Get ready to return to pirate life and for more insult sword fighting as "Monkey Island" returns with a new sequel, "Return to Monkey Island." What seemed to be an April Fools' joke on original series creator Ron Gilbert's blog turned out to be an actual announcement.
According to a report by Ars Technica, Gilbert said on April 1 said that in 18 years his blog has been free of April Fools' jokes and that he decided to "mix things up a little." Three days later, he then posted that he "felt bad" about the joke and decided to come up with a new game over the weekend. Below the post was a teaser of the new game:
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'Return To Monkey Island' Trailer Also Features Return to Tradition
The minute-long trailer continues the Monkey Island tradition of using 2D animation, although this time a mix of hand-track animation and what seemed to be a Flash-like rendering of the characters. It also features a spoken voice work, staying true to tradition.
A ghost pirate is seen playing the fiddle on a deck, along with other ghost pirates. A skull jumps beside him and says, "Ron Gilbert told me he'd never make another Monkey Island unless..." before being swatted off the deck with the fiddle.
The quote seems to reference a statement that Gilbert released in 2013, according to Grumpy Gamer. He said that he would never make another "Monkey Island" game unless he owned the series' IP. "I've spent too much of my life creating and making things other people own," Gilbert said. "Not only would I allow you to make Monkey Island fan games, but I would encourage it."
The teaser trailer doesn't reveal much about the new storyline, but it seemed to follow "Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge." Gilbert revealed that he has been working on "Return to Monkey Island" secretly for the past two years.
'Return To Monkey' Island Gameplay and Details
There are no official details about the game released yet. Although, fans of Gilbert may very well remember a post he made on his blog in 2013. In the post, he said that if he were to make another "Monkey Island" game, he would be doing it with SCUMM, the programming system he developed for the original LucasArts. Gilbert also suggested that he will keep the "dialogue puzzles" that made the games unique.
Gilbert will return to the series, along with co-writer and programmer Dave Grossman. He retweeted Gilbert's Twitter announcement with the caption, "So glad to finally be able to say what I've been doing during the pandemic."
'Return To Monkey Island' Release Date
Monkey Island is an adventure game franchise. It follows the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood in his quest to become the most notorious pirate in the Caribbean and defeat his nemesis the ghostly pirate LeChuck.
"Return to Monkey" Island is being developed by Gilbert's Terrible Toybox studio, in collaboration with Devolver Digital. It will be released by the now Disney-owned LucasFilm Games later this year.
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Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by Fred Layno