Return to Monkey Island gets another gameplay snippet ahead of release
Not at all Scummy!
We don't know when Return to Monkey Island will be landing on our shores, but we do know that it will be sometime this year. In anticipation of this release, its developers have been sharing little snippets of what we can expect, with the most recent one giving us a closer look at Melee Island's dock, an eerie-looking ship and the outside of the Scumm Bar.
"New surveillance video for #MonkeyIslandMonday!," tweeted developer Dave Grossman. "Strange man seen striding purposefully on Melee dock, ignoring the pelicans and bar as though he had somewhere to be, some devilish puzzle to solve..."
That strange man is, of course, none other than series hero Guybrush Threepwood. Can you believe he passed up the opportunity to quench his thirst with a healthy pint of grog? Something must be afoot.
A previous Monkey Island Monday tweet also gave a preview of the game's first chapter. It wasn't much, but it gives an idea of what lies ahead. Here, we saw a bloody cleaver lodged into a tabletop, with the title card of "A friendly place" accompanying it.
It is nice to see the Return to Monkey Island team sharing their wares once more. Last month, Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert made the decision to stop talking about the upcoming release following unwarranted abuse from so-called fans.
"I'm shutting down comments. People are just being mean and I'm having to delete personal attack comments," Gilbert wrote at the time.
A lot of this uncalled-for ire stemmed from the new art direction Return to Monkey Island has taken, something Gilbert had already defended earlier in the year.
"Return to Monkey Island may not be the art style you wanted or were expecting but it's the art style I wanted," he wrote in May.
This wave of agro from the Monkey Island 'community' caught the attention of several other game developers, many of whom rushed to offer their support to Gilbert and his team.
Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann wrote: "Wow! Even wholesome adventure games aren't safe from toxic 'fans' who know better than the original creators?!
"Ron (and team), y'all keep making what YOU believe in! It looks gorgeous! I'm there day fucking one!"
Sony Santa Monica's Cory Barlog also offered his support to Gilbert following the news, writing: "What the hell people? Please don't be a dick to my gamedev hero. Sorry for the bullshit, Ron. Thank you for making things that inspire me to make things. Never stop that."
Return to Monkey Island is slated to release sometime this year and come to consoles first via Nintendo Switch. At this point in time, it seems that this will be the last game in the beloved series.