Oh, I have missed the old-school point-and-click adventure games. I have been waiting for Return to Monkey Island since its announcement. And this week, that release date finally arrived. I ended up playing on the Switch, and upfront Return to Monkey Island on Switch is fine. The controls are a little flakey and have some quirks.
I decided to play on Switch because I needed to walk away from the PC for a while. Finding things of interest to interact with is the heart of a point-and-click, but using a controller as a mouse can be frustrating. On the Switch, depending on where you stand there are areas highlighted to select. It works, but the positions are tricky to line up. They can disappear completely once you choose one option. This is my biggest complaint about Return to Monkey Island on Switch. It may also apply to other console releases in the future.
But that is the only downside I have met playing Return to Monkey Island. I am loving the game, and intend to take my time enjoying it.

The first choice of the game is playing in casual or hard mode. I jumped straight into hard mode, for the full Monkey Island experience. After playing for a few hours, I ended up looking up what the difference is.
The short version I found without spoilers – some puzzles are quicker to solve in casual mode. Not easier, only that you don’t need to complete some extra steps. As Return to Monkey Island has an inbuilt hint book, I would suggest playing straight on hard mode.

If you have never played the series, I think you will be OK jumping straight in. There is a scrapbook with the highlights like Le Chuck is your rival and Elaine your wife. Other bits and pieces have come out in gameplay that I was aware of. Not enough to be exposition dumps, but enough to let you continue knowing there is backstory.
For example, the joke about explaining Loom will be lost on new players, but it has no impact on gameplay. If you played Monkey Island, you know who I am talking about. If you haven’t, there is enough to let you know that there was joke and don’t stress.

I have had a lot of fun playing the game, and I am currently in the third act of the game. Because Return to Monkey Island isn’t a week old, I won’t go into any more detail this week. But if you were curious, I can’t recommend it enough. I am having a ball playing, and have had multiple instances of laughing out loud.
I can’t recommend Return to Monkey Island enough.
