As one could, should, and would, IGN has dedicated the week leading up to Return to Monkey Island to… well, just that. Monkey Island. So far, we’ve seen an interview and, possibly more interesting, the scrapbook in action. (IGN apparently doesn’t allow embedding videos anymore, so follow that link.) Gotta love that lush music.
Keep watching IGN for more the rest of the week—and we might have a couple of things up our sleeves ourselves.
Sales aren't usually newsworthy anymore, but Terrible Toybox is marking some game that they've made about some monkeys or whatever's release in a few days by slapping a big ol' 75% discount sticker on their last outing, 2017's Thimbleweed Park—a historical low, in the parlance of the Internet. The existential critical darling can be yours for $4.99 on Steam (but not, apparently, GOG).
It's true: Guybrush didn't turn in the evidence for all three tasks , and thus he is not a pirate. Will this play a part in ReMI? We will see in a week.
Update: And for the days long gone, here are all the #MonkeyIslandMonday videos gathered into one super cut:
Some may be all about Indy at D23, but for those of us who are not Jason, there is also some ReMI information:
That's right, the scrapbook is revealed in all its glory!
And so not to repeat myself...
Hey, it's a theory.
Ars might claim their ReMI interview is mostly free of spoilers, but I will politely disagree. They might not be huge spoilers, but big enough to give me a couple of huh moments. Which is to say: This Ars Technica article is quite good if you're not allergic to spoilers. Otherwise, stay away.
Just that:
I won't editorialize the dialogue -- actually, I will: it's chef's kiss -- but interestingly we do get close-ups, and awesome they look, too. Two weeks left.
A lot went down at PAX in Seattle over the weekend, and as you may have gleaned if you’re one of those social media types, good times were had by all who attended. As with Gamescom last week, an elaborate booth devoted to Return to Monkey Island – a wooden replica of the High Street of Mêlée Island – was on hand for photo opportunity and general shock and awe:
This time, the team was also in the hall for fans and press to mingle with, and the panels were evidently no slouch either: You may have caught the livestream of the expo’s much-touted gathering of influential old people, otherwise known as “Adventure Game Heroes & Legends.” Moderated by Frank Cifaldi, the hour-and-a-half-long conversation featured Ron, Ken Williams, Roberta Williams, Al Lowe, Dave Gilbert and Jane Jenson. If you weren’t tuning in live, you can find it archived below:
As for ReMI-specific coverage, so far there’s a pay-walled interview with Ron from Rock Paper Shotgun (what the hell, guys), and presumably more to come, but you’ll probably find the real gold on the developers’ Twitter accounts. Highlights include the ReMI team photo (probably the first time many of them were physically together since the game got started), the starstruck gushing of Neil, Druckmann, and hands-down the event’s best T-shirt.
The benevolent madness was said to have culminated in a ReMI wrap party, which Mojo may have technically attended by abstraction if the rumors (or, you know, photo evidence) that Jake weaseled his way past the bouncer are true. I’m getting the light here, so in closing I’ll steer two interviews out of Gamescom that we'd overlooked your way: one from publication Heis Online (original German here; English translation here), and another from Hobbyconsolas (original Spanish here; English translation here).
Those of you who didn’t have the spending money to hit PAX should have plenty of material from the expo (occurring as we speak) to look forward to soon. Even ahead of it, though, the ReMI press tour sailed on with a new interview from webzine GamersGlobal featuring Ron, Dave and Rex. The article is in German, the official language of adventure games, but here’s an excerpt from Google’s loose English translation:
GamersGlobal: In Return to Monkey Island you didn't just make decisions about the graphics that maybe not everyone likes. For example, the new part is not a sequel that takes over all the decisions and events of the predecessors. One or the other should be difficult for the fans to swallow.
Ron Gilbert: I don't think that's true. In other words, there were already a number of discrepancies between the previous parts. One of the first things Dave and I talked about in the beginning was which part of the canon we were going to follow and which part we weren't going to. Because a lot of the Monkey Island canon came from a time when Dave and I were no longer responsible for the games. We do not agree with all ideas. Others are clear fan favorites, like Guybrush and Elaine's wedding. While I personally feel that this should never have happened, I am against this marriage - but we cannot seriously backtrack and undo it. We briefly considered whether they might be divorced in our part. Or if they could never have married. But we quickly dismissed that. Fans love the idea that they got married. There is no turning back.
Another example would be: I never understood why Guybrush should be afraid of china. Serious? But we said what the heck, we won't deal with that. Dave summed it up very well: You ignore canon whenever it gets in the way of storytelling. So we respect canon as much as we can, but if it gets in our way... we don't hit it or anything, but we just don't pay it any attention at that point.
Though the noun came out the other end of the AI as “china,” one ascertains that Ron isn’t the biggest fan of the porcelain joke, and thus this trait of Guybrush’s will be censored in ReMI, which is just how Ron rolls.
There’s more great stuff in the interview, including the surprisingly open-ended position Ron takes on the series’ future (Relevant: Beloved, you-thought-he-was-dead community member Captain Mystery has triumphantly returned to notice that the descriptor “conclusion” has been artfully expunged from ReMI promotional spiels), so do read the full article for maximum cognizance of all Monkey tidbits.
Source: GamersGlobal
Close your eyes if you’re allergic to spoilers, courtesy of Dave…
For the rest of us? At this point, I’m going to hold my tongue in respect to those who want to go into the game blind-ish. But man, this looks good.
We finally have a release date for Return to Monkey Island: September 19, 2022 (formally known as International Talk Like a Pirate Day).
Further more, pre-orders are now open (or will be soon): And, a special pre-order bonus, you'll get a completely useless and inconsequential piece of Horse Armor added to your inventory. Joy.
So, what are you waiting for? Get pre-ordering. Update: For Switch, too!
Another update: The Steam preorder is for both PC and Mac -- purchase one and you'll get the other. Also, the horse armor is truly real, so... who knows what that's all about?!
GamesCom "Open Night Live" is due to begin livestreaming imminently, with some promised "big news" regarding Return to Monkey Island. Will it be a new trailer? The much-hoped for release date? Or a surprise April fools double bluff: The game was never coming all along!
Watch on tenterhooks here: http://openingnightlive.com
Or just click PLAY below:
Well, today’s #MonkeyIslandMonday did not disappoint: You get an updated version of The SCUMM Bar theme with an iMuse-like effect, and a glimpse of the interface. For the latter, it looks like we get a glimpse of Guybrush’s inner monologue, too.
The gamescom event takes place tomorrow—we’ll see what it has to bring. Release date? One can hope.
It’s a funny pun, apparently. “Monkey around.” Thirty years on, it’s still the pun du jour when writing about Monkey Island, with PC Gamer UK jumping on the bandwagon. The print magazine’s October issue will, as it seems, feature Return to Monkey Island prominently:
This month, we’re chatting to Ron Gilbert about the sequel that was never supposed to exist. The old Monkey Island team has a new perspective, from evolving its art style to modernising the point-and-click style of gameplay. What exactly is the plan for our dear Guybrush Threepwood all these years later? Monkey Island fans are in for a treat with the subscriber cover too, featuring gorgeous art of Guybrush’s favourite zombie pirate pal LeChuck.
Oh yeah, that cover…
… may very well be worth the price of admission alone. Chef’s kiss.
First of all: Do not watch the video if you’re allergic to spoilers. They’re minor, but they’re there. In fact, stop reading if you want to play the game with fresh eyes, as I have some ramblings below the video.
So…
There, just some observations of a fifty-second video that concludes today’s editorializing.
Look, this is beyond a longshot, but Reddit claims to have it, Return to Monkey Island’s release date: September 1st.
Take this with a BIG PINCH OF SALT: in Devolver Digital official website, the code of the page for Return to Monkey Island contains a block of structured data with information on the game.
There are two date "keys":
"date_override" : "Coming 2022" (which is what appears in the page to users)
"date" : "2022-09-01T12:00:00.000Z"
The Redditor goes on to speculate that it’s a placeholder, which... is likely.
Mojo, meanwhile, generally leans toward the more plausible Talk Like a Pirate Day: September 19th.
Update! A quick scan of a couple of Devolver's other upcoming games suggests they default to the first of the (presumed) release month. E.g. Skate Story has April 1st, 2023 set as "date" and "date_override" to "Coming 2023." Reigns: Three Kingdoms' "date" is December 1st, 2022 and "date_override" is "Coming 2022."
Geoff Keighley took to Twitter to announce gamescom will feature a “brand new” look at Return to Monkey Island on August 23rd, 11 am PDT.
What “brand new” means is anyone’s guess, but as Ronzo is involved, it should probably be interesting.
And, for your convenience, Mojo has an easy-to-tap-and-add calendar entry for you. Be reminded with no hassle to you—that’s the Mojo way of life!
Adjusted for inflation, $20 from 1990 would be roughly $45, which is a roundabout way to say that this is a good deal:
$25 for Return to Monkey Island? Granted, it isn’t official yet, but with Mojo’s stellar past with Brazilian hackers, we will just go ahead and trust this one, too.
Thanks to The Legend of Monkey Island for the heads up!
Here we go, then: Neo LeChuck:
To editorialize: I like it! Boen-esque yet with an individual spin. Suitable to the character. Very LeChuck. As for the blah-ing: If I were a betting man, I wouldn′t be surprised if, in the final game, the VO would fade into the background as we regain control of the game.
And that LeChuck′s Revenge-style music. Chef′s kisses all around.
Update! Sources have confirmed to Mojo that LeChuck is voiced by the prolific Jess Harnell. (The source being a Tweet from Ronzo.)
I mean, who knows exactly what’s going on, other than it looks like Mojo’s last Festivus party.
And sorry, no release date, yet.
It's all in this tweet:
The correct answer is clearly "monkey6.exe", but I can be a good sport and carry on the fiction of democracy by encouraging you to cast a vote yourself.
Source: Twitter