This article is part of a directory: Return to Monkey Island: Complete Guide & Walkthrough
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Much like its many predecessors, Return to Monkey Island is chock-full of puzzles, ensuring that players spend just as much time thinking as they do pointing and clicking. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, many of these puzzles can be found on the game's titular island, which is where players find themselves during the game's third act.

RELATED: The Best Puzzles in Monkey Island Games (& How to Solve Them)

Their main objective while on Monkey Island is to decrypt the map that leads to the island's secret. To do so, they'll first need to uncover three pieces of LeChuck's personal information; these being his theme song, his catchphrase, and his favorite food. They'll then be able to use this information to help Lila to perform a ritual to decrypt the map and reveal its hidden secret.

How to Decrypt the Map to the Secret of Monkey Island

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By the time they've completed the first half of Return to Monkey Island's third part, players will know LeChuck's theme song (Do, Do, Mi, Sol, Fa, Fa, Re), his catchphrase (Brandish the seven bilges!) and his favorite food (Tentacles with daisy sauce) and should also have a portion of the latter in their inventory. With that in mind, they'll have almost everything that they need in order to perform Lila's ritual.

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In fact, there's a good chance that players will have already found the six skulls that are scattered around Monkey Island, in which case, they can make their way straight over to the giant monkey head to get started. If not, they'll need to explore the island a little more until they have found them all. For those struggling to find them, the locations of the six skulls are as follows:

  1. On the far left side of the Beach where players first arrive.
  2. On a rock to the left of the entrance to the Giant Monkey Head area.
  3. Near the water's edge in the Volcano Beach area.
  4. Underwater to the left of LeChuck's ship's anchor.
  5. On the beach in the Shipwreck area.
  6. On the right-hand side of the rock plateau in the Up to see the view area.
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Whenever they're ready to begin the ritual, players should make their way to the giant monkey head and begin placing skulls on the spikes to the left and right of Murray and then pick up the nearby Arm Bone. This can then be used to conk the skulls, with each one making a distinct sound when hit, allowing Guybrush to use them to play LeChuck's theme song.

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It's worth noting that the sounds shown in the image above are tied to the skulls themselves rather than the spikes that they're placed on, so players will need to keep this in mind. To play the theme song, they should hit the skull on the far left (Do) twice, followed by the skull on the far right (Mi). Next, they'll need to conk the skull that's second from the right (Sol) before hitting Murray (Fa) twice. Finally, they can finish up by hitting the skull to the right of Murray (Re).

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After playing the theme song, players will need to select LeChuck's catchphrase (Brandish the seven bilges!) from the options provided and then take a bite of the Tentacles with daisy sauce that Putra prepared earlier by selecting the "Okay..." dialog option. The map will then reveal its secrets, which causes an earthquake right across the Caribbean. Following a short cut-scene, the map will have vanished and the three pirate leaders will turn on Guybrush.

How to Escape From Monkey Island

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Over the next few minutes, a few things will happen. First, the pirate leaders will throw both Guybrush and Murray off a cliff. After that, LeChuck and Iron Rose will make an appearance, though, after mocking a badly injured Guybrish for a few moments, the pair leave in order to hunt down the secret. Finally, Guybrush's wife Elaine will show up and soon finds Murray in some nearby foliage.

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For once, Guybrush is actually happy to see the talking skull, who just so happened to steal the map to the secret while inside Trent's pocket. Upon taking a closer look at the now decrypted map, the mighty pirate learns that the secret of Monkey Island lies with the Voodoo Lady back on Melee Island, meaning that players will need to return to the game's first location post haste.

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Elaine then explains that she was dropped off at the island, meaning that she and Guybrush will need to repair the wreck of Guybrush's first ship, the Sea Monkey, in order to escape. Luckily, that's the reason why Elaine came to Monkey Island in the first place and she brought a Ship Repair Manual with her in order to get it done. When they regain control, players should grab both the manual and Murray and then leave the area to return to the map screen.

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If they like, players can head straight for the Shipwreck area and then use the repair manual on the remains of the sleeping monkey to complete Part 3. However, before doing so, they may want to head over to the giant monkey head and pick up the six Skulls, which will lead not only to their ship looking a lot cooler when they rock up on Melee Island, but also to them getting the Tight Ship achievement.

Return to Monkey Island is available now on PC and Nintendo Switch.