Return To Monkey Island Nintendo Switch Review
Return to Monkey Island, the latest adventure game from industry luminaries and game design geniuses Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, is a competent well-made thing, but it’s dripping with a brand of nostalgia-baiting that doesn’t do a ton for me personally. I’m happy it exists, but the pile of references woven into the story make this the worst place for newcomers to start with the series. That’s a curious choice for a sequel thirteen years removed from the last game.
I love the Monkey Island franchise. I encountered the first and second games as a kid in the nineties thanks to an adventure-game-obsessed friend who I still play online games with every Tuesday night. The third game, Curse of Monkey Island, is also a personal favorite, and I revisit all three of these installments every couple of years.
When I heard that Ron Gilbert was returning to the franchise to finally deal with the second installment’s legendary cliffhanger ending, I could not have been more excited. Unfortunately, while the final game that came out of this effort is decent, it’s more of a giant nostalgia tour than a “true” new entry in the series. And those that haven’t liked Gilbert’s other weird game endings probably won’t like the ending here either.
