloved classics because I just got through 8 hours of build up....to absolutely nothing. And its so sad because I was ready to give this 4 1/2 stars until I found that out.

Here's my "secret post review" message for Ron Gilbert: Enjoy retirement, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

So - that 'more upbeat game to fall back on' I mentioned during Plague Tale: Requiem? Here it is. And 'upbeat' is one of many words you could use to describe RTMI - it's joyous, funny, relaxing, silly and fun.

I wanted the return to the lore of Monkey Island to be exactly like this. The same daft, irreverent humour but with a massive dose of nostalgia with the overall game mechanics staying pretty much the same. The biggest update here are the visuals - it did take me a while for this new look to click, but after half an hour or so, I began to love the art style, and the way each character - important or random extra - seems to have been lovingly designed from scratch.

Returning characters feel warmingly and reassuringly familiar, and the voice acting is as strong here as it ever was. And it's genuinely funny in places, daft little throwaway lines to the actual puzzle solutions made me chuckle throughout.

At roughly 10 hours, it's the perfect length for this sort of game, and there's a plethora of collectables such as trivia questions to pick up which can add some extra incentives for any purists wanting to see everything. The story flows well, no section outstays its welcome and the variety of locations and characters is well balanced.

I probably would have bought this on my Switch if it hadn't have arrived on Game Pass, but the fact it did was an added bonus. It was 10 hours well spend, and I'd have been happy to pay for the experience.

Also worth noting that even if you've never experienced a Monkey Island game before, it's worth picking up as it doesn't need any prior knowledge. If you have it, it's yet another added bonus. One of the best gaming nostalgia trips in years.

Return to Monkey Island is unbelievably charming, from it's art to it's writing. Looking to bridge the gap between the first three games and it's slightly rocky latter games, Ron Gilbert and his team have managed to cap off this legendary point n click franchise in the best way possible.

The writing is hilarious, and never falls into the adventure game trope of being overlong. The same can be said of the puzzles, which are the right amount of brain-teasing, with a handy hint guide that can be addressed at any time (and without any guilt, which I personally find irritating in older titles).

The art has a fantastic vibe to it, conveying a sense of wonder and childish whimsy, alongside being used in ways that made me laugh out loud.

I do highly recommend this one, even if you haven't played the others (theres a scrapbook at the beginning that covers the important points anyway) since at its core it's just a brilliant adventure title.

Dóeme moito este xogo, cun Ron Gilbert tentando poñerse á altura de si mesmo pero ao tempo separarse do que agardabamos del. Ao final, é un exercicio de nostalxia bastante baleiro, querendo innovar pero resultando un pouco lamentábel, metendo personaxes por meter, sen desenvolver ren nin aportar fondo. Ademais, o de coller o final do 2 sen querer traizoar aos outros 3 para facer referencia a unha sorte de metanarración tampouco me gustou especialmente. Os puzzles son de sota-cabalo-rei a excepción dun par deles (o final, por exemplo, que ademais é dos que non aplican lóxica narrativa nin combinatoria) e o intento de brincadeira do final narrativo é, case, un insulto a todo por parte de Gilbert dicindo que é a súa saga e rebéntaa como quere.
Por certo, os gráficos, igual do mellorciño que se podía esperar.
E con todo isto, non é malo como aventura gráfica, pero para min é o Monkey Island máis decepcionante. Menos mal que paguei menos de 20 pavos por el.

So I'm going to fly in the face of popular opinion here and say that Return to... is the worst game in the Monkey Island franchise for me. I'm going to fly in the face of popular opinion even more and say that Ron Gilbert is an overrated and washed up writer.

See, my introduction to this series was with the much-frowned upon fourth entry, Escape from Monkey Island. It's largely treated like the runt of the litter now, but when my young self stumbled upon it on the PS2, I was bewitched. It felt like I was playing an eccentric, interactive Saturday morning cartoon. The characters were charming, the jokes were laugh out loud funny and the gorgeous pre-rendered environments really ramped up the game's atmosphere. Sure it had its problems, but by the time the credits started scrolling, I was already a fan. From that point onwards, I borrowed a school friend's copies of the original Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. I wasn't nearly as smitten with them, but they were still enjoyable (although I hated the latter's ending). From there I moved on to Curse of Monkey Island, which instantly went down as one of my favourite games of all time. I loved it then and I still love it to this day. Years later, the series got a new lease of life with Telltale's episodic entry Tales of Monkey Island. While opinion is divided on it, I thought Telltale did an admirable job of capturing the overall spirit of the series. It's the developer's best game, and episode 3 in particular is a hilarious highlight (thanks mainly to the undead but lovable skull Murray).

So now here we are, many years later, and Monkey Island has been revived once again. This time with some of the original talent back in the saddle. Cause for celebration right? Well errrrr, no. Not so much.

First thing's first - RtMI looks horrid. It looks visually unappealing. The garish art style became an early point of contention among fans, and while I do not condone at all the direct abuse the developers had to endure in the build up to the game's release, I do sit on the side of the fence that the art style is very much to the detriment of the overall gaming experience. It's cheap, ugly, and all the characters look like Canadians from an episode of South Park. In truth, the whole game is blighted by a lack of budget and necessary production values. Playing this game, I found myself yearning for the beautiful hand-drawn animation of Curse, or the detailed environments of Escape, or even the 3D movement and sense of scale of Tales. RtMI is not an ambitious game; it feels very safe and it feels like it was running on the tightest budget possible. This is not necessarily the fault of any of the developers, but I couldn't help but be disappointed by small scale of it all.

The game is also not particularly funny. This is a Ron Gilbert problem for me, because I didn't laugh much at the first two games either. The biggest reaction the gags got from me here was a sensible chuckle. Compare that to the three games that Gilbert was not involved with, and there's a night and day difference.

There's also the ending. Already known to be polarising among the fans, the ending in my opinion is... well, it's fucking shit. Gilbert opted to go for another meta denouncement, similar to how he ended LeChuck's Revenge and Thimbleweed Park. It wasn't particularly funny or clever back then, and it isn't now. Is this a personal failure on his part? Does he just not know how to give a story a solid and satisfying conclusion? I would say that RtMI's last ten minutes are its greatest failure. I could go on, but I think I should just leave it at that.

The game is not a complete stinker. If it was I would not have given it a 3 outta 5. It definitely does capture the spirit of old-school Monkey Island. The way certain chapters are structured, you have multiple objectives that you can complete in any order. I like this approach, as it enables the player to go do something else if they get stuck, much like the second game. The hint system is helpful and a welcome inclusion, the puzzles are never too irrational, and the music has that classic Monkey Island flavour.

But Return to Monkey Island is undeniably a disappointment for me. Like I said before, it is the worst entry in the series, and if there's a follow up in the works (and it seems like there could be given some of the winks and nods in the ending) then there are a plethora of issues to address. I personally would love to see Tim Schafer take another crack at it, with a decent sized budget this time! But I'm not holding my breath.

Como para mucha gente, había algo de innevitable en jugar a Return to Monkey Island.

Supongo que hay un cúmulo de circunstancias más o menos lógicas, como el tan integrado factor nostalgia o el condicionamiento derivado de la experiencia pasada, pero, a pesar de la voracidad inicial, se me ha quedado un regusto amargo, de esos a los que les hace falta un postrecillo rico para poner la guinda.

Return to Monkey Island no es una mala aventura point & click pero no me ha parecido especialmente sesuda ni ingeniosa, tampoco graciosamente absurda ni hilarante. Está, que no es poco, después del olvidable Thimbleweed Park, pero Monkey Island 1 y 2 son genuinamente únicos y no sé hasta qué punto es necesario seguir tirando del hilo.

Es cierto que hay, sin duda, una cierta intencionalidad de dignificación aquí, de enderezar el rumbo después de algunos titubeos, pero parece claro que la idea no es despedirse por todo lo alto y hacer una reflexión última, sino abrir una puerta a la exposición de ciertos temas que, ya con cierta edad y perspectiva, como Guybrush, nos suenan.

El principal problema, para mí, es pensar en la relevancia de lo que aquí se expone, si es realmente necesario tal y como se plantea y si no se ha hecho ya, más y mejor, tal y como me parece.

Al final, me pesa más la redundancia y lo anecdótico, lo insulso y la falta de cierta innovación. Todo ello envuelto, eso sí, en un bonito papel de regalo que se abre con ganas.

Although i really enjoyed this game, i don’t think there’s really much to say about it. It doesn’t have real high pretentions, other than just exploiting nostalgia in a very pleasant way. In that sense, the game delivers. It’s a game designed for the fanbase. You shouldn’t play this game at all if you haven’t played, at least, the first three entries of the series.

It’s worth noting how easily you can get accostumed to the new art style. This was kind of a heated debate prior to it’s release. I actually disliked the art-style intensely when the first screenshots and trailers came out. But the truth is that, once you’re playing it, it flows pretty naturally and organically, and you even get to appreciate it.

The game also adopts the simplest take on puzzle design that has been the fashion during the last decade of adventure gaming. No moon logic, no monkey wrench puzzles. This time things are pretty simple. And even if you get stucked at some point, the game includes an in-game hint system which might come in handy.

While I can say this is the best Monkey Island since the second, that's not a high bar to climb. Everything is competently done, what I'd come to expect from Ron Gilbert, but that ending, they only give me 1 conclusion with that ending.

Ron Gilbert just doesn't care anymore.

If anything, while I can appreciate what's being done here, it's still lacking, And the casual mode feels like it defeats the purpose of a game like this. I think it may be time to leave the pirating adventures to someone else. And if he wants to still keep making games, maybe he should try new ventures, instead of convincing others that the glory days of point and click piracy aren't long behind us.

Artística y musicalmente muy bien. Buena ambientación y personajes muy carismáticos con un rollo goofy sin llegar a ser infantil. Los puzzles tienen su punto de dificultad pero sin ser abrumadores y están bastante bien buscados. Juega mucho con la nostalgia, algo que en mi caso no ha llegado a encontrar, ya que no jugué a los anteriores. En cuanto a los puzzles, tengo que admitir que no me gustan los juegos de puzzles, cosa que me ha llevado a mirar pistas en el cuaderno más veces de las necesarias, haciendo la experiencia menos satisfactoria e inmersiva.