Return to Monkey Island: Video Game Piracy

[Exposition Owl]

Pirate Hell must have frozen over, because Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman are making a new Monkey Island game! Michael Land is composing! Dominic Armato is voicing Guybrush! Here's a trailer!

It's apparently intended to be a direct sequel to MI2, so maybe Gilbert is ruling Curse, Escape, and Tales non-canonical. I guess we'll find out later this year!

 

[John]

Gilbert's said he's not below stealing characters from the later games if he liked them, which is why Murray's hopping around.

I'm optimistic!

 

[Phantoon]

That's tremendously exciting

 

[Lokii]

Pretty interesting. If nothing else, ignoring the later games relieves this project from any baggage they might have carried, allowing for this game to be a fresh take.

 

[lincolnic]

Okay, who's got the Frothing Demand Bird picture floating around? Because I don't, but I would post it here if I had it. Super exciting news!

Also, from the trailer, the LucasArts composition team is back too. Can't wait.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

No IMUSE no sale

(I don't actually have a strong opinion about this, but I'm happy for the folks who are stoked)

 

[Falselogic]

I'm very excited. Especially so if it picks up right where 2 left off, which is what he said he wanted to do last time someone asked him.

 

[Falselogic]

Also, please let there be a physical release! I need a nice big boxed copy of this next to all the rest of them!

 

[Phantoon]

Back when he did his "if I were to do Monkey Island again, which I'm not" article, a big box was one of the things he mentioned, because where would you store the code wheel without one? So it's hopeful!

 

[Issun]

I'm very excited. Especially so if it picks up right where 2 left off, which is what he said he wanted to do last time someone asked him.

Not entirely sure how one would do that.

 

[q 3]

you boot the game and instantly you're transported back to 1991

 

[Voncaster]

I really like the art style in the teaser. Hopefully the finished product keeps the art style.

The new Monkey Island, Telltale Star Trek, and Vampire Bloodlines have me excited to be playing some adventure games in 2022!

 

[Felicia]

I hope that Elaine is portrayed as she was in Monkey Island 2, i.e. not actually in love with Guybrush, but seeing him as a well-meaning but stupid little brother that she has to help now and then. And that Guybrush gets over his childhood romance, and the two of them turn into a non-romantic adventuring duo.

 

[Felicia]

Ron Gilbert has written an interesting blog post about Return to Monkey Island and the reactions it has gotten so far. What I find particularly interesting is his explanation of the art style, and why it isn't "old school" pixel art:

I have made one pixel art game in my entire career and that was Thimbleweed Park. Monkey Island 1 and 2 weren't pixel art games. They were games using state-of-the-art tech and art. Monkey Island 1 was 16 color EGA and we jumped at the chance to upgrade it to 256 colors. Monkey Island 2 featured the magical wizardry of scanned art by Peter Chan and Steve Purcell and we lusted to keep pushing everything forward.

If I had stayed and done Monkey Island 3 it wouldn't have looked like Monkey Island 2. We would have kept pushing forward, and Day of the Tentacle is a good example of that.

 

[Exposition Owl]

There’s a gorgeous new trailer, and the game’s website has been updated to feature an interactive conversation with Stan! Also, Ron Gilbert has shut down his long-running blog because people have been posting such relentlessly awful comments about the game and the team behind it! “Gamers,” am I right? Some days I think we should all be launched into the sun!

 

[Falselogic]

Yeah, I'm pretty upset about how awful people have been.

 

[Phantoon]

The level of negativity in self-professed fans will never fail to amaze me. If something's crap, move on and make the occasional bitchy JJ Abrams joke*, don't bloody harass people

And this hasn't had the chance to be, and likely won't be crap

*You can do a Chris Chibnall joke too, if that's your wont

 

[Felicia]

Maybe I'm reading too much into small details, but I'd like to think that the trailer is hinting at a playable Elaine.

 

[madhair60]

It isn't fans going after him, it's people who get off on being as cruel as possible. Fans seem to be roundly positive from what I've seen.

I strongly disliked the art style on the initial reveal, but the gameplay trailer above helped it grow on me a lot.