Return to Monkey Island is a critically-acclaimed sequel to the Monkey Island franchise, which prior to its release had been considered long-dead by many. The game revolves around the final adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate, and features several characters both new and returning.

The Android and iOS release of Return to Monkey Island was announced earlier this month, complete with pre-registrations for players who’d like to take their adventure games on the go.

Return to Monkey Island has seen quite a bit of success since its release last year, and while we don’t have precise sales figures, publisher Devolver Digital has described it as the fastest-selling game in the franchise.

For more details about Return to Monkey Island, check out our review.

Publisher Devolver Digital and developer Terrible Toybox have announced that Return to Monkey Island is headed to mobile devices. It will launch for iOS and Android on July 27, with pre-registrations now available on the App Store and Play Store. Check out the announcement trailer below to see it in action on mobile devices.

In our review of Return to Monkey Island upon its launch, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Given how easy it was for Return to Monkey Island to go disastrously wrong, it would very honestly be tempting to call it nothing short of a miracle that it is as amazing as it is- but honestly, that would be doing a disservice to Ron Gilbert and the team he’s assembled, and the incredible work and passion they’ve put on display here. They have all come together to deliver what mostly felt truly impossible at this point in time: a true, new, modern Monkey Island game, one that is so convincing at recreating the heights of the series’ heyday, it feels like that heyday never ended.” Read the full review through here.

Specific sales figures for Return to Monkey Island haven’t been revealed since its launch, though Devolver Digital announced in October last year that it was the fastest-selling game in the long-running adventure franchise.

Limited Run Games has announced that it’s bringing a physical release of Return to Monkey Island for all platforms the game is available on across three separate versions. In addition to a standard edition, it will also get the CollectARR’s Edition, a scrapbook, a golden key unique to each platform, and more.

Meanwhile, if you have the Monkey Island Anthology, you can also get an Anthology Upgrade Kit, which will include USB that comes with the game for PC, a golden key, and an O-sleeve that fits your Anthology box. Pre-orders for all versions will be live from January 20 to March 5.

In our review of Return to Monkey Island, we awarded it a score of 9/10, calling it “a true, new, modern Monkey Island game, one that is so convincing at recreating the heights of the series’ heyday, it feels like that heyday never ended.” Read the full review through here.

Return to Monkey Island is available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

The thrilling return of series creator Ron Gilbert that continues the story of the legendary adventure games.

Return to Monkey Island gets the Limited Run treatment on 1/20 with physical releases for Switch, PS5, Xbox & PC! Learn More + Wishlist: https://t.co/NJ1lTY8gEY pic.twitter.com/OSYWneOnZr

— Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) January 10, 2023

Finally, owners of the Monkey Island Anthology can complete their collection with an Anthology Upgrade Kit. Includes a USB loaded with the game for PC, a golden key & O-sleeve that fits your Anthology box.

Pre-orders run 1/20-3/5. Learn More + Wishlist: https://t.co/NJ1lTY7IPq pic.twitter.com/xXKNxADOBU

— Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) January 10, 2023

As the first new title in the series by original creator Ron Gilbert, the sequel is after the events of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. It follows protagonist Guybrush Threepwood several years later as he embarks on a journey to discover the Secret of Monkey Island. He’ll encounter familiar faces, travel to locations like Brr Muda, Terror Island, and Melee Island, and solve bizarre puzzles.

Return to Monkey Island is also available for Nintendo Switch and PC and has become the fastest-selling game in the series. It may also be the last title in the series, billed as the “thrilling conclusion.” Time will tell if that holds, so stay tuned and check out our official review here.

Having launched earlier this year, Return to Monkey Island, alongside marking the return of a decades-old franchise, also marks the return of one of the franchise’s creators, Ron Gilbert. The game has been critically acclaimed, as you can see from our review, and has even ended up as the fastest selling game in the franchise.

Return to Monkey Island is the sixth full game in the franchise. Taking place an indeterminate time after the events of Tales of Monkey Island, Return to Monkey Island is the sixth game in the franchise.

The game revolves around the protagonist—Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate—as he decides to uncover the legendary secret of Monkey Island once and for all. As is traditional for the series, hilarity ensues.

According to Stan S. Stanman, it’s the fastest-selling game in the series. While sales figures haven’t been provided, it may be tough to gauge them against previous titles, given the eras in which they were released. Nevertheless, it’s good news for developer Terrible Toybox (though more Monkey Island sequels seem unlikely).

Return to Monkey Island features Guybrush Threepwood as the protagonist, as players explore new and returning islands to discover the Secret of Monkey Island. The point-and-click gameplay of old returns, along with context-sensitive interactions and reactive dialogue trees. There’s even a hint system and Casual Mode for those who just want to enjoy the story. For more details, check out our review here.

Return to Monkey Island released one month ago today and Stan is proud to announce that it's the fastest selling game in the legendary series! pic.twitter.com/Kl8ZU15QYu

— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) October 19, 2022

Announced back in April, Return to Monkey Island also marks the return of one of the franchise’s creators, Ron Gilbert. It is worth noting that Return to Monkey Island seems to largely ignore the events of Curse of Monkey Island, Escape From Monkey Island, and Tales of Monkey Island. Rather, the game opts to pick up where Ron Gilbert left the franchise off with the (confusing) ending to Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge.

Gilbert has however also stated that the game will be careful in how it handles the series’ continuity, so it is possible that we might see some mention of the events from the third, fourth, and fifth games in the series.

The series features several returning names in development, including Dave Grossman returning to co-write the story, and Dominic Armato returning to lend his voice to protagonist Guybrush Threepwood.

Back in June, the official website for Return to Monkey Island indicated that the latest entry would also be the final game in the Monkey Island series.

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

A new mainline Monkey Island game coming out after so long would have been exciting enough in and of itself, but what makes Return to Monkey Island a particularly exciting prospect is the fact that a lot of the series’ original developers are working on it. Series creator Rob Gilbert, who directed the first two games, is leading the project, while Dave Grossman is the co-designer. The game’s soundtrack, meanwhile, is being composed by Michael Land, Peter McConnell, and Clint Bajakian, who all worked on previous Monkey Island games.

NEW ART STYLE

One of Return to Monkey Island’s most talked-about aspects since its announcement has been its art style. One look at the game is enough to tell you that clearly, it’s going for a very different visual style than what you might be used to from the series. Rex Crowle of Tearaway fame serves as the game’s artist, and has gone for a very different aesthetic. Interestingly, Ron Gilbert has said that a pixel art style was initially discussed, but the development team ultimately decided to go with something that players wouldn’t be expecting. He wrote in a post on his blog: “We didn’t want to make a retro game… I wanted to keep moving Monkey Island forward because it’s interesting, fun, and exciting. It’s what the Monkey Island games have always done. I wanted the art in Return to Monkey Island to be provocative, shocking, and not what everyone was expecting.”

SET AFTER MONKEY ISLAND 2

Let’s get to the really interesting stuff, because Return to Monkey Island is trying some very unique things with its story. It is the sixth Monkey Island game, but it’s set directly after the events of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, with the purpose being to finally properly resolve that cliffhanger and other plot threads from that game that still remain unresolved. That said, it doesn’t ignore the events of all the games that came after Monkey Island 2 (none of which the aforementioned Ron Gilbert was involved in). How it does that should be interesting to see, but Gilbert has provided some curious hints. Speaking with CNET, he said: “The ending of Monkey Island 2 had a huge cliffhanger. I never resolved it. Future games did their best but we wanted to tackle it head on. While Return to Monkey Island does start right after Monkey 2 ends, it’s not a ‘sequel’ to Monkey 2 either. It’s going to be a fun journey. It will be an e-ticket ride.”

SERIES CANON

Something that Gilbert has stressed on a number of occasions is the fact that Return to Monkey Island isn’t going to mess with the series’ canon– which, given the kind of series this is, shouldn’t come as a surprise. As mentioned earlier, even though Gilbert wasn’t involved in the games that came after Monkey Island 2, they are still going to remain part of the series’ canon, and in spite of serving as a sequel to Monkey Island 2, Return to Monkey Island is going to remain consistent with the events of the games that come after it in the series’ chronology.

SERIES CONCLUSION

Monkey Island is coming back after a long, long hiatus, but it looks like it isn’t coming back for long. For some time now, Rob Gilbert has spoken about wanting to come back and do the sequel to Monkey Island 2 that he always wanted to do, and properly bring the series’ story to a close. With Return to Monkey Island, that’s exactly what he and his fellow developers are doing. The game’s official website, in fact, very explicitly states that it’s going to be the final instalment in the Monkey Island series.

CHARACTERS

Given its narrative setup, it obviously follows that Return to Monkey Island will be bringing back a lot of the series’ most beloved and memorable characters. Series protagonist Guybrush Threepwood is returning, of course, as is zombie antagonist LeChuck. Guybrush obviously won’t be alone either, and his usual cohort Elaine Marley will be along for the journey once again. Hell, even the Demonic Talking Skull is returning. Better yet, all of these roles will be reprised by their original actors.

LOCATIONS

Guybrush is out to find the secret of Monkey Island at long last, and his journey in Return to Monkey Island is going to take him to a number of unique locations, both unique and familiar. Where the latter is concerned, we will, of course, be returning to locations like Melee Island and Monkey Island itself. As you might expect, the game will also feature a number of new islands, with two names that have been mentioned being Brr Muda and Terror Island.

GAMEPLAY

Like its predecessors, Return to Monkey Island is a classic point and click adventure title, which should tell you what to expect from its gameplay. The story and writing are the heart and soul of the experience here, but where actually playing the game is concerned, you can expect to spend the majority of your time picking up items and managing your inventory, solving puzzles, and talking to characters and picking dialogue choices.

MORE GAMEPLAY DETAILS

Return to Monkey Island is very much a traditional point and click game, but it does make several tweaks and improvements to polish the gameplay of its predecessors. That includes a new UI, some quality of life improvements (such as the inventory now using a drag and drop system), reactive dialogue trees, context sensitive actions, and more. The developers also say that the game’s user interface has ben designed so that it works well with both controllers and a keyboard and mouse setup.

HINT SYSTEM

An interesting concession that Return to Monkey Island is making for current audiences that its predecessors simply refused to make is featuring a Hint system. Those who’ve played the original Monkey Island titles (or really, any adventure game of that era) will be more than familiar with the feeling of getting spectacularly stuck on a puzzle and having no idea how to proceed. Speaking with Ars Technica, however, Ron Gilbert said that with the internet and an abundance of guides and walkthroughs, that doesn’t have the same effect anymore. As such, rather than having those unnecessary challenges, Return to Monkey Island will let you get hints on how to proceed- though interestingly, Gilbert has said they will make sense “in the fantasy” of the game’s world.

CASUAL MODE

Return to Monkey Island is also going to feature an easy mode, or a Casual mode, as it’s called in the game. For players who’re not looking for much of a challenge and would rather just focus on the story rather than having to play through challenging puzzles, Casual mode will simplify the puzzle-solving aspect. More than anything else, the developers say Casual mode is meant for those who aren’t too familiar with the genre.

PC REQUIREMENTS

Return to Monkey Island is launching for Nintendo Switch and PC, but if you plan on playing it on the latter, you’ll be glad to know that you should be able to run it easily- which isn’t surprising for a point and click adventure title. Recommended requirements for the game haven’t been released, but the minimum requirements are predictably modest. To run the game, you’ll need either an AMD FX-4300 or an Intel Core i3-3240, along with either a Radeon HD 7750 or a GeForce GT 640, as well as 8 GB of RAM, and 4 GB of storage.

At Gamescom Opening Night Live, the adventure title received another new trailer that confirmed a release date. Return to Monkey Island is due out in September, and the trailer does a typically excellent job of announcing that in classic Monkey Island fashion. Pre-ordering the game, funnily enough, will also get you access to free horse armour in the game- though it is good for absolutely nothing and cannot be used in the game for anything. All it will do is sit in your inventory. Check out the trailer below.

Return to Monkey Island is due out on September 19 for PC and Nintendo Switch.

An official website for Return to Monkey Island recently went up, and typically enough for the series in question, it’s an excellent website, brimming with gorgeous art, point-and-click goodness, fourth wall-breaking jokes, and what have you. The website also contains information on the game itself as well, obviously, and the overview section seems to confirm that this will be the last Monkey Island game.

“The exciting conclusion to the Monkey Island series marks the return of the iconic series’ creator Ron Gilbert, joined by game co-writer/designer Dave Grossman, art director Rex Crowle (Knights & Bikes, Tearaway) and composers Peter McConnell, Michael Land, and Clint Bajakian (Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge),” the website reads.

Of course, in spite of being the sixth overall instalment in the series, Return to Monkey Island will serve as a direct sequel to Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. Series creator and game director Ron Gilbert has said that in spite of that, the game will be very careful in how it handles the series’ continuity. How all of that is reconciled with this being the final game in the series should be quite interesting to see.

Thankfully, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. Return to Monkey Island will launch sometime later this year for Nintendo Switch and PC.