[stupidcar]

I am very excited for this. For those unaware, Ron Gilbert was the creative force behind The Secret of Monkey Island 1 and 2, but then left Lucasarts and the subsequent Monkey Island games were made by others. He's said for a long time that those games, while perfectly fine, didn't represent his vision for how the series would have continued (and Monkey Island 2 finished on an intriguing cliffhanger), so it's cool that we'll finally get his version of things, as the new game will continue from where MI2 left off (although apparently the other games will remain as canon somehow).

Also, a few years ago Gilbert and many of the others working on this new game made a retro-styled point-and-click adventure game called Thimbleweed Park[1]. It wasn't a smash hit in terms of sales, but I thought it was a lot of fun, and had some very sharp dialogue and design, and reassures me that the creative team haven't lost their touch and this won't be another Underworld Ascendant debacle.

[1] https://thimbleweedpark.com/

[Teever]

I still haven't played through all of Thimbleweed Park, but I managed to get my GF into adventure games after I bought it for her on Switch and she played through the entire game.

It's a fantastic game, It's basically what I always wanted out of an adventure game when I was a kid, and what's more the touch screen is a perfect interface for adventure games.

It was disheartening when 3D FPS games took over in the late 90s and MS fortified that with advertisements targeting the 'bro' segment for their new Xbox console and Halo franchise.

I was worried that Grim Fandango (still my favourite, omg that soundtrack) was the swan song of the genre but I'm so pleased to see that gaming as a whole has exploded and game development is so much more accessible than it used to be so that the genre has found it's niche. I genuinely think that an ipad mini form factor is utterly perfect for the genre so it pleases me that kids of a new generation can explore these neat little story worlds once again.

Also it's good to see that Disney isn't smothering the video game IP that they got when they bought LucasFilm. It seems like this is them testing the waters, and I hope that it is a resounding success that encourages them to do more with that goldmine that is LucasArts.

[bombcar]

Grim Fandango is, to me, the defining example of these games, just exceptionally well done.

Imagine Disney making Coco or Encanto when they're sitting on the Grim Fandango IP. :D

[WorldMaker]

Coco was announced about the same time Disney bought LucasFilm and that was my running joke that the real reason Disney bought LucasFilm wasn't as much to secure Star Wars, but to build a Grim Fandango Cinematic Universe.

[bandibus]

I remember there was lots of buzz about a resurgence of the genre when Double Fine's Broken Age did the crowdfunding thing and raised $millions. A lot of excited people. And then that seemed to go away again when the critical reception to Part 2 of it was pretty contentious? I wonder what it would have sparked if it had been as much a critical and publicity success as the first part...

[Rapzid]

Yeah, cut my teeth on the Sierra adventure games. Didn't hate the FPS takeover Half-Life ushered in, but.. It's almost cliched to say "Modern RPGs don't feel as alive as Ultima VII" and yet.. There is truth to that.

Kinda got stuck in Thimbleweed but honestly hadn't felt so immersed in a game's setting since the old days.

[stouset]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I consider MI3 (The Curse of Monkey Island) to be the absolute best in the series. The puzzles feel just right, the comedy and writing are on point from beginning to end, and the graphical style holds up to this day.

[jbluepolarbear]

I agree, really is the best to me. MI2 was the worst to me in terms of puzzle design.

[unixhero]

Use Monkey With Wrench and that library sequence ruined my replays of MI2 and took away some of the charm. The sewer scenes made me forget it tho, and still gave me fond memories.

[flycatcha]

MI3 undoubtedly the best - the artwork, the music, the puzzles. I revisited it a few years ago and it was still a joy to play.

[astlouis44]

Yeah and did you know there is a WASM version of the demo? https://personal-1094.web.app/scummvm.html

[GekkePrutser]

Same here. The art was beautiful and the puzzles just doable. MI2 I found super hard though I have to admit the show loading times and disk swapping on amiga didn't help.

[andi999]

I think MI2 took me 6 month to complete (also with only like 2 years of english I didnt know what a monkey wrench is...) . Mi3 was one weekend, a bit too easy.

[ei8ths]

It was, loved it.

[bombcar]

I have mixed feelings about Thimbleweed; it was very good until it wasn't; the ending felt like what you'd get when a company ran out of funding and just rushed everything together.

It may just be me, I enjoy breaking the fourth wall but not really tearing it completely down and burning the remains.

[portmanteaufu]

I couldn't agree more. I loved the first two thirds, but was so disappointed by the ending that I haven't recommended it to anyone since. I was very invested in a number of character development threads that never lead anywhere.

[Sharlin]

> the new game will continue from where MI2 left off

It's going to be really interesting to see how they're going to pull that off given the twist ending.

[andi999]

I never thought I will learn the secret of monkey island. Am looking forward to get disappointed.

[seba_dos1]

I'm more looking forward to not learning the secret of Monkey Island in yet another game again :)

[soneca]

Ron Gilbert said on Twitter that they are considering MI3 canon, so not sure this affirmation is still true.

[garaetjjte]

From 2013: "If I end up being able to make this game at some point, we all might find that it fits nicely in between Monkey Island 2 and Curse of Monkey Island." https://grumpygamer.com/just_to_clarify_point_12

[seba_dos1]

The game announcement states that it "picks up where Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge left off". These two facts do not have to be mutually exclusive.

[darkwater]

Especially considering that in the teaser video there is a character from MI3.

[the_af]

Murray is an awesome character. Though I often get him confused with Morte from Planescape: Torment (both sarcastic floating skull sidekicks).

[Trasmatta]

I thought the implication from this trailer was that Ron Gilbert agreed to do this game if he could ignore the story and characters from the other games (which is why Murray is getting pushed off the deck)

[seba_dos1]

It's amazing how many interpretations of this joke people appear to have :)

To me it's very clearly about Gilbert's past remarks that he'll never do another Monkey Island unless he fully owns the IP. Tossing Murray into the water means "yes, I don't own the IP and yet I'm making another Monkey Island, you can stop pointing it out".

[Trasmatta]

I thought I saw the opposite, that they are considering MI3 non canon

[soneca]

https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/1511022135191384067?s...

[Trasmatta]

Thanks, I must have misread what I saw earlier this week