Return to Monkey Island | NSW/PC | Devolver Digital/Lucasfilm | 2022

Great to hear, this makes me so happy.

I've only just finished but this is incredible news...

https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/1573802305270710272?t=LM3SSujfaV4_K28CQ9dNUg&s=19

Cheeky Devlin wrote:
still wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:
still wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:
still wrote:If you've never played any Monkey Island before, does this make sense as a stand alone purchase??

It's pretty welcoming to newcomers, but without having played the first two games a chunk of the jokes/story might not work as well as some might like. It's hard to tell as I've been playing these games since the early 90's and it's not easy to put myself in your position.

If you're not in any rush I would at least play through the first and second game. There are HD special editions available which have the voices, or you could use ScummVM to play the originals.

EDIT: Return does give a basic story recap of all 5 previous games though.

Thanks Devlin. Not sure if they are available on Mac and I really don't like playing games on Mac anyway. Haven't picked up my Switch since early April but was thinking of giving this a go. Will have to do some investigation. (Also fancy Tunic next week - you see nothing you fancy for months on end then two gams turn up together!)

ScummVM has a mac port so you could easily play it there.
There's also Android/iOS ports, so if you know how to transfer files to your devices that's an option too.

I would probably suggest your mac though as they just work best with a mouse.

https://www.scummvm.org/downloads/

I can provide you with the game files if you need them.

Switch only has Return to Monkey Island and not the earlier games, which sucks.

That's a very generous offer. I'll give them a go. (Might play through Tunic first though.... and then make Monkey Island my ongoing winter project.)

Ah no problem at all. They're not the biggest games (File size wise).

Just finished Return there and it's fabulous. Loved every minute of it.

Ending and general spoilers below...

The bastards did it again!

Seriously though I did find the very end of the game a bit flat. At least in MI2 it felt like you'd had this climactic battle with LeChuck before it went weird, but here it feels like something was cut as it just... ends.
At least there's a bit more context to it now.

But until that point I'd loved everything about the game. It's easily up there with the first two games (Not that Curse is bad, it's just not quite as good as its predecessors).

The difficulty was just right and I only delved into the hint system twice in the whole game.

I was expecting more from Terror Island. There were so many locations that seemed empty there.

Brrrr Muda was strawberry floating great.

I was convinced that Elaine was going to ditch him after hearing about all the horrible things he'd done. Guybrush is a bigger menace than LeChuck in these games.

The letter in the scrapbook was a nice touch I thought and it definitely lined up with how I was perceiving the game and it's themes.

Then that tease at the very end of the book. I really hope they do more. It doesn't even have to be soon, but I definitely want them to come back to it at some point.

So yeah I'm over the moon with how this turned out.

It might be my GOTY.

There's multiple epilogues based on what your final choices are so I need to see them all still. I absolutely adored the story the whole way through. The game and music were beautiful (people ragging on the art style are strawberry floating insane) and enjoyed most if not all of the puzzles. The jokes themselves were top notch and the references to the old game were brilliant. Only thing is the ending really confused the hell out of me.

I replayed MI2 with a view to going straight in to this…. But now I want to replay the first game. I have gone about all of this in the wrong order.

Big 1hr 20m interview with Ron Gilbert.

Well I've managed to purchase this but haven't actually found time to start it.... Must MAKE time!

One thing that will bother me about this is why do Dee (other child from the prologue) and Lila (in captain Madison's crew) look the same?

Dee-Lila. Something odd going on here...

Finished this this evening.

Overall I enjoyed it lots, and loved being back in this world.
However, hated the ending. The strawberry float was that

Return to Monkey Island given the 1hr 35m Noclip treatment.

I’m new to the Monkey Island series, what ones are worth playing before this one?

ITSMILNER wrote:I’m new to the Monkey Island series, what ones are worth playing before this one?

1&2. Some of the others are decent, but the new game really follows on from the end of 2.

Watched the first half hour of the Noclip doc (Danny makes great content) - enjoying it a lot so far. I too remember playing them in the early 90's on my Amiga 500.

My mate gave me his boxed copy of MI2 before moving abroad a few years ago - I might have to dig out the mix and mojo and the spin the wheel a few times.

Curse is actually pretty good but got a tough time on release as it felt so different. But yes the others aren’t that great. I have the telltale series and while I enjoyed what I played I lost interest around episode 3 and never played the final two.

I have fond memories of playing 2 on the Amiga. 11 discs and a lot of swapping. Kids these days dont know how lucky they have it, complaining about 30 second or more load times.

I have never played Curse (I have played the Tales of games, which were ok but not great).

Now I have a Steam Deck I guess I could probably play it. Maybe I should add it to the list.

ITSMILNER wrote:I’m new to the Monkey Island series, what ones are worth playing before this one?

They all have their merits and I'd struggle to say there's a "bad" one amongst them.

But, Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2 are both examples of the pinnacle of the genre for me.
Curse of Monkey Island is another stone-cold classic. Not quite as good or well loved as the first two but it's a fantastic adventure and it still looks gorgeous.
Escape from Monkey Island is a departure. It's 3D, the same engine as Grim Fandango and I just never got on with it anywhere near as much as the first three. It's got it's moments, but I've never really been compelled to go back to it.
Tales of Monkey Island is ok as well if you put the five episodes together as one game. Again it has some fun ideas and I do remember enjoying it, but like Escape it's just not as good as the earlier games.

Return is great though and probably sits between 1/2 and Curse for me in terms of quality.

I do recommend playing at least 1/2 and Curse before Return though. While it's not explicitly built on nostalgia, it really does harken back to the ideas from those first two games.
And Return does make minor references to characters and events in Curse.

Cheers both, Managed to get the first 2 monkey islands (special edition) on Steam for £2 :toot:

ITSMILNER wrote:Cheers both, Managed to get the first 2 monkey islands (special edition) on Steam for £2

I'd love to play these through with fresh eyes! The Secret of Monkey Island is hands-down my favourite game. I'd play with original graphics as the special editions (especially TSoM) had some somewhat strange character models.

ITSMILNER wrote:Cheers both, Managed to get the first 2 monkey islands (special edition) on Steam for £2

Lovely. They are beautiful games. Enjoy!

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:
ITSMILNER wrote:Cheers both, Managed to get the first 2 monkey islands (special edition) on Steam for £2

Lovely. They are beautiful games. Enjoy!

Great deal.

I concur with Jordan UK as well.
While the Special Edition graphics are nice I love the old pixel art. Luckily you should be able to swap between them. Voice acting is great though. Nice to get Dominic Armato to go back and record the dialogue for the older games. He IS Guybrush for me at this point.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:While the Special Edition graphics are nice...

They're passable at best. Compared to even a low-res digitized version of the original background paintings by (googles) Peter Chan and Steve Purcell, the background art in the Special Editions is garbage. And what they did to Guybrush (especially his hair) in the first one is the kind of thing that earns you a special place in hell, with bullet ant venom blood transfusion as a special punishment.

OldSoulCyborg wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:While the Special Edition graphics are nice...

They're passable at best. Compared to even a low-res digitized version of the original background paintings by (googles) Peter Chan and Steve Purcell, the background art in the Special Editions is garbage. And what they did to Guybrush (especially his hair) in the first one is the kind of thing that earns you a special place in hell, with bullet ant venom blood transfusion as a special punishment.

Tell us how you really feel man. :lol:

It never offended me that much. But then I'm pretty sure I put it straight on to the original graphics anyway. :lol:

Return to Monkey Island | NSW/PC | Devolver Digital/Lucasfilm | 2022

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