When series creator Ron Gilbert announced that he was working on a new Monkey Island game at the beginning of April, many fans assumed that it was little more than an April Fool's Day prank. In the days and weeks that followed the announcement, however, it soon became clear that Return to Monkey Island was anything but, with Gilbert having partnered with publisher Devolver Digital to get the game into the hands of players at some point before the end of 2022.
With the game now mere months away, those very same fans are anxiously awaiting more news, with many speculating that an official release date will be announced later this month when Return to Monkey Island will appear at Gamescom. In the meantime, though, it appears that somebody over at Nintendo may have accidentally revealed another piece of key information about the upcoming title, with a recently added eShop listing appearing to show the game's price.
Those who type "Return to Monkey Island" into the search bar on the Nintendo eShop will be shown a price of $24.99, although it's not possible to pre-order the game just yet. Interestingly, this price doesn't show up on the product page itself, suggesting that its inclusion on the search results page may well be unintentional. There's a good chance that it will prove to be accurate, however, with Terrible Toybox's previous game Thimbleweek Park having also launched at a budget price.
If the listing does turn out to be correct, Return to Monkey Island would be the cheapest full Monkey Island game to date, with its predecessors having all cost significantly more at launch. In fact, the original game cost $49.99 despite being released more than three decades ago, which works out at more than $110 when adjusted for inflation. Even so, Return to Monkey Island may still prove to be too expensive for Monkey Island protagonist Guybrush Threepwood, who once famously quipped that one should "Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game."
As for what prospective players can expect from Return to Monkey Island, Gilbert has so far been keeping his cards relatively close to his chest. Given that the Monkey Island series is viewed by many as being one of the most influential point-and-click franchises of all time though, to say that expectations for the game are pretty high among members of the adventure game community would perhaps be a bit of an understatement.
Return to Monkey Island releases in 2022 on PC and Switch.