4Players: Games of the year 2022: 18th place: Return to Monkey Island

More than 30 long years have elapsed between the 1991 release of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge and the 2022 finale of the original Monkey Island trilogy. Wow, even Shenmue, with his 18-year dry spell between parts 2 & 3, can pack up. With Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, 66.7% (rounded!) of the former series triumvirate are at the start – and they actually managed to reignite the old fire.

If you didn’t grab the release right away, you’re laughing your ass off now – because there’s now a good German voice output, which makes enjoying many gags even more comfortable. Return to Monkey Island manages a multiple balancing act: The game quotes itself without copying itself flatly. It stays true to the good old adventure principle without boring in 2022. And it ditches the nice ol’ pixel graphics, but has a very distinctive new comic book flavor. That may cause scurvy in some old-fashioned buccaneers, but as Jack Sparrow once said to Klaus Strtebeker: “You can’t please everyone.”

In short: the return of Guybrush Treepwood and his sympathetic gang, the visit to the scumm bar and the pushing around and combining funny items left a thoroughly comfortable feeling in the inclined adventure fan. Thanks in part to his new Sprint ability, Guybrush easily ranks 18th on our top list with Return to Monkey Island.