Legendary adventure game designer and Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert has been waiting years for this. By “this” he’s not just talking about one last chance to make his own Monkey Island 3 – officially titled Back to Monkey Island – but also about the opportunity to publish it. “Announcing this game on April 1st has been a dream of mine for years,” he told IGN, referring to April Fools-but-not-really. upload on his personal blog. “It was a big thrill for me.” The official disclosurealong with a pre-roll trailer, due out next Monday, rocking the gaming world.
Gilbert had started a project on his own when Monkey Island was surprised back to his life. “I’m doing a little RPG game where I just want to be solo, by myself,” he said. “It’s more of a hobby project than anything.” And then there’s PAX 2019. “The whole thing started with PAX 2019,” he explains. “I was with Nigel [Lowrie], who runs Devolver, and he said, ‘Hey, we’re interested in doing Monkey Island. We have a little relationship with [Monkey Island IP owner] Disney, and we think we can make this happen. ‘ So I was intrigued by that. Having them involved makes it exciting for me. So I told them I needed to think about it for a while; to make sure I have a good idea. That’s when I called Dave. When we feel comfortable, then I turn around and say, ‘OK, let’s do this.’
Grossman, for his part, is the lead writer for a free Futurama game called Game of Drones. “[Ron] just surreptitiously sent me a text message. ‘Hey, are you here? You can talk? Can you keep a secret? I am thinking about making this Monkey Island game. Do you want to do it with me? ‘”
In this case, secrecy is paramount. “This is like the Manhattan Project of games,” said Gilbert. “I didn’t tell anyone. If you don’t actually work on this project, you don’t know about it. I didn’t tell my best friend. I didn’t tell my mother, I didn’t tell my sister.” Grossman added, “I didn’t even tell my son.”
As to what such a dream project might look like to Gilbert, Grossman and even fans, Gilbert said philosophically. “It’s really a blank slate,” he began. “I know I want to start the game as soon as I finish Monkey Island 2. It’s this unmovable block, but it’s really the only block. Dave and I spent a lot of time talking about ‘What is Monkey Island? What does it mean for us now? What does it mean for Guybrush now? ‘ Think about interesting stories. For me, I want this game to be a solid pirate adventure. I feel like some of the previous Monkey Islands have moved a bit into silly territory. And I want this to be just, ‘It’s a pirate adventure.’ Guybrush is sailing the seas and visiting the islands, and that’s the background that I want to do. A lot of time has passed since we made Monkey Island. Dave and I are no longer the same person. And the world is not the same. And the games are not the same. We don’t want to just build a classic game. We don’t want to go back in time and just build what comes from a time capsule. We wanted to develop the game forward and move the characters forward and transform the art forward and move everything forward. So we spent a lot of time talking about ‘What’s that story? What story can we do that has a personal attachment to us and not just some random pirate story? ‘
Despite being Monkey Island 3 both in terms of Gilbert’s history with his own series as well as in terms of chronology, Gilbert and Grossman both say that the decision to prepare for other Monkey Island games rather than skipping or eliminating Leaving them is an easy decision. “Yes, they are canon,” said Grossman, and Gilbert added, “Neither Dave nor I feel like we can get rid of them. There are many favorite games. We love things like Murray. Throwing them away seems pointless. ”
The voice cast, who first appeared in Monkey Island’s Gilbert-less Curse, is largely unconfirmed, wise talent, although we do know that Dominic Armato will return to voice the hero. Our pirate Guybrush Threepwood, and the trailer was done making it clear that Danny Delk had his part as the overconfident skull-immortal Murray. However, the retired Earl of Boen will not return as LeChuck. “We approached him, but he’s retired and he’s blessed us to reprise that role.”
Artistically, Return to Monkey Island, like each of its predecessors, will have a distinct visual style. Art director Rex Crowle said: “Each game has its own look and feel and we came up with a different style for this game, but a style that we think will be influenced by all the games. play other. “One thing I pull out a lot is that the first game was pixel art and that leaves a lot of room for explanation. The style we’ve got still leaves room for reinterpretation, even though it’s a high definition painter style, it’s still a style where fans can make their own fan art. They can bring their own designs up there.”
Naturally, I couldn’t help but ask Gilbert if Return to Monkey Island would be the last trip for Guybrush, or if this could open the door for more Monkey Island from him. “I think every game that I did, when it got to the end, I just hated it and I never wanted to watch it again,” he began. “That’s true of Monkey Island 1 and 2, and Thimbleweed Park, Caves, every Human game I’ve ever done. And then four months went by and I realized, ‘Oh, this is really cool.’ So I think what I’m saying is now is the wrong time to ask me that question,” he said with a laugh.
I ended with another obligatory fan question: Will Monkey Island’s true secret be revealed at the end of this game? Gilbert stopped and said, “Oh, that’s… um…[laugh]… I didn’t know I wanted to answer that, “before he added, ‘I think the fans will either be really excited and happy for what we’ve done or completely angry about it. what we did. “
So, it’s not that different from the ending of Monkey Island 2’s amusement park, right? “Yes, very much,” he said with his best smile.
