Negative Fan Reaction To 'Return To Monkey Island' Made Its Creator 'Sad'

I think the artstyle looks awesome and weird, honestly. Some people just take beloved franchises way too seriously and this stagnates games as a whole.

On the other spectrum wanting too much of the same leads to disasters like the new Star Wars trilogy.

I've been playing the original on my A500 mini in preparation. My body is ready.

@Varkster
Absolutely right. spot on.

Looking forward to this one.

Typical "Wind Waker" effect~

The game just need to be good and in time people will even find difficult to believe someone complained when it got announced.

It's very in-keeping with the remastered games' art style. Having grown up with the original titles, I'm very much excited for this new entry. You can't please everyone I guess, but hopefully the creators won't be too disheartened.

Fanbases these days have no trouble making their own ideal version of old games properties, whether it’s Sonic or Metroid or Streets of Rage. But many times these original creators have moved on in their life, not living in a 1980’s/1990’s bubble like the fan base. That should be respected.

I think it looks fine. It will be retro anyway no need for pixel-style art Still i'm afraid fans will be dissapointed cause it will not be what they were expecting. But maybe Gilbert will surprise us on a good way

I grew up with the original games, and I think this looks so awesome. I can't wait!

Reminds me of the Crash 4 reveal, where it took people (myself included) a while to warm up to the new character designs. Maybe a proper gameplay trailer showing everything in motion might help quiet some people, but as of now it's easy for people to get rowdy over screenshots and a quick teaser.

Edit: I only realised this now, but when the title drops in the teaser, the ghost pirate holding the violin leans in a bit because the title's taking up actual physical space.

The trailer has an awesome vibe and I'm interested although I havent played the other games how can people hate on this?

The art style is awesome! Some people are too stuck in their bubble, and pixel art games are a dime a dozen these days. Very few pixel art games actually stand out from all the cheap nostalgia cash grabs.

I don't really care about it being pixel art, I just think the art they are using is ugly.

I grew with the series too. The new art style is very good. I don't understand why it's such a big deal? I was like them before, in Zelda Wind Waker and when I saw the first trailer, it was like the worst day of my life! But when I was playing, I had forgotten the new art style and I really liked it! I would like a sequel too! So, Ron don't pay attention to everyone. Do whatever YOU want.

I think the problem is that the new style is just not very beautiful.
They for sure have just a small budget and need to work with it but hmm I don't know I could imagine more visual brilliance.

anyway the game won't die for me with the art direction, I'm going to buy it

I guess they can make everything as wacky as they want so long as they get Guybrush right. He needs to fit in with the world visually of course, but while being both just a bit at odds with it and a sort of down-to-earth, blank slate straight man the player can relate and project themselves onto.
With that as a base what will really bring the character and the game to life (we hope) is the quality of the writing, which if it's as deadpan as the original (the only one I've played) could potentially be made even more hilarious by how starkly it contrasts with the over-the-top environment.

I think it looks pretty cool but I've never enjoyed point and clicks apart from Myst all them years ago as a kid.

I don't see why these so called fans would want more pixel art, it's a bit overdone these days anyway.

Can I ask what the point of this article is with regards to its relevance to Nintendo? Monkey Island has had 2 entries on Nintendo consoles in the last 25 years (one being a TellTale spin-off), with no new entries or rereleases being proposed since the WiiWare days. The latest title isn't even confirmed for anything outside PC at this point.

I think it looks great and I can't wait to play it. Sadly people mistake the loudest and angriest Twitter ranters for being the biggest fans. This isn't true, spending your days raging about things on Twitter or internet forums doesn't make you the biggest fan of anything, it just means you've got nothing better to do with your life.

The art style is perfectly good. I don't see why anyone would complain.
More important is that this game is being made. Yay!

As a potential first Monkey Island game.... I think it looks grand. I mean yeah, it's abstract, but if they intended it to look that way from the beginning, I have no qualms whatsoever.

Reading into this makes me confused though: is this a remake or an entirely new entry? I might want to play the originals first before playing this one if it is a sequel.

Looks awesome. These guys rarely disappoint and are legends in the gaming industry.

its a bad art style and you can tell its because of a pretty small budget but its not like we can change it now anyway

I haven't played Monkey Island before but I think it looks great!
Surely they way to keep everyone happy is to make it so that you can switch art styles with the original like they did with Wonderboy. When I played that game I hadn't played the original but I really liked the way that they had catered to the hard core fans without putting off newcomers. I realise that of course this creates a lot more work for the creators but I think having a feature like this could surely warrant a higher price.

They should leave him alone, he’s the artist 🤷‍♂️

@DarkTron Why does it bother you that they are talking about it

Fan of the original. Think the artwork looks great for the new one.

I think game developers need to stop listening to the echo chamber that is the Internet. In such a place there's always going to be complaining, some people even send death threats to developers when a game gets delayed. These sort of people don't realise, or simply don't care that these are human beings they are harrasing over the Internet.

I've heard complaints about the art too, but frankly it's from people who don't know much about art or adventure games.
To me this looks exactly like the kind of design I love from Day of the Tentacle.

That' a game created by Tim Schafer and Peter Chan, with Dave Grossman and Ron Gilbert on story.

So yeah, I couldn't be happier.

@Abeedo I still prefer tawna old design myself but yeah the new designs of characters in Crash 4 are great, especially love Crashes new look he looks like he came straight out a looney toons cartoon or something, very cute designs

@Fizza It's a new game.

I don't mind the art style, I just want the animation to be good, none of that 2006 flash game bs please. You have the resources to make it awesome

Drastic art style changes are always risky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Look at the Link's Awakening remake. That was a big risk, but it looked great. I think this one is fine. It's kind of Schaffer meets Steamworld. I dig it

@WoomyNNYes I see. Is there a way to currently play the originals on Switch? I haven't seen anything to suggest they're there.

Just need to be open minded and appreciate different artistic intepretations, or rather representations. All interesting to me personally.

@Fizza No, Ron Golbert's og Monkey Island games aren't on the Switch, but the more recent Thimbleweed Park is.

People in the internet are horrible, so much love put into this game, and people still complain, going back to 2D was already a big improvement since 3D was supposed to be the future but didn't work that well for the series and many others, and seems like people want to go back even further by having pixel-art graphics.

However, it should be noted that if you can't handle people hating you, you should avoid fame, it's not your fault, but it's like locking your door to stop burglars, internet didn't create bad people, they always existed, you can't change human nature.

Looks great, never ever listen to input from online fanbase, stick to the vision

@Crockin Hey, imagine if the people who made the Sonic movie followed that advice.

People on the internet are horrible, but they are your customers, the original Sonic trailer was a clear case of customers being right and complaining the correct way, and doing what they asked worked, if they gone "Cry some more, we are not changing anything" or "It's not for you, it's for a different audience" or "You are just nostalgic, you are only complaining because it's different from the original", the first movie would have likely failed and no sequel becoming the highest-grossing videogame movie of all time.

Plus, people didn't complain about that original Sonic design because he was different, that Sonic was ugly like a hellspawn.

@victordamazio k, but that’s a big Hollywood movie with millions and millions of dollars behind it and resources to go back and change everything. Plus the negative feedback went far beyond a small fanbase. It was like a worldwide meme laughing stock situation. Massive difference between that and a small video game release. Yes you ultimately want to please your audience, but this stuff is set in stone, and people are being unreasonable. To change it now would bankrupt the project. The insular echo chamber should be tuned out. Sorry.

imo This art style doesn’t even begin to approach how horrific that sonic design was. In fact I think looks really nice.

@Crockin I'm not even comparing the Monkey Island game to the Sonic movie directly, I'm just saying how "The complainer is always wrong" is a terrible way of thinking.

Whaaat, this looks great! Man, how can people >demand< that this is pixel art? The art style doesn't look fortnite-ish, not like a flash-game, not cheap in any way. I'm surprised that people still manage to complain. That must be hard on the creator.

I don't understand the backlash, except for the obvious "oh the thing I remember is different and I can't handle change" — argument. Why should devs in 2022 be restricted to the limitations of tech from 30+ years ago?

I do hope that this release means we finally get (at least) the first two games on Switch, finally!

@victordamazio I’ll rephrase it: insular internet complainers who always complain about everything, should not be taken into consideration.

@Ogbert The pocky and Rocky remaster is a great example of awesome pixel art, lots of detail, far more beyond the look of an 8 or 16 bit game.
The new TMNT game is also a good example of how much detail you can cram into pizel art in this day and age.
People call sonic mania a 16 bit game but it has colors and effects never possible on any 16 bit system not even the NeoGeo.
As Tim Schafer stated in an interview about Full Throttle Remaster.
The Artists who drew the backgrounds never thought to themselves: "you know what would look good on this drawing? a nice staircase!"

I'm so excited for this.

As someone who was introduced to this franchise with Curse of Monkey Island, the LAST thing I want is a return to the pixel art of the first two games. I understand, nostalgia is a powerful drug. But let's be honest, Monkey Island 1 and 2 are not the prettiest games in the world. I would love if the series could return to the beautiful hand-drawn art style of Curse, but this new art style is the next best thing in my opinion. But at the end of the day I'm just happy we're even getting a new Monkey Island game at all. For years now I thought this franchise was dead for good, especially after Disney bought Lucasfilm. I'm just so happy that one of my all time favorite video game series has returned!

I personal think it looks cool!

Wait. This game had negative fan reaction? What are these "fans" thinking? Curse of the Monkey Island had a complete different art direction and it was superb.
I like my pixelated games, but if a Monkey Island revival in 2022 had the same 90's graphic it wouldn't reach a wider audience. Personally, I like how weird the new art is

So older fans of Monkey Island are upset that it's art style isn't pixilated like the original 80s/90s games? Well lets apply that to Metroid, Mario, Zelda and more.. that mindset just doesn't hold water. The real issue is that because a Monkey Island game doesn't get released as often, the change feels bigger.

Fans should just revel in the fact that they're getting their beloved creator back & have faith in his vision for the game. If they give it support then it'll get another game and the style can adjust over time. Being entitled holes will simply lead to decades of wait.

@Bobb Monkey Island fans: "Will we EVER get another MI game?"

New Monkey Island game announced after 13 years of nothing...

Monkey Island fans: "IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE MI 1&2 THEREFORE IT IS BAD!!!!!!!"

I'm a huge Monkey Island fan and I would actually be disappointed if this game looked like the first two. Curse is my favorite art style and I would love a return to that. But I'm just happy the franchise is back from the dead finally. And I don't dislike the new art style either.

I have to see it in action more before I make a judgement. But from what we've been shown, I wouldn't have gone in this direction. Would've preferred either the more classic cartoony visuals of Curse, or the more realistic art style of the first two games, which juxtapositions great with the wacky humour of the series.
That said, I don't think it looks terrible so far and I'm just happy we're getting a new game at all. Was afraid Disney will stick the franchise in their vault forever.

I'm glad that they didn't go with pixel art and I agree with Ron Gilbert that it wasn't a stylistic choice for Monkey 1 and 2 but a technical limitation. To support that, as far as I know Monkey Island 2 was the first LucasArts adventure were they scanned hand drawn backgrounds instead of drawing the pixels directly.

But I'm not 100% happy with the new art style. I always thought that the art of the first two games was pretty realistic, closer to the Indiana Jones games (which tried to emulate the look of the movies) than the more wacky Day of the Tentacle.

It also reminds me a bit to much of the Special Editions, which always looked a bit cheap to me. But all this doesn't really lessen my excitement for the game.

He is 100% doing the right thing to move it forward. While it would be nice fan service to give the hardcore crowd what they want, that's not in the best interest of the creator (to do what he wants to do) or for the company (to sell as many units as possible). Nostalgia only goes so far. Is he also supposed to only support Adlib music? What if he doesn't support MT-32?

I'll buy this for me and my wife when it comes out. Day one purchase.

I'm one of those hardcore Monkey Island fans. Been with the series since the first game, which I was introduced to on the Sega CD. The series has remained steadfastly in my top 5 most beloved franchises since then. I've played and beat every one. I am overjoyed that MI is getting a new game. In fact, along with the fact that Ken and Roberta Williams are funding and developing a new game, it ranks as the happiest gaming announcement for me in years. I can't wait to buy and play it, and I hope some company makes a physical copy so I'll have reason to chip in twice.

However, I don't like the new art style. It's not about not wanting Ron Gilbert to make the game he wants. It's not about wanting it to stay in pixel form. It's not about being afraid of change, as so many armchair pundits on here have alleged. (I feel like MI reached it's art design peak with Curse, which was a huge, but beautiful, departure from what had come before.) Sometimes, you just don't like something. It doesn't resonate with you. That's ok. You don't have to pretend to like something just to show support. You don't have to like every aspect of something to love it anyway and be happy it exists.

In the case of this new game, the artwork shown so far looks kind of cheap and ugly to me. I know that can be a harsh statement. I'm sure there are artists who worked agonizingly hard on it, are attached to their work and hearing that (from hundreds or thousands of fans) probably makes someone, somewhere feel bad. Alot of people obviously share my take on the art, or else Ron would not have felt the need to respond. However, as these comments show, alot of people obviously like it. Not everyone is going to agree and that's alright. For some, it may be enough to convince them not to purchase the game.

In my opinion, Ron Gilbert, Tim Schaefer and Dave Grossman are videogame legends. I'm sure they'll put out an amazing product. I can't wait to play it. But I still might dislike the artstyle throughout. We shall see.

The first two MI games gave me some of my most treasured childhood gaming memories. This new one looks great - even with the very different graphic style, I'm definitely getting some OG Monkey Island vibes from what's been shown here. Just holding out hope for a Switch release!

Definitely gonna buy this if it's coming to switch. My wallet loves nostalgia and keeps reminding me to be a kid again whenever I can

@khululy whether or not a staircase would look good in a scene is entirely down to what the scene is, what type of staircase it is and how well it's drawn. And staircases don't have to be boring as seems to be the implication. If the scene is the entrance of a stately home, mansion or palace you'd expect there to be a grand staircase framing the room. You can make a castle extra imposing by having a huge staircase leading up to it. A magical wizard's tower? Probably will look good with a huge spiral staircase. Sorry but that statement doesn't make any sense.

Also yeah those 3 games do have nice pixel art, I did not say pixel art was boring or could not be nice. I said there is a saturation of it and few stand out. Selecting the ones that do stand out does not disprove this.

I like the new art style personally but I also have no love for the old game's look as I never played it. But the new one looks sharp and modern as I would expect it to.

I prefer the old style, but in the end a game like monkey island revolves around its' humor and puzzles. And the art style can aid in this, but does not determine wether a game is good. All games must evolve, else there is no sense in buying them after the first installment. Some things, like art style might just take some getting used to for some. And in a game like monkey island, I'm sure that no matter the choice of art style, it'll be a great game!

I am not sold on the art style yet, but I agree that Monkey Island should not be pixel art. Curse was hand drawn and very expressive and the later two were 3D. I know Mega Man reverted to 8-bit for two recent games, but the latest one came back to present and even invented new gameplay elements. I wouldn't expect Monkey Island to do any less.
Also SCUMM is the last thing I would want to return. 3D ones also had wack controls. I hope Return sticks to pointing and clicking.

@Ogbert lol
Well the staircase was more a pixelated line kinda of staircase rather than a nice clean one in the original art.

I just wanted to state that pixel art is far more interesting if you use it well rather than emulate 8/16 bit nostalgia.

Oh, so we're not allowed to criticize stuff anymore because we might hurt the creator's precious feelings? Give me a break! I was one of those that immediately disliked the art style and I stand by my initial impression. Weird, angular, overly-stylized, soulless and just plain UGLY — looks like some Cartoon Network garbage. Maybe the game will be good, but it won't be because of the beautiful art style.

@pneumaticgnosis Yes you are allowed to criticize but don't expect that to change anything.
I bet Gilbert was taken aback by this response to him finally making a MI game since so many clamored for it over decades.

The backgrounds look a bit hit and miss I prefer more defined shapes and outlines but the faces look mostly quite lifeless so far.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Hell, I'm one of the few that didn't care for Breath of the Wild diverting so much from proper bosses and unique dungeons, and apparently I'm in the minority. Not sure why their feelings are hurt; not everyone can like the exact same thing. I personally think it's great, but like with all games, it's all about the end experience.

@BionicDodo I completely agree. Well said!

I'm not a fan of the new art, I can see why people would prefer the old pixel art. I don't know why this would cause outrage though, or for people not wanting the game to be made

...internet

Looks honestly true to the style of those old adventure games but with modern sheen

@pneumaticgnosis so creators aren’t allowed to be sad about peoples negativity and nastiness on the web so you and others can be negative and nasty without feeling bad?

While not my cup of tea, I think the artstyle is pretty nice. And frankly I'm just glad we have a new MI game at all rather then not have one ever.

Couldn’t care less about the graphics, TP ending was such a cheap meta thing that made little to no sense, such poor writing for a game that started just great, zack mc kraken without the awful labyrinths. Then the ending was sooo cheap, it broke my heart

Many old LucasArts games, especially Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and Sam & Max already had an art-style that resembled german expressionism. This style looks like a natural hi-res evolution of the old low-res style. The expressionism is dialed to 11 in the upcoming Monkey Island, but I don't think it's such a huge departure from some of the old LucasArts favourites.

I'm a long time player of SCUMM games (we're talking Maniac Mansion back on my Amiga 1000 in the late 80s), with the Monkey Island games being my favorite. I've played them through many times in recent years.

My opinion on the matter is that I'm perfectly fine with a non-pixel-art style, and totally agree with what Ron Gilbert said. Each game used the state-of-the-art resolutions available at the time. That's why Maniac Mansion, being the first, was originally 320x200. Yet games like Monkey Island were created in the highest resolution available (for consumers) and edited and touched up by hand to support lower resolutions. Do people play Monkey Island in EGA now? No, they play it in the highest resolution available. It only makes sense for a modern, new continuation of the game to use a higher resolution.

I can't believe fans are suggesting that it has to look a certain way to be an appropriate or good Monkey Island game, as long as it is a fun entertaining chapter in the adventure of Guybrush Threepwood visual style shouldn't be a gigantic deal; a new game made by the original creator how he wants to make it is exciting and wonderful I won't critique minor details surrounding something new in the series that was one of the first games I played back in the day on my home PC. Thank you for making it and giving us more of the story you originally intended Ron!

I dunno, personally I was disappointed to see Mega Man 11 adapt a new modern art style instead of sticking to the 8-bit NES style of games 1-6 and 9-10. But with that series I feel like it's a little more understandable to feel how I do as there are multiple Mega Man series and I feel like a unified at style for each one helps each series in the franchise retain their own identity. The style of 11 would be better fit for a new Mega Man series entirely or maybe for a new Mega Man X entry instead.

It looks fine to me. It reminds me of the remasters of the first two games, and that's a good thing.

I just don't like that it's relegating the 3rd, 4th, and 5th games to non-canon status.

@1982decepticon Besides, it's like these people have forgotten that the first two games already have excellent remasters in a more updated graphical style, anyway.

@BulbasaurusRex
The remasters looked real cheap though, as if they were designed for iOS. Some of the backgrounds were alright but for the most part it was pretty ugly. I much prefer the new art style (which I don’t love).
Regardless, if thimbleweed is anything to go by, it will be an awesome game

@pdl1989 The remasters aren't ugly at all and at the very least massively improved the graphics over those of the original versions.

Besides, how can you much prefer the art style for this new game over the art style for the remakes when the styles are so similar?

@BulbasaurusRex
I don’t think it’s a massive improvement over the originals. I much prefer the original with pixel graphics (especially in the close-ups). I think the second game in particular is much better in its original version. Like I said, remasters look like cheap iOS remasters to me (which they kind of are).
The remaster art is somewhat similar to this new stuff, but the art in this new game is much more detailed. Compare the shot of the gaol area in both games.

As for the non Gilbert games becoming non-canon, last I heard that wasn’t entirely the case, though I’d be glad if it was. I always viewed them separately anyway. I’m just disappointed they brought back Dom armato. That guy sucks.

@DanteSolablood
I disagree. Personally I’d way prefer the next Mario, Metroid, and Zelda games to be pixel art. I think the retro look is better in almost all cases. For example, I way prefer Brutal Doom to the modern Doom games. I also think almost all of the best games that have released in the last 5 or 6 years have been 2d games, indie games, and pixel games. Triple A games suck arse. They’re all exactly the same. I think if large companies scaled back in the graphical departments, stuck to a retro look, and spent their budget on mechanics and gameplay instead games would be a lot less derivative than they’ve been for the past decade.

@BulbasaurusRex it's not entirely retconning the other games, according to Ron Gilbert.