Return to Monkey Islandis a good game, but if you’ve played any or all the entries in Monkey Island, you’ll know the game is rich in nostalgia. This title features a return by the series creator (and LucasArts luminary), Ron Gilbert. Return to Monkey Island might offer a vastly different art style than the original, but it’s still well-made, funny, pretty, and strange at times.
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The game also tells an engaging narrative with plenty of off-the-wall puzzles and challenges. This does not mean, however, that Return to Monkey Island is a perfect game. Plenty of details in the game make less sense the more you think about them.
9Did All Of Monkey Island Never Happen?
A plaque at the end of the game reads, “Pirate Adventure Park” and states that the park was built in 1989, which just happens to be the year before the first game in the series was released. This means that Monkey Island is set in the modern day, so Guybrush Threepwood was never an 18th-century pirate, and Guybrush has likely been telling stories inspired by his park visits.
Consequently, this would mean that none of the games in Monkey Island ever actually occurred. Is the takeaway from this story supposed to be that we’ve been playing out Guybrush’s fantasies for over 30 years? If so, that’s a letdown for the entire story. Instead of risking your neck for years on the high seas, you’ve been doing nothing more thanplaying out a man’s fantasies at an amusement park.
8Why Does A Seagull Respond To Pepper?
In the fourth part of Return to Monkey Island, the character looks around the camp, trying to find Elaine. Southeast of camp, a Seagull, is sitting on a torn-up picture of Guybrush in its nest. Later, armed with a box of fish, you’re able to distract the seagull if you throw out a fish. The seagull will not respond until you combine the fish with demon pepper. This results in the seagull flying off and giving up the torn-up picture.
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The problem with this puzzle is that birds are immune to Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers. While Capsaicin triggers a pain receptor in mammals, it does not do the same in birds, and birds experience no adverse reaction. Given that Guybrush doesn’t comment on this detail, you are left to assume one of two things. Either the game developers simply were not aware of this detail, or some other small detail you cannot see causes the seagull to fly away.
7Why Is Elaine No Longer Strong-Willed, Feisty, And Independent?
In previous Monkey Island games, Elaine has shown herself to be a strong-willed and independent woman. In Return to Monkey Island, however, Elaine haslost this sparkto her character. Elaine exists in this game to provide assistance and encouragement to Guybrush, which makes her appear more like a mother than a wife.
Even more perplexing, in a 2022 interview, Ron Gilbert even stated that he has given thought to creating a game in the series where Elaine is the central protagonist. Is there a reason why the personality of the Return to Monkey Island Elaine has changed so substantially? Is she dead, and this version of her is just a ghost? What made Elaine change like this?
6What’s Up With The Eyepatch?
To obtain the eye patch in the Pirate Museum, Guybrush has to figure out how to prevent the parrot next to the patch from sounding off. If Guybrush is caught, he is asked to leave the museum. Guybrush must retrieve crackers and give them to the parrot, at which point he can then steal the eye patch. If Guybrush does not feed the parrot, the museum curator snatches the eye patch and puts it in a back storage room.
Two questions arise from the eye patch. First, why does the museum curator take the eye patch when Guybrush does not feed the parrot and attempts to open the display case? This means that whenever someone at the museum touches something they should not, the curator responds by immediately locking up the museum’s inventory. Second, it is not particularly believable that the parrot does not sound off or say anything because it’s eating crackers.
5Is Elaine’s Map Real?
At the post-credit scene of Return to Monkey Island, Elaine reveals that she has discovered a lost treasure map to Mire Island. Assuming that the secret of Monkey Island is that it is the Big Whoop Amusement Park, what does this mean for the treasure map?
Does this mean that for the first time in his life, Guybrush is about to embark on an actual pirate adventure, or is this map really more like a flyer indicating that a new ride is about to be built at Big Whoop? The most logical conclusion is that this is a continued fantasy in Guybrush’s head and that the amusement park is planning to expand in the near future.
4How Does Monkey Island 2 Tie Into Return To Monkey Island?
Monkey Island 2 ends with Guybrush discovering he is the brother of LeChuck and the two heading to Big Whoop. The two then turn into children. The game suggests that these children are Guybrush’s children. Does this mean that we played as Guybrush’s children in Monkey Island 2? What led to the leap in the storyline to play as Guybrush’s children?
The original plot for Monkey Island was to involve Guybrush chasing LeChuck into hell, so does this mean that Monkey Island 2’s ending had something to do with the underworld? Return to Monkey Island never gives a thorough narrative that ties together the events from the previous game.
3How Could There Be Another Monkey Island Game?
Sure, there’s the treasure map scene, but Return to Monkey Island feels like the end of the series. Towards the end of the game, Guybrush turns off the lights on the world literally. There’s also a final note from Ron Gilbert. With such a final resounding conclusion as this game, it remains uncertain how there will ever be another Monkey Island game. In the ending video, Guybrush sits at a table. He looks tired and not the same hapless hero he once was. It would make no sense to make another Monkey Island game now unless it was a prequel.
2Why Does Widey Give Up So Easily?
Widelene “Widey” Bones is an old woman you meet in Return to Monkey Island who lives on Melee Island above a gift shop. Guybrush learns about the five golden keys, and Widey has one of the golden keys but will only give you a key if you get two keys on your own. Guybrush then tries to recover Widey’s stolen golden keys. Widey has dedicated her life to learning the secret of Monkey Island. After a lifetime of dedication, Widey decides to give up her key for free because she is upset that a ghost pirate stole the key from her.
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It remains uncertain why Widey would give up a lifetime of dedication to find the treasure only to suddenly abandon her quest and give the key to Guybrush. When Widey is introduced, she gives the impression that she will play a much more substantial role in the game. As written, though, Widey has an unexplainable change in motivation, then is quickly abandoned by the game’s narrative.
1How Could Monkey Island Be Occurring In One Timeline?
Return of Monkey Island includes two narratives. First, Guybrush tells Boybrush a story about pursuing LeChuck. You select how this story ends. This never explains how or why Guybrush ended up at Big Whoop. A story is also ongoing where Guybrush ends up at Big Whoop. There is no indication of what the timeline for these two stories is.
Is Guybrush telling stories about LeChuck from the past? Are these made-up stories? Are they stories inspired by Big Whoop, or was Big Whoop built in honor of Guybrush? This timeline is made even further confusing due to somemeta-textual events at the end of the game, which seem to break the fourth wall and simply exist for players to bid farewell to the series.
