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I took my time to come back to a Monkey Island game. I started late for this series, playing just the second “Le Chuck’s revenge” and third “Curse” in the late 90s (and liking them) and then playing the fourth one “Escape” in the early 2000s (and not liking it) I thought that was enough for me, they were good games but I was not that much of a fan nor interested in keep playing them forever. I skipped the next game from Telltale in 2009.
Back in 2022, I heard of Ron Gilbert taking back the series and doing a new game “Return” following his depart from the series after the second game so that was something, but I have to admit that when first checking the screenshots of the game and seeing the new art style I wasn’t too much into it. I knew that most of the original voice cast was returning, so that was good, and having Ron Gilbert probably would lead to good writing once again, but I didn’t jump to play it on first chance in 2022.
Now that I finally played it in 2025 I can happily say that it was worth it.
First, the art style which was really hard on the eyes at first, was really easy to get used to after a while, but most importantly, it lends itself to a new and better way to experience a monkey island game in the 2020s.
What we “perceived” as animation in our computers in the 1990s with “pixel 2d art” from the first two games, was not really expressing as such, but the result was something that maybe we compared with cartoons at the time. But the result was something else, it was the way that those first few games expressed themselves as vividly and full of life as possible (as possible as it can be with a game that came in just a few floppy disks and didn’t have the luxury of modern pcs).
Later, Curse of Monkey Island in the late 90s, did achieve that “cell animation” partially with more powerful computers and more space on your 1990s CDs, it looked great as a cartoon from the 1990s, but the truth be told, it didn’t feel exactly like the previous two games... Then 3D monkey island came and, well, let’s just say it didn’t age well.
Now, this Monkey Island has the same feeling (or at least one that is especially close to) the old games from the 1990s. But instead of having 2D pixel art it has this new art style, which it is hard to explain but once you see it in action and play it, not only you get used to it in terms of “how it looks” but also you realize that the animation and the movement works really well in a way that other art styles would probably fail to express (in the same way). This results in this game being funny again, but not in “Cartoonish funny” way but more in a cheeky, introvert, shy (and ridiculous) way of funny. It really is the monkey island kind of funny. Its understated, it’s not on your face either. Its almost like it’s shy of not being funny, but it does it anyway.
At least that’s how I see it. The humor in these games, it’s an understated thing.
The story in this last game its probably more functional to the gameplay and the humor than anything, but it does show us an evolution of the “adventure” game and in a way, (if you go really deep) what it means to play games. This one will definitely hit different if you played some of the first games, but it can still be an enjoyable game to anyone who is new to the series, although I struggle to imagine how much interest someone who never played the series would have for this game organically.
In any case, if there’s one game that earned the right to be made (probably) and being only interesting to people that played the previous ones, and not really trying to appeal to everyone, it certainly is this one.
In the end, I’m really glad that I played Return to Monkey Island. It doesn’t have anything new to tell in terms of story, or game play, but the understated humor is there, the art style and the animation works on point, the writing is sharp, and the reflections on what adventure means holds a special place, in my heart, and probably for anyone who ever played an adventure game.
This “Secret” review ©2025 Aleena.