The Secret of Monkey Island is the second game from LucasFilm Games (formerly LucasArts that was formerly LucasFilm Games) that I experienced back in 1990. The first was Maniac Mansion, an experiment of branching narratives and the birth of point-and-click adventures. By the time the developers at LucasFilm Games arrived with The Secret of Monkey Island, they had not only perfected the SCUMM Engine they built for the genre but also perfected the art of the point-and-click genre enough to include a comedic story and some amazing narrative choices. They had a game on their hands that was technically impressive, entertaining, and memorable, and grew their fanbase to unimaginable levels.
Now, 32 years later, Terrible Toybox and Devolver Digital have returned with Return to Monkey Island, the fourth game in the Monkey Island series (not counting the Tell Tale ones), and brought back original creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman to helm the new chapter in Guybrush Threepwood’s life. Honestly, they couldn’t have done a better job saluting the original they made and ushering in new ways to use the point-and-click genre.
Let’s dig right into it.
Part One: Story is key, characters are important
As the late Rob Smith wrote in his book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts, the most important element to a LucasFilm Games experience was story and character. Without those, you just have another game that might be a technical marvel but will be more than likely far from memorable. While I dearly love the past Monkey Island iterations, and somewhat enjoy the Tales from Monkey Island episodic journey, there is just something about the original creators of the first game coming back and adding their narrative expertise to the characters they developed. They lived and breathed on this old philosophy established and it shows in this new game.
The story of Return to Monkey Island is simple in structure. Guybrush Threepwood has returned to seek out the actual secret to Monkey Island before his nemesis Captain LeChuck, an undead captain with an undead crew, finds it. To boot, Threepwood must also contend with Captain Madison and her band of double-crossing pirates wanting to do the same. A simple journey that will develop all of these characters while developing side characters along the way.
The narrative behind this Monkey Island game is well-constructed. You have a good mix of old familiars, characters, and locations, with a good number of new locations and faces. It’s as if Gilbert and Grossman wanted to introduce the old narrative to a new generation, while also establishing a new storyline with Threepwood’s son and friends (you’ll meet them at the beginning) for future adventures. The mix and match of old and new make this journey very entertaining. The humor is good, the meaningfulness from the characters is genuine, and the world feels like it once did in 1990. It’s like seeing your favorite band that broke up decades ago come back together to bring back their classics while also introducing some new music. You can’t get much better.
As with all classic LucasFilm Games titles, the story is a priority, and Terrible Toybox honors that priority in every aspect of this adventure. Bringing Gilbert and Grossman back for another go-around with this title was the right decision as everything about the story and characters comes across perfectly and represents what the original accomplished.
What about the gameplay?
Part Two: That gameplay
It would be easy for the old familiar gameplay to become familiar again and re-establish itself as the way to go in terms of gameplay structure, but that structure comes with improvement. While the remastered version of the original game showed some chances taken with regard to how Guybrush functioned during gameplay, it didn’t always make sense when it came to improving the efficiency. Originally, the game had a set choice of words at the bottom of the screen that you could choose an action with and execute it. For example, you could click ‘Pick up’ and point to an object on the screen, click it, and hope that Guybrush picked it up. The remastered version had an all-in-one pointer that contained all those words and that changed on its own with the right action. Getting to objects, executing commands, and generally getting the old way to work in a new form was rather a challenge in the remastered version of the original. While it did work in the long run, it wasn’t as fun with that new “improvement” in the game. In other words, it was a pretty game that was clunky to work with during the re-adventure.
This time around, the controls have been simplified, but in a good way. You can now hit the triangle on the controller and choose an object, move it over to the thing you want to apply it to, and then execute it with the square button. The command prompt has been eliminated for the most part, but also simplified to work with more efficiency to help with the game’s pace. Making controls quicker in a point-and-click adventure is amazing considering how slow it was at the beginning of its life back in the late 80s, and how little it improved up to this point. Anyway, this one big improvement in gameplay design quickens the pace of the game and doesn’t hinder it like the remastered version tended to do.
Another big plus in the gameplay design is how Guybrush now moves through his world. Back in ye olden days, you would have to get out of a town to get to a map to move from big location to location. This time around, you only need a road icon prompt to click on, which is everywhere in the game, and then quickly choose a location you want to go. Once you’re on a map, you can hold down R2 to move Guybrush quickly from point to point. Once you go beyond Melee Island, you can get on a ship to move around. The old days would have you go back to the dock or wherever your ship might be and then set sail. This time around, you need only press the touchpad and you’re instantly back on your ship on the map. Going back and forth between locations, which was a drag when revisiting the 1990 game, has become quick and efficient. This also allows for more gameplay and more adventure, which Gilbert and Grossman didn’t waste an ounce of for the story.
Now, one part of Return to Monkey Island that I’m emotionally unsure of when it comes to liking or disliking is the difficulty of the puzzles. Way back in the early 90s, we didn’t have a walkthrough readily available for the original game. Weeks would have been spent trying to solve problems and high school lunch meetings would be arranged to discuss strategy. Early LucasFilm Games/LucasArts games were hardcore difficult when it came to puzzles and solutions (see Full Throttle for details). In Return to Monkey Island, it appears that Terrible Toybox has eased up a bit on difficulty. On one hand, not having an overly difficult game means that you have a better-flowing story. On the other, it means that you can quickly get through the adventure. I’m not saying that this is a six-hour adventure that you’re going to zip right through, but I’m saying you could probably wrap this game up in the span of 3-4 days. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to not take in the story, but it does mean that some answers to puzzles, which is the spice of life for the P/C genre, will be more obvious than usual. Having said that, there are some tricky moments in the game that might stump you so hard that you have to go seek help. Put down that Google search and the game comes with a hint book that is optional. The hints work well. I had to use it a total of once. I’m not ashamed. It’s a nice fallback in case you think I’m wrong about difficulty. I will part this paragraph by saying that there were a few good moments of trickiness, such as Guybrush needing to become a queen. Getting him to that took some brain activity and really stretched my cognitive limits. Once the solution was obvious it was an “OMG” moment. Anyway, it’s certainly not as difficult as the old-school games from yesteryear.
Other odds and ends with this game include some minor side quests, a new-fangled part of the gameplay structure. I don’t want to get too much into that otherwise I will ruin it. There is also a trivia card collection part that asks you questions about current and past Monkey Island titles. It takes true fans to get through that side gig. Anyway, the bulk of the gameplay is drenched in classic point-and-click structure with some improvements on many sides (difficulty, design, etc.).
Part Three: The visuals
Guybrush and crew have gone through many iterations of looks over the years. The original game featured overdramatic art that harkened back to old 40s pirate movies. The remastered version featured goofy-looking characters that gave a glimpse of the classic style but with fresh hair and models. Return to Monkey Island features artsy paper doll faces that are flat, but classic in detail. It’s a simple art style that ushers in a new look for an old game. While I would have loved to see a return to the original art, the new transformed look works well with the humor dished up and creates a brand-new image for a new generation of future fans. In short, I really like it. My son, who is 14 years old, saw it in action and said, “Wow, that art is neat. I like it a lot”. He played the original game and appreciated the differences. Anyway, it’s a good-looking, cartoon-y art style that works well with the story, and the characters, and offers a new way to take the Monkey Island series.
On that note, let’s wrap this up.
Part Four: The Conclusion
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.
