Return to Monkey Island Announced, Ron Gilbert Involved

Today, a brand new entry in the goofy adventure series Monkey Island was announced. And this one’s special. In an intriguing partnership between Devolver Digital and Disney/Lucasfilm Games, Return to Monkey Island is set to arrive sometime in 2022. Oh, and writer/director of the original Secret of Monkey Island, Ron Gilbert, is back at the helm. Also, Dominic Armato will be reprising his role as Guybrush Threepwood (mighty pirate!).

Related: Interview | Skunkape Games on Making Sam & Max Save the World Remastered, What’s Next and What’s Good

Ron Gilbert, along with DoubleFine’s Tim Schafer and Telltale’s Dave Grossman, are considered the faces of the SCUMM engine, which the classic LucasArts adventure games were built on. Gilbert left LucasArts much earlier than the others, leaving after Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge and starting Humongous Entertainment.

Gilbert has been around in games since, notably being part of the teams behind The Cave and Thimbleweed Park. This will be his return to Monkey Island, over 20 years since LeChuck’s Revenge was released. Monkey Island continued without him, however, so Return will be the fifth game in the series after Curse, Escape and Tales. The former two produced by LucasArts and the latter by Telltale Games.

Despite that history, an interesting note from Return to Monkey Island’s announcement release calls it “the long-awaited follow-up to the legendary Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge.” What could this mean? Unfortunately, when I reached out for clarification I was told no further information is allowed yet. So, we’ll find out what is going on with Monkey Island as a series together, later on.