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Return to Monkey Island gets a first gameplay trailer

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Return to Monkey Island, the continuation of the story from he Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge now has a first gameplay trailer. With a return of series creator Ron Gilbert and developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, it's certainly an exciting game to keep an eye on.

Today, Devolver Digital released the first trailer you can see below:

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About it:

It’s been many years since Guybrush Threepwood was last locked in a battle of wits with his nemesis, the zombie pirate LeChuck. His true love, Elaine Marley, has turned her focus away from governing and Guybrush himself is adrift and unfulfilled, having never found the Secret of Monkey Island. Hip, young pirate leaders led by Captain Madison have shuffled the old guard from power, Melee Island has taken a turn for the worse, and famed businessman Stan has been imprisoned for ‘marketing-related crimes’.

Banter with old friends and new faces on familiar islands now under dangerous new leadership. Then, take to the high seas and explore the new and unknown as you work your way out of tough predicaments. Clever puzzles, bizarre situations, and devastating ripostes are all that stand between Guybrush and glory.

We don't quite know what platforms it will be on yet as it's all "TBA" (to be announced).

You can follow it on Steam.

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46 comments
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Mr. Pinsky Jun 28, 2022
Quoting: fleskWhat is the spirit of MI1 and MI2 though?

It was more realistic. The landscapes, proportions of characters (e.g. proportion of head to body) and so on looked pretty real, although in a painterly rendering. The new art style is very cartoony and I would argue it is more similar in spirit to Day of the Tentacle, which always had that super goofy cartoon style.

For illustration, compare the proportion between their head and their legs in these images:

Smoke39 Jun 28, 2022
Quoting: fleskI think nostalgia is the primary reason why everyone's being so critical of this new style.
Or, y'know, they just don't like it. I have no nostalgia for the franchise and I think it looks like ass. You can disagree, but stop using this fallacious argument to try to invalidate anyone who feels differently than you.
flesk Jun 28, 2022
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Quoting: TheSHEEEP
Quoting: fleskI think nostalgia is the primary reason why everyone's being so critical of this new style.
Ehrm, no.
I would see the same art style just as critical in any other game.
The reason it's so bad has very little to do with the game it is used for. It's just not a good choice of art style for anything, really.
That's just your opinion, and not the factual truth you make it out to be. We obviously disagree, but that's a meaningless refutal.

Quoting: TheSHEEEPAnd the reason you see so much backlash is because a lot of people actually care about Monkey Island. If it wasn't so, the game would with 90% certainty just silently die.
I don't think "divide your fanbase with a truly odd art style" is a great idea, no way how you look at it.
I don't think it's possible to make a sequel to a 30 year old franchise without dividing your fanbase though ("truly odd art style" is also just opinion). When Double Fine Adventure was announced as a classic point-and-click adventure, lots of people were disappointed because it turned out it wouldn't utilize pixel art, have a verb menu, and many other reasons which defined a classic point-and-click adventure for them. It's great that a lot of people care about Monkey Island (I do too), but I don't think a new art style is going to ruin the new Monkey Island unless that exact old art style was what made the originals for you.

Quoting: TheSHEEEP
Quoting: fleskWhat is the spirit of MI1 and MI2 though? If it's the exact art style of the originals, then neither Curse, Escape nor Tales are true to their spirit; all having distinctly different art styles. And, if you ask me, not even MI1 and MI2 share the same art style, as MI2 has a more "painterly" style, although they look similar by today's standards.
All of them utilized a comic-book-like art style, with 1 and 2 being a bit more on the "realistic" or "painted" look, 3 going full-on comic and 4 also trying to go for comic, albeit with little success due to being early age 3D.
Same style that the vast majority of point & click games from that era used, really.

Whatever this is, is nowhere near comic book.
It's a lot closer to a pop-up book for kids meets tumblr paired with cubism. Guybrush has rectangles for ears and LeChuck's face is a triangle, ffs!
I agree that MI1 and MI2 have a more realistic look than all of the other games, including this one, but that all of them except this one utilize a comic-book-like art style sounds absurd to me. There are hundreds, or even thousands, different comic-book art styles, so that this specific game falls outside of that definition in your opinion tells me that either you've read very few comics (which for some absurd reason resembled the styles of these very distinct games), or you're just making that up for the sake of argument. Even pop-up books for kids have wildly different art styles, so that just comes off as a stab at this game for no particular reason other than that you, personally (and others of course) don't like the art style.
flesk Jun 28, 2022
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Quoting: Mr. Pinsky
Quoting: fleskWhat is the spirit of MI1 and MI2 though?

It was more realistic. The landscapes, proportions of characters (e.g. proportion of head to body) and so on looked pretty real, although in a painterly rendering. The new art style is very cartoony and I would argue it is more similar in spirit to Day of the Tentacle, which always had that super goofy cartoon style.

For illustration, compare the proportion between their head and their legs in these images:


Yes, that's true.

Quoting: Smoke39
Quoting: fleskI think nostalgia is the primary reason why everyone's being so critical of this new style.
Or, y'know, they just don't like it. I have no nostalgia for the franchise and I think it looks like ass. You can disagree, but stop using this fallacious argument to try to invalidate anyone who feels differently than you.

I've used the argument once, and clearly expressed it as opinion, although "everyone" was probably unnecessary hyperbole. Apologies if I offended anyone. I also have no issue with people thinking it looks like ass, as long as they don't claim it as factual truth.


Last edited by flesk on 28 June 2022 at 9:52 pm UTC
Phlebiac Jun 29, 2022
I seem to remember reading that the voice actor from previous games was returning for this one, and Wikipedia says as much:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Armato

But in the trailer, he sounds different from what I remember; is it just me?
Purple Library Guy Jun 29, 2022
Quoting: PhlebiacI seem to remember reading that the voice actor from previous games was returning for this one, and Wikipedia says as much:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Armato

But in the trailer, he sounds different from what I remember; is it just me?
He's quite a bit older, I suppose he could sound different just because of that.
Salvatos Jun 29, 2022
Quoting: fleskI think nostalgia is the primary reason why everyone's being so critical of this new style.
Nah, I just don’t like the weird geometry and flatness, especially on characters (the backgrounds don’t really bother me). If it were any other game I’d probably ignore it after a glance at the art style, but because it’s MI I’ll just suck it up. So, pretty much the opposite of being overly critical of it because of nostalgia.
TheSHEEEP Jun 29, 2022
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Quoting: flesk("truly odd art style" is also just opinion)
No, it is not.
Here's the definition of the word odd:
different to what is usual or expected; strange.

I'd say that is objectively true here.
Unless, of course, you can show me the dozens or hundreds of games in that genre utilizing that cubism look that would make it appear less "unusual or unexpected".

Quoting: fleskI don't think it's possible to make a sequel to a 30 year old franchise without dividing your fanbase though
That's certainly true.
But the question is where you draw that division line.
For stuff like a verb menu, I'd say you wouldn't even lose 5% - the vast majority of modern "classic" point & click adventure games don't have that, either. It was always a matter of game limitation, in contrast to a deliberate art style.
But this? Very clearly from relevant comments and even like/dislike ratios on official videos, the division line is much closer to 50% than 5%. Because of its oddness. That's not some vocal minority.
With roughly a 1/3 division of "I like the art style", "I don't like the art style, but looking forward to the game anyway" and "I don't like the art style (no or negative comment on purchase plans)".
That you even have so many comments of the 2nd category proves that the art style was not a good choice - if you define good by "the target audience likes it".


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 29 June 2022 at 6:54 am UTC
stylon Jun 29, 2022
Was initially excited to hear about this but in all honesty the art style has completely killed any enthusiasm I had for it. It simply looks horrendous. Call me shallow but having started out with these games on my Amiga 500 I have a preconception of what Guybrush and his compatriots should look like and this doesn't come close. Really can't see me getting past this either which is a shame.


Last edited by stylon on 29 June 2022 at 12:32 pm UTC
kokoko3k Jun 29, 2022
I wonder what were they thinking.
The principal audience of this game are the players that enjoyed the first gilbert chapters.
But this is gonna be a constant punch in their faces.
Is is not just the art style per se, but the lacking of the attention to details, the characters depersonalization.
Pixel art doesn't mean low resolution only.
It means that every single pixel is important, because there are not so many, so the artist is forced to pay attention to every single point of his work; making a single mistake for a single pixel has a big impact, not to mention animations!
What we have here? A bunch of flat textured polygons rotating and morphing.
The characters have been completely stripped from their personality, from ANY personality.
Why not take a vocaloid and do the voices too?
I will play it, but that punch in my face will constantly hurt.


Last edited by kokoko3k on 29 June 2022 at 5:26 pm UTC
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