
Classic adventure game Monkey Island returns to mobile
Monkey Island Adventure Game Series Makes Its Mobile Debut with Return to Monkey Island
The beloved classic adventure game series, Monkey Island, is set to make its way to mobile devices for the first time since 2015. The latest installment, Return to Monkey Island, will be available for iOS and Android users starting from July 2023.
Originally developed by LucasArts, the Monkey Island series is a franchise of point & click adventure games, with the first title released in 1990. The series was primarily created by developers Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman, and it includes four installments, beginning with the original Secret of Monkey Island. After the rights to the franchise were transferred to TellTale Games in 2009, they produced Tales of Monkey Island. Eventually, the rights were leased back to Ron Gilbert's new studio, Terrible Toybox, leading to the release of Return to Monkey Island for various platforms, including Xbox, PS5, Steam, GoG, and Nintendo Switch in 2022.
Now, the franchise is making its long-awaited jump to mobile devices on July 27, 2023, with Devolver Digital handling the publishing duties for the mobile version. The publisher has been increasingly involved in the mobile gaming market.
The decision to bring Return to Monkey Island to mobile seems like a natural one. The classic adventure game format of the Monkey Island series is well-suited for handheld devices, with less emphasis on high-end graphics and processing power and more focus on intriguing, slow-paced screen-searching and hidden object-style gameplay. The intuitive touch controls also lend themselves well to the game's interface, which was originally designed for mouse interactions.
This mobile release marks the first time the franchise has appeared on mobile devices since its initial debut on iPad, which was later removed in 2015. Interestingly, the mobile release follows closely after the game's return to consoles and PC after more than a decade. It highlights how mobile has become an appealing platform for developers to bring their titles, even immediately after launching on major consoles and desktops. It also suggests that the previous iPad ports may have served as a testing ground for the high-quality console and PC versions we now see on mobile.
As of now, pre-registration for Return to Monkey Island is available on the Google Play Store, though the pricing details are yet to be revealed. Fans of the series can look forward to rediscovering the magic of Monkey Island on their mobile devices in just a few short weeks.
Source: Iwan Morris, Staff Writer at PocketGamer