REVIEW: Return to Monkey Island (PC) is a yummy cake of nostalgia and novelty

Whoever is a little older, around 30 years old, has certainly come across the game Monkey Island in that pre-internet era. The game put us in the role of a pirate who needed to unravel several secrets and solve sword disputes with puns and jokes. And we have it all in Return to Monkey Island, which is a direct sequence of Monkey Island 2.

The island of Sopapo

Before talking about the story of the game itself, it is necessary to highlight the work done by the producers to rescue the moments of the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood. There is a notebook with several notes, drawings and photographs about our hero's many deeds. This serves as a recap for those who are already familiar with how the story unfolds, and also to place newbie pirates.

Our adventure actually starts in the future with Guybrush's son, which basically serves as a tutorial. Afterwards he meets with his father, who begins to tell a story, about how he managed to find the Secret of Monkey Island. However, a lot has changed. The old pirates are out of power, and the newbies don't respect traditions. Our hero must find a way to redeem past mistakes as he searches for a way to reach the Island and finally discover its secret.

Obviously, like a good game in point and click (point and click, in literal translation), we need to search every corner of the maps to find secrets or hidden cards. There are only two game modes, one casual and one for veteran players looking for a challenge.

For the casual, there is a book of tips that shows us clues, these that can be accessed until they give us, literally, the answer to what we are looking for. This makes the journey a lot easier, and also helps those who just want to enjoy the excellent and fun narrative of the game, full of jokes and believe me, even if some of them have references to old games, none of them is forced like today's hero movies...

Anyway, like any good game of its style, we often have the need to go back and forth to carry out missions. For example, one of the funniest takes place right at the beginning of the adventure, when we have to look for a tree that will give us the handle for a mop. The result after that is heartbreaking. Imagine more or less a scene with Link from The Legend of Zelda removing the Master Sword from its place, but everything in reverse, that is, destroyed. Hilarious.

piracy in Portuguese

Fortunately, Return to Monkey Island has Portuguese subtitles, which helps a lot in immersing the story. The adaptation makes some changes in what is said in English to our language, but nothing that can affect understanding too much.

As stated above, during the journey we found some hidden letters. They serve as a kind of quiz about the franchise, with some questions that can be answered. However, there is only one chance. After making a mistake, they disappear from your folder, so to speak. But by hitting them, nothing is gained.

Another thing I need to highlight here is the graphics of Return to Monkey Island. Despite being quite different from the first games in the franchise, they are very beautiful and bring a cartoonish air that helps a lot in the story being told and they don't deliver hidden items right away.

The comeback

Return to Monkey Island marks not only the return of the franchise, but also brings the return of Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, developers and heads responsible for the original project. The two game modes available are great, as they don't alienate those looking for a casual adventure, nor those who want to be fully challenged. The English dub was magnificent, and the subtitles were adapted very well, despite a few awkward moments.

The graphics are very beautiful and deserve to be appreciated, despite being more cartoonish than anything. In general, Return to Monkey Island it does its job very well as point and click, as well as being a lot of fun. Even newcomers to the franchise won't feel abandoned, as there's an explanation of how our hero got to that point.

At the time, Return to Monkey Island is only available for Nintendo Switch e PC, and it is unknown when it will be released for other platforms.

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