Return to Monkey Island Reviews
Guybrush's new adventure is every bit as fun as his previous ones. This is a triumph of a game that manages to live up to exorbitant amounts of expectation and ticks every box.
On the whole, I had a really great time with Return to Monkey Island. I think it hits a lot of the right notes fairly consistently, and while it does feel very familiar, there are enough surprises to keep things interesting and rewarding as you stick through the game and see it to completion. What it doesn’t do (and I don’t think it’s trying to), is recapture that feeling of playing the original games for the first time. It’s a great vehicle for getting yourself back into the headspace of those games and immersing yourself in the lore again, but for everything that’s familiar, there is a lot that’s different, for better or worse. And, it’s also still an adventure game, which these days is something you need to be in the mood to play. Having grown up playing them, I’m nearly always up for this, but it’s just a different pace and feel from so much of what else we play nowadays. You can feel Return to Monkey Island trying to find its place in the current landscape, and in many ways I think the game is a success. It’s true what they say, you can’t go home again. Return to Monkey Island knows that, and it’s there to help you embrace that fact.
Like the older but wiser cast of characters, the puzzling gameplay has matured, taxing your wits, but not your patience, never leaving you so bogged down with frustration that you can’t enjoy the comedy. Some gaming franchises age like milk, some age like wine, but Return to Monkey Island has aged like the finest bottle o’ rum.
After more than thirty years it's so nice to have the original developers Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and the team bring the originality and charm of the first games back for this last outing. There's actually quite a touching note that becomes available after completing the game that goes into some details about the development of Return to Monkey Island and it really does just feel right (perhaps more for us older gamers who grew up with it than people just joining it now). If you were a fan of the original game/s then absolutely grab a copy… it's a nostalgic joy and will warm your heart better than a bottle of Rum.
Return to Monkey Island is above all a return to the origins of the series. They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice, but Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman managed to create an experience that in every way evokes the feelings conveyed by the original titles. Let's hope that Guybrush's adventures (these new adventures) don't stop there! We suspect that there are still many stories behind this infamous secret!
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Return to Monkey Island is remarkably balanced in bringing the new and the classic together for a cohesive, nostalgic and relevant work that celebrates the legacy of the franchise while elevating it to a new level in today's entertainment industry.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Guybrush is back with a game that features all the best characteristics of the Monkey Island saga. If you have to play only one game in 2022, let it be Return to Monkey Island.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Thirty years after the last Monkey Island signed by Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, Return to Monkey Island comes to us in this nostalgic and fascinating way with which we recognize old characters and a legendary unrevealed secret. It's a whole construct based on the power of narrative and how humorous and fun it can be in exploration segments, or simply in puzzle operations. The magic of Monkey Island is still there, the familiar tone of the voices toasts us with echoes of the past, but it is also a new adventure, filled with new characters and a fervent leap in the chapter of surprises, being visual art an element of this ability with which it successfully surprises. The contestatory voices have been silenced and today, both new players and veterans seek such secrecy with the same fervor as 30 years ago.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A well-devised foray into the life of a wannabe pirate captain, Return to Monkey Island is a masterclass in series revival. A game nostalgic enough to appeal to original fans but has its own unique identity for newcomers – easily a part of the Monkey Island legacy, but not trying to be it. The game doesn’t drastically shake up anything but keeps it fresh while continuing a long-standing journey.
Terrible Toybox and Devolver Digital’s Return to Monkey Island hit all the right notes that proper homage to the original. It brought classic humor, a great story, and a new way to play the game to make it faster. It’s one of the brighter spots of a skimpy game release year.
At the end of the day, there were always some risks involved with Return to Monkey Island, and opinions are going to be divided among the hardcore fans and relative newcomers. What cannot be denied, however, is that this is an amazing point-and-click adventure that retains much of the beloved charm, while still updating the experience to be a more well-balanced affair. This is an excellent return, to say the least, and I can only hope this is the beginning of a new age that Terrible Toybox will be leading from the front.
Return to Monkey Island is a love letter to fans of the LucasArts classics of the 90’s. The characters and story was a joy from the first moment to the last and the puzzles were crafted in a way that make you feel clever for solving them. When you add this together with the beautiful art style and top quality voice work you end up with one of the best point-and-click games we have seen yet. Period.
Return to Monkey Island is a fantastic end to Guybrush's compulsive search for the secret of Monkey Island and perfectly encapsulates what made these iconic games so popular in the first place. Despite the 30 year absence, not a step was missed, as Return is just as funny as its predecessors and seeing Elaine, LeChuck, Stan, and the rest of the gang together again is rather bittersweet. Charming characters – old and new alike, great dialogue, fun puzzles, an intuitive hint system, and a story which sees Guybrush visit multiple islands, all blend to make Return everything I had hoped for. I'm glad that I was able to finally uncover the secret of Monkey Island.
Often, belated sequels carry a weight of expectation that's hard to live up to. Return to Monkey Island has no such difficulties, Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman going back to a series they quite clearly still love, and, you’ll love too.
Return to Monkey Island is fantastic. Brilliantly written and full of charm, the game manages to deliver a fresh experience in a nostalgic world. Even though the new art direction is divisive, the storytelling and humor are top-notch and make this a highlight of the franchise.
Ultimately, with Return to Monkey Island, original creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman have not only crafted a loving throwback to a genre they helped popularise, they've also reinvigorated it.
Though I still remain surprised that Return to Monkey Island even exists, I can't contest what Ron Gilbert and developer Terrible Toybox have wrought here. By masterfully combining the witty and thoughtful point and click escapades of the series past with a newfound warmth and charming aesthetic, Return to Monkey Island is by and large the series return that fans have long been waiting for and is a roaring success in the process.
Return to Monkey Island is great. It takes the adventure game to new heights of hilarity with a clever narrative, fantastic stylized graphics, wonderful music, and a huge amount of heart.
Ahhhh, nostalgia, there is something warm and fuzzy about returning to something you remember vividly from your childhood. Monkey Island is a series I played a lot growing up and it was a blast returning there recently. It is a lot different now though on the Nintendo Switch, if you had told me I would be able to play Monkey Island, on the go when I was a nipper, I would have laughed in your face but here we are. Isn’t technology great?