The announcement earlier this month of Return to Monkey Island was rather exciting for series fans of all ages, perhaps particularly those of us wearing comfortable shoes and considering a trip to the Garden Centre as a day out. Published by Devolver Digital, Ron Gilbert's studio (Terrible Toybox) is developing, and it will be a successor to the first two games in the series - The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

It's a project that looks set to bring together key creative figures from those first two PC releases, including Dave Grossman. Last week Adventure Gamers shared an excellent interview with both Gilbert and Grossman, along with some rather lovely screenshots of the game. As you can see below, it's going for a stylised 'modern' look.

Return To Monkey Island1
Image: Terrible Toybox / Lucasfilm Games / Devolver Digital
Return To Monkey Island2
Image: Terrible Toybox / Lucasfilm Games / Devolver Digital
Return To Monkey Island3
Image: Terrible Toybox / Lucasfilm Games / Devolver Digital
Return To Monkey Island4
Image: Terrible Toybox / Lucasfilm Games / Devolver Digital

In terms of the details of the interview, it's full of lots of interesting insights into the creative process of the duo, how the project initially came together and more. One section that got our interest related to the game's approach to point-and-click; Gilbert outlines that it'll have an evolved approach, rather than a faithful recreation of an old-school user interface like that of Thimbleweed Park.

There is pointing and clicking. That is true. [laughs] Interface-wise, this one does other things, you know—[we’re] having fun and advancing things. It’s obviously not the seven- or nine-verb interface from Thimbleweed or back in the day. We did a lot of playing around when Delores came out (a free spin-off to Thimbleweed Park), with interface and stuff, and we just kept looking and evolving. An important part of this, in some ways, is keeping and evolving the genre. Not letting it get static, saying, “Well, that’s what we did thirty years ago, so that’s exactly how we’re going to do it these days.” In some ways, that was Thimbleweed Park. So this game, we really have looked at things we can do that are going to be different and better and more streamlined, and Dave and I spent a lot of time looking at the interface going, “What is important to people? What are people trying to do?” I don’t want to say exactly what we did yet, but it is definitely a really fun evolution of the interface.

Due out this year, currently there are no confirmed platforms for this release. We hope that the genre and previous Switch support from Devolver Digital and Terrible Toybox points to a likely version on Nintendo's system; time will tell.

Let us know what you think of the screenshots, and be sure to check out the full interview at the link below.

[source adventuregamers.com, via eurogamer.net]