I think Return is the BEST Monkey Island game

[Based Jar Jar Enjoyer]

I had an amazing time with the game, absolutely loved it from beginning to end.

Story

Once again it's a fun adventure. I feel like with Secret they were very limited by how big they could make a game, and Revenge felt a bit disjointed at times, but Return was a great evolving story. I'm glad Elaine was a bit more actively involved in the plot than in the first two games, too.

Puzzles

I understand people who are disappointed because they wanted more elaborate weird puzzles of old, but personally I'm older and I have less time to game. I'm in there for the atmosphere and humour, not to be stuck at one puzzle for hours. It hit exactly the right spot for me of not that difficult, not trivial.

Voice cast

I just want to add it here since I've seen multiple people mentioning their displeasure with LeChuck's new voice actor, that I thought he was great at making the character his own. I loved this iteration of LeChuck, Guybrush was brilliantly voiced as usual, and they had a great supporting cast.

Humour

Just as great as the first two games, with the bonus of being able to call back stuff across decades of games. There were several times the game gave me a laughing fit, like Guybrush throwing his disguise eyepatch in the air, or the Secret.

Art

The screenshots and trailer don't do the art justice, once I actually was playing the art/direction felt great, like I was playing a cartoon. Personally I am of the opinion that every Monkey Island game having a totally different art style from all previous games is tradition now, and this was a great art style that really fit the mood of the game. People who call it "bland, sterile, corporate" need to get glasses, or a dictionary, because while it's fine to dislike the art and I get it if you don't agree with me that it's great art, but the art is none of those three words.

Ending

To people who didn't like the ending: what did you expect? The first two Monkey Island games, especially the second one gave you an anticlimax ending too. The ending was always going to be weird. Personally, I was expecting a Monty Python And The Holy Grail, with Guybrush being arrested for his crimes. Having this game explain Revenge's twist ending, only to do it AGAIN was hilarious, and the Secret being a shirt was genious - I've even heard an NPC actually spoil this near the start of the game in optional dialogue. And hey, nothing lost - afterwards at the park it's immediately made clear that the ending we saw wasn't the ending proper, it's just how Guybrush is telling it now. There was dome sort of final confrontation, and Guybrush prevailed - it's just not important, because the hero always prevails anyway. It was about the journey, not the goal. Personally, I loved it.

Length

I finished this game at more than eleven hours, more than what I needed for my first time with the first two games put together (and I was stuck less in this game than in Revenge). I love it, the game gave me a lot of bang for my buck, and I'm definitely replaying soon if not right away to look into the stuff that I missed because I have less than half of the achievements (I don't care for achievement completion and only go for 100% for games that I really, REALLY enjoyed, and I enjoyed Return more than enough to take a look at what I missed).

Conclusion

Everything clicked with this game. Its bigger size, pleasing art, cool story and great humour made it a great mix and an excellent game. I loved it. If this is the end of the franchise, I'm okay with it, but hopefully it does well enough for Disney to want to contract Gilbert for another game or two.

[El Botijo]

Originally posted by Space Sphere:

Originally posted by Gobyfly:

I agree, i want MI 4 SOON. Very soon like before christmas !

I'd love another Monkey Island by Ron Gilbert but as far as I know, before the release of this one he just said he wanted to make "his" third game. Hopefully it's not the end of the franchise though, seeing as this one was pretty successful (according to Devolver it was the fastest selling Monkey Island game ever), that should make it clear to the copyright holders that there's money in this.

I do not agree with this sentiment. I prefer if Monkey Island stays as it is. Sure, this game is different with this metaplay on the original developer going back to a beloved series of games. Reminded me of what Deponia Doomsday, the fourth game in the series, told the player. The third game had a proper ending for a trilogy, something I will not spoil. It was kind of absolute ending, no more causing mischief in Deponia is possible anymore. How come there is a fourth game? Time travel. It uses this gimmick to tell that the previous story is finished, that it is a good ending, and that altering it is going to make things worse. You can enjoy the game but it has a similar message as the ending of Return to Monkey Island.
Let me switch mediums to cinema. You probably heard about this popular movie called Matrix. Movie has an ending although it was kind of open. Two more movies were produced. Story is complete at the end of the third movie, conflict is resolved, agent Smith the baddie is dealt with. No cliffhangers, no open ending either. Many years later we get a new movie and many people did not like it. It undoes some critical character development, places older actors doing similar thing as on the first movie and is kind of meh regarding the plot.
Is that what you want? More of the same, stretched too thin?

[Based Jar Jar Enjoyer]

Originally posted by El Botijo:

Originally posted by Space Sphere:

I'd love another Monkey Island by Ron Gilbert but as far as I know, before the release of this one he just said he wanted to make "his" third game. Hopefully it's not the end of the franchise though, seeing as this one was pretty successful (according to Devolver it was the fastest selling Monkey Island game ever), that should make it clear to the copyright holders that there's money in this.

I do not agree with this sentiment. I prefer if Monkey Island stays as it is. Sure, this game is different with this metaplay on the original developer going back to a beloved series of games. Reminded me of what Deponia Doomsday, the fourth game in the series, told the player. The third game had a proper ending for a trilogy, something I will not spoil. It was kind of absolute ending, no more causing mischief in Deponia is possible anymore. How come there is a fourth game? Time travel. It uses this gimmick to tell that the previous story is finished, that it is a good ending, and that altering it is going to make things worse. You can enjoy the game but it has a similar message as the ending of Return to Monkey Island.
Let me switch mediums to cinema. You probably heard about this popular movie called Matrix. Movie has an ending although it was kind of open. Two more movies were produced. Story is complete at the end of the third movie, conflict is resolved, agent Smith the baddie is dealt with. No cliffhangers, no open ending either. Many years later we get a new movie and many people did not like it. It undoes some critical character development, places older actors doing similar thing as on the first movie and is kind of meh regarding the plot.
Is that what you want? More of the same, stretched too thin?

I wouldn't say it's necessarily stretched too thin.

Deponia: haven't played it, can't comment on it.

Matrix 4: I liked it, and I prefer it as an ending over the ending of Matrix 3. Let's also not forget that Matrix 3 was pretty badly received back in its day, much worse than Matrix 4 was. Matrix 4 is not a divisive movie after a well received trilogy, Matrix 4 is a divisive movie after a trilogy that most people agreed ended in a stinker. (Personally I rewatched 2 and 3 for the first time since they were in cinemas before watching 4, and I actually like both more now.)

Monkey Island: I'd say that the ending of this game actually invites more stories. Apparently the whole game, and indeed previous games, is actually Guybrush telling embellished stories. To me, that means you can keep telling stories in this setting. There's no necessary "arc", they can be just fun pirate adventure comedies. We have the Gilbert trilogy now, but we already have three Monkey Island games made by other people and I don't see why that would need to stop.

I'd like to add another recent positive example: the movie Prey, the latest in the Predator franchise - a franchise which has shifted directors about as much as Monkey Island. Many people seem to be in agreement that Prey is a very good movie, at least better than any Predator movie except the first, to some actually including the first. More Predator doesn't need to be a bad thing, just like more Monkey Island doesn't need to be a bad thing - it's just a matter of finding someone with good ideas for the franchise who can deliver another title.

[rec]

Just reading through some old posts here, and wanted to chime in with agreement. I’ve recently replayed them all, except for the abomination that is Escape that I have no interest in.

With nostalgic rose tinted glasses, there’s no topping Secret of Monkey Island for me, but trying to apply some objectivity, this is the MI GOAT. Hopefully it’s not the last!