For almost a decade now, the Monkey Island franchise has been considered dead, with its original developer LucasArts shutting down in 2012 after Disney acquired LucasFilm for $4.05 billion. Since then, it's seemed that LucasArts' classic titles like Monkey Island would be forever gone, outside of the surprising remasters of Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle from ex-LucasArts developers at Double Fine Productions.
That all changed this week however when Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert revealed that his development studio Terrible Toybox has been secretly making a new Monkey Island for two years. Return to Monkey Island, the long anticipated next entry in the beloved adventure game series, has finally been revealed as a collaboration between Terrible Toybox, Devolver Digital, and LucasFilm Games. As the Monkey Island series has taken an extended hiatus, it can be hard for those unfamiliar with the series to grasp why Return to Monkey Island's announcement is a big deal.
What Happened to Monkey Island?
The Monkey Island series was launched in 1990 with the very first game in the series, The Secret of Monkey Island; an endlessly charming and witty point-and-click adventure game centered around a starry eyed wannabe pirate named Guybrush Threepwood. The game was developed by LucasArts (then known as LucasFilm Games), and it stemmed from an initiative at the studio from founder George Lucas to avoid developing games based on the studio's iconic filmography. Beyond Star Wars, LucasFilm developed many now beloved Indiana Jones games in this period.
After The Secret of Monkey Island quickly found success, LucasFilm Games immediately got to work on a sequel, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, which released only a year after its predecessor in 1991. Much of the team behind the first Monkey Island game stayed on for Monkey Island 2, including writers Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman, and Tim Schafer. Monkey Island 2 marked a major departure from the series, as it was the last entry to be developed by Gilbert before he went on to found educational game developer Humongous Entertainment. This would have a major effect on the series, as Gilbert had written, programmed, and directed both games.
Monkey Island 2 also featured a major twist ending, one that is still controversial even to this day. However, it's clear that the game was intended to be followed up by a third entry. Ron Gilbert has said in recent years that he has planned his version of a third Monkey Island, however LucasArts later followed it up itself with 1997's Curse of Monkey Island, which largely ignored Monkey Island 2's ending. Despite Gilbert's absence on this title, he has since praised the game and many consider Curse of Monkey Island to be the best in the series.
The Monkey Island series continued with Escape From Monkey Island in 2000, the first 3D entry in the series, until taking another break. This lasted until 2009, when LucasArts released a remaster of the first game titled The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition. This brought the first game to modern consoles with the option to play with new, hand-drawn visuals, voice acting incorporating much of the cast from Curse of Monkey Island, and a new soundtrack. This remaster was followed in 2010 by Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition, incorporating the same features for the sequel on top of voice acting and enhanced original game's visuals.
These remasters were used to help promote a new entry in the series, developed by a then-relatively-new studio known as Telltale Games, co-founded by none other than Monkey Island programmer Dave Grossman. Known as Tales of Monkey Island, the project was planned by Ron Gilbert, however he had no involvement in it outside of that. Tales of Monkey Island was an episodic adventure game following the events of Escape From Monkey Island. Tales of Monkey Island would seem to be the last game in the series, however, as LucasArts was closed by Disney in 2012 after the acquisition of its parent company, LucasFilm.
What Is Return To Monkey Island?
Now, after 13 years since the release of Tales of Monkey Island, and nearly a decade since Disney acquired LucasFilm, Return to Monkey Island has been announced. This game is set to be Ron Gilbert's planned follow-up to Monkey Island 2, however, Gilbert has revealed that the game will not write the events of Curse of Monkey Island, Escape From Monkey Island, or Tales of Monkey Island out of canon. The game's trailer even features Murray, a character introduced in Curse of Monkey Island.
Return to Monkey Island is positioned to be a game that long-time Monkey Island fans have waited almost 30 years for, releasing close to the 30th anniversary of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. The game will finally address and wrap up the twist ending of Monkey Island 2 in the way Ron Gilbert planned to before LucasArts moved on from the franchise after the sequel's disappointing sales.
Return to Monkey Island also represents an important shift in direction from LucasFilm Games' parent company Disney, which has dramatically shifted its approach to video game licensing since giving EA exclusive rights to Star Wars video games in 2013, and closing Disney Interactive Studios in 2016.
Since then, Disney has worked with many publishers and developers through new labels such as Marvel Games and the newly re-established LucasFilm Games to announce titles such as Machine Games' Indiana Jones, Insomniac's Wolverine, Aspyr's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake, and many more. Return to Monkey Island stands out above all of these for many fans, as it is Disney and LucasFilm Games re-uniting the franchise with what is likely the only developer that fans trust with the franchise.
This could even go a step further however, as Disney and LucasFilm Games' new interest in its back-catalog of classic franchises could even result in studios like Double Fine getting to work on the once-canceled Full Throttle sequel again, or Sam & Max remaster developer SkunkApe Games being given the opportunity to remaster the 1993 LucasArts game Sam & Max: Hit the Road. LucasFilm Games' approach to finding the right developers for its plethora of beloved franchises only bodes well for fans waiting to see new entries, and the same goes for Disney and Marvel Games.
Return to Monkey Island represents a future for one of gaming's most beloved and influential franchises, one that fans have anticipated for years. It is a reminder that the term "impossible sequel" is becoming more and more of a myth as titles fans had only imagined in their wildest dreams release every year. It also sets an exciting precedent for the future of classic titles and franchises owned under big companies such as Disney, as even dormant franchises like Monkey Island can still make a big comeback. Best of all, it's the true sequel to Monkey Island 2 that long-time fans have waited almost 30 years for.
Return to Monkey Island will release later in 2022.