Return to Monkey Island Reviews
With all the wit and charm that you would expect from Gilbert and Grossman's writing, Return to Monkey Island is a decades-long reverie made reality and absolutely essential for fans of the series.
Return to Monkey Island feels like a bridge linking some of the absolute best point-and-click adventures of gaming's younger years with the sensibilities of the modern world.
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.
Return to Monkey Island is a thoughtful retread of a genre that was once the pinnacle of adventure games, yet now feels rarely revisited, despite its influence. A lot has changed since The Secret of Monkey Island debuted more than three decades ago, but now Return feels like a fitting conclusion to everything that spawned from the original. Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman’s own reflection on the series after the game’s conclusion is poignant in its perspective that only years away from the helm could bring.
Return to Monkey Island is everything I wanted and more. Daft humour with plenty of dad-worthy gags, puzzles to both frustrate and delight you, lovable throwbacks around every corner, and all while being effortlessly enjoyable. It feels like Monkey Island has fittingly come full circle with this title in many ways, and yet I can’t help but be selfish and want more Guybrush from Gilbert. There’s still room in the scrapbook for more adventures, and if we’re lucky, maybe we won’t have to wait 30 years for the next title.
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.
For those of you who grew up with Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Quest for Glory and all the other great point and click games of the 90s, Return to Monkey Island is a pure joy to play. Purchase! You won't regret it. Return to Monkey Island does most things right and hopefully this is the first of more new Monkey Island games (directed by Ron Gilbert).
Review in Swedish | Read full review
A wonderful love letter to Monkey Island fans that left us with a tear of joy at the end.
Review in German | Read full review
Despite the many years on his shoulders, the saga created by Ron Gilbert still seems to have a lot to tell. With Return to Monkey Island, the videogame author creates a nostalgic work, but deeply immersed in contemporaneity, which tells with the usual dose of sagacity and irony.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Return to Monkey Island reaches into your heart, rips out your desire to know THE SECRET, and clenches it in front of your face. As hard as it would be to concede that The Secret of Monkey Island™ might always have been a McGuffin, it's agonising to contemplate that your 30-year longing for the Monkey Island 3 might be just the same. Delighting as you tremor, Return presents to your transfixed gaze a phenomenal point-and-click adventure, bubbling with passion and fun. All the way through, you will hope, achingly, that the big reveal is coming – and then…
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
Return to Monkey Island is a delightful adventure, and while it might not quite reach the unobtainable prestige of its predecessors, with a much more accessible design it’s destined to become Guybrush Threepwood’s most popular tale yet.
Return to Monkey Island is a brilliantly modernised point-and-click adventure game that's tailor-made for both fans of its classic predecessors and anyone who loves narrative-driven exploration titles.
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.
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.
All these great visuals, puzzles, and dialogues create a really great video game that doesn’t have to be ashamed of its roots. Return to Monkey Island is more than simply a nostalgia act. It has its individuality.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Return to Monkey Island is well worth the wait. This is a quest for booty you don't want to miss.
Return to Monkey Island has the same excellent puzzles, laughs, and unpredictability that made the series great, though the ending is odd.
Return to Monkey Island is pretty much as perfect a sequel to such a series of classic games as one can get.
Return to Monkey Island is a prime example of how to revive an iconic series and is one of this year’s best point-and-click titles.