Return to Monkey Island sets sail later this year
"Ron Gilbert told me he'd never make another Monkey Island unless..."
Later this year, you can return to Monkey Island with… er, Return to Monkey Island, the latest game in LucasArts‘ classic swashbuckling adventure game saga. That’s exciting enough, as we haven’t seen a Monkey Island game since Telltale Games’ Tales from Monkey Island in 2009. But the fact that original series co-creator Ron Gilbert is spearheading development will certainly turn a lot of heads.
The game is under development at Gilbert’s studio and Thimbleweed Park developer Terrible Toybox. Lucasfilm Games and Devolver Digital will handle publishing.
Gilbert returns as a writer and designer alongside Dave Grossman, another co-creator on the first two Monkey Island games. (The third of the original creators, Double Fine Tim Schafer, apparently isn’t returning.) It looks like a return to the style of Gilbert’s classics that’s been lovingly updated for the modern era.
See the teaser trailer for the game here, courtesy of Devolver Digital on YouTube:
What we know about Return to Monkey Island so far
We have little to go on from this teaser, but the credits should make any Monkey Island fan go bananas. Ron Gilbert’s involvement is the highlight as he left the series behind following 1991’s Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. Dave Grossman, who went on to work for Humongous Entertainment and Telltale, is also on-hand as a writer and designer. In addition, we know that LucasArts composers Michael Land, Michael McConnell and Clint Bajakian will handle the music. And if that wasn’t enough, Guybrush Threepwood’s actor Dominic Armato is lending his voice to the famous mighty pirate.
Gilbert’s previously stated that if he were to return to Monkey Island (ha!), it would be a direct sequel to LeChuck’s Revenge and mostly ignore the later games. Sorry, fans of the excellent Curse of Monkey Island and the not-that-great Escape from Monkey Island. But considering the talking skull of post-MI2 character Murray is in this trailer, Gilbert might be inclined to borrow some stuff from those games.
The game is expected to launch in 2022. Devolver, Lucasfilm, and Terrible Toybox haven’t announced a specific release date yet.
Are you excited to delve back into the world of Monkey Island? Let us know!
