Return to Monkey Island, the continuation of the story from he Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge now has a first gameplay trailer. With a return of series creator Ron Gilbert and developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, it's certainly an exciting game to keep an eye on.
Today, Devolver Digital released the first trailer you can see below:
Direct Link
About it:
It’s been many years since Guybrush Threepwood was last locked in a battle of wits with his nemesis, the zombie pirate LeChuck. His true love, Elaine Marley, has turned her focus away from governing and Guybrush himself is adrift and unfulfilled, having never found the Secret of Monkey Island. Hip, young pirate leaders led by Captain Madison have shuffled the old guard from power, Melee Island has taken a turn for the worse, and famed businessman Stan has been imprisoned for ‘marketing-related crimes’.
Banter with old friends and new faces on familiar islands now under dangerous new leadership. Then, take to the high seas and explore the new and unknown as you work your way out of tough predicaments. Clever puzzles, bizarre situations, and devastating ripostes are all that stand between Guybrush and glory.
We don't quite know what platforms it will be on yet as it's all "TBA" (to be announced).
You can follow it on Steam.
Everything looks wrong and abstract and cheap.
And it's the worst kind of "everything is flat" abstraction.
Usually, a new Monkey Island game would be a certain purchase for me, but I have to be able to at least look at it without disgust.
And I thought Monkey Island 4 looked bad... I mean, yeah it did, but at least it was that usual "early 3D looks like shit, deal with it" kind of bad.
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 28 June 2022 at 2:03 pm UTC
Also, like everyone else, not a big fan of the art style or animation -- mostly the animation that the art style requires, I think. It reminds me of the 2D art you see for Pixar movies sometimes, like Monsters Inc, or the art that gets used for the preschool books related to them.
And it's pretty dramatic, which is good. A bit abstract is IMO fine for Monkey Island, which is definitely leaning out of realism and into "telling a classic tale".
Quoting: tfkForget the art. Will it be playable on the deck?One of the announced platforms is the Switch, so as long as they don't break it from working on Linux it should be fine from an interface and hardware requirements perspective.
However ... somehow I get a feeling that this comes a bit too close to the original in terms of characters and locations. Kinda like certain Hollywood sequels that try a bit too much to emulate the original, in a futile attempt to recapture that spirit, but inevitably fall flat.
But hey, Ron Gilbert must know what he's doing ... could also turn out great!
Quoting: ertuquequeI was hesitant to comment here saying that I'm not a fan of the art style, but reading the other comments, I see that it actually is a realatively common opinion. I mean, I'll definitely play it and I'm sure is going to be a good game, but yeah, the art style (and animation) is definitely not... popular.Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Not a fan of the look, but not to the point that I’d spurn a Monkey Island game for it after putting up with the bad 3D and the aggravating navigation of previous entries in the series and ultimately enjoying all of them. I can relate with the hesitation regarding revisiting prior locations and characters, but I think it can certainly be done right, especially since the description makes it sound like they’ll be used to show how things have changed, and not rehash previous adventures.
Last edited by Salvatos on 28 June 2022 at 6:01 pm UTC
Not a fan of the art style, either. For me, it is not about whether it is good art per se, but whether the style is true in spirit to MI1 and MI2, and for me that is clearly not the case. It is actually a radical departure and was therefore destined to be controversial. (I guess they hired the Broken Age crew?)
Still going to play this of course :)
Last edited by Mr. Pinsky on 28 June 2022 at 8:23 pm UTC
Quoting: Mr. PinskyNot a fan of the art style, either. For me, it is not about whether it is good art per se, but whether the style is true in spirit to MI1 and MI2, and for me that is clearly not the case. It is actually a radical departure and was therefore destined to be controversial. (I guess they hired the Broken Age crew?)
What is the spirit of MI1 and MI2 though? If it's the exact art style of the originals, then neither Curse, Escape nor Tales are true to their spirit; all having distinctly different art styles. And, if you ask me, not even MI1 and MI2 share the same art style, as MI2 has a more "painterly" style, although they look similar by today's standards.
And no, they didn't hire the Broken Age crew. The style was made by art director Rex Crowle of Tearaway and Knights and Bikes fame. (Check out the latter, it's available for Linux, and is a great game.)
I think nostalgia is the primary reason why everyone's being so critical of this new style. I mean, I played MI1 and MI2 on an Amiga many years ago (yes, I'm old), so I get it, but I don't agree. Games evolve, same as everything. It's not a bad thing.
Quoting: fleskI think nostalgia is the primary reason why everyone's being so critical of this new style.Ehrm, no.
I would see the same art style just as critical in any other game.
The reason it's so bad has very little to do with the game it is used for. It's just not a good choice of art style for anything, really.
And the reason you see so much backlash is because a lot of people actually care about Monkey Island. If it wasn't so, the game would with 90% certainty just silently die.
I don't think "divide your fanbase with a truly odd art style" is a great idea, no way how you look at it.
Quoting: fleskWhat is the spirit of MI1 and MI2 though? If it's the exact art style of the originals, then neither Curse, Escape nor Tales are true to their spirit; all having distinctly different art styles. And, if you ask me, not even MI1 and MI2 share the same art style, as MI2 has a more "painterly" style, although they look similar by today's standards.All of them utilized a comic-book-like art style, with 1 and 2 being a bit more on the "realistic" or "painted" look, 3 going full-on comic and 4 also trying to go for comic, albeit with little success due to being early age 3D.
Same style that the vast majority of point & click games from that era used, really.
Whatever this is, is nowhere near comic book.
It's a lot closer to a pop-up book for kids meets tumblr paired with cubism. Guybrush has rectangles for ears and LeChuck's face is a triangle, ffs!
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 28 June 2022 at 8:49 pm UTC
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