Game news Return to Monkey Island: The “Avengers of point & click” are back
Suddenly, like a spitting contest that would start without warning, Lucasfilm Games, Devolver and Terrible Toybox have just announced the return of the Monkey Island series, more than ten years following the last installment. Above all, it is the original team that is at the helm this time, to take us more than ever to the borders of humor and the absurd. Why is it cult and why is it such a long-awaited return?
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990)
There are things that don’t change. So when Ron Gilbert, creator of the famous license Monkey Islandannouncement on Twitter a “little something” on which he has been working for two years – and which players have been waiting for for thirty years – we find the humor of the man and that of the offbeat piracy saga which made him known. The announcement is Return to Monkey Islandwhich this year will mark the return of the cult universe inaugurated by Lucasfilm Games in 1990, but above all the comeback of Gilbert himself at the controlsaccompanied by a good part of the original team, notably on the soundtrack and the dubbing. “This return is a bit of a double event” notes Jean-Kléber Lauret, head of high-tech section at JV and fan of the series. “Gilbert left Lucasfilm Games following the second opus (…) whose end is really weird, very cheeky”.
Thirty years without an answer
For the beauty of the show, we are not going to reveal the end of Monkey Island 2. Note only that on the one hand, it is ultra-perched, but on the other, it takes on its full meaning within the series’ particular humor. A humor of course developed initially by Ron Gilbert himself, but also Tim Schafer (founder of the famous studio Double Fine, Psychonauts, Brütal Legend) and a certain Dave Grossman, who will also be part of Return to Monkey Island. “It’s a writing that is post-modern” summarizes Nicolas Deneschau, author of “Mysteries of Monkey Island” published by Third Editions, which we had by telephone. “Monkey Island is the kind of game where you’re going to have a spitting contest or a character who’s going to get a drink from a vending machine while he’s a pirate”. The key word is often anachronism.
Obviously, the other episodes of Monkey Island will rely on this particular humor, with a rather honorable success. The last part of the adventures of the hero Guybrush Threepwood released in 2009, a series of five chapters developed by the studio Telltale Games (Wolf Among Us, Walking Dead) in collaboration with LucasArts – the name of the company changes between 1991 and 2013 -, harvests a comfortable 86/100 on Metacritic. Yet none of the sequels expand on the surprising ending of Monkey Island 2. “After this episode, the devs tried to juggle Gilbert’s legacy” emphasizes Nicolas Deneschau. Return to Monkey Island is therefore the promise of an answer to this hilarious finale. A final that Gilbert had never had the opportunity to explain, following his departure from Lucasfilm Games in 1991, despite his foot calls to Disney who owns the license rights. The time and support from the Devolver editor, who was already responding here in 2019, seem to have done the rest.
“Avengers du point & click”
But that’s not the only reason to be excited. “For fans of this golden age of adventure games, (Return to Monkey Island – editor’s note) it’s a bit the reformation of the Avengers or the Justice League from point and click” affirms for his part Pierre-Eric Salard, expert of LucasArts / Lucasfilm Games and manager of a page Twitter on the subject, which we also contacted. Because beyond being a funny and entertaining game, the first Monkey Island marks above all a turning point for the genre. “Before him, adventure games weren’t really mainstream” explains Nicolas Deneschau. “But in 1989, Ron Gilbert wrote this article, “Why Adventure Games Suck” (“why adventure games suck” – editor’s note) where he theorizes a certain number of rules that he will apply in Monkey Island”.
Ron Gilbert is a special guy, a passionate computer scientist who still spends hours coding at home today, and who has a certain intelligence regarding the gaming world. He wants to be nicknamed “Grumpy Gamer” (“the grumpy player”) – Nicolas Deneschau, author of “Mysteries of Monkey Island”
Gilbert and Lucasfilm Games’ baby puts quite a bit in place to make life easier for the gamer. Starting with these few words, “my name is Guybrush Threepwood and I would like to become a pirate”, the first ones that we hear at the beginning of the very first Monkey Island in 1990. The goal: clearly explain the issues to which the player will have to comply. The title then continues on three tests to be done in any order – an originality for the time – in order to convince the council of pirates and join their rank. Hard to be less clear. “Monkey Island is a bit like the school of game design, like the first level Super Mario Bros. It is something very didactic (…) A milestone of the adventure game” summarizes Nicolas Deneschau. Same story with Jean-Kléber Lauret: “Ron Gilbert practically invented the modern language of point and click”.
The Secret of Monkey Island (Jeu original de 1990)
Back from the dead
Despite initially being more than a commercial success, the first Monkey Island will slowly but surely initiate the adventure game revolution. Still today, it is considered as a reference. Notably at Neil Druckmann, creative director and co-president of Naughty Dog (Uncharted, The Last of Us) who even went so far as to slip secrets related to the series into the very serious Uncharted 4. For the players, enthusiasm is also in order. “I fell in love with Monkey Island. His universe, his music, his devastating humor” tell us Grimh_HS, on Twitter. The videographer Super Duckfor his part, speaks of a game that “enchanted his imagination”.
Suffice to say that the excitement of reuniting with Guybrush Threepwood, especially with the original team at the helm, is more than palpable. But Return to Monkey Island, “It’s also a huge turning point for Lucasfilm Games” explains Pierre-Eric Salard. “When LucasArts was closed in 2013 (…) Lucasfilm only kept a small internal department managing the license (Star Wars – editor’s note). Return to Monkey Island represents a return to the essence of LucasArts, even if it is not developed in-house. This is an adventure game taken from their best-known original license, developed by the creators of the original games. And above all, it’s an island (of monkeys) in the middle of a Star Wars ocean, which demonstrates that they are finally trying to reconnect with the other part of their audience”. Raise the anchor, sailor.
Return to Monkey Island (Scheduled for release in 2022)
By IndeeJournalist jeuxvideo.com
MP
