When it came to the early days of computer gaming, the graphic adventure genre was dominant throughout the late ’80s and into the ’90s. One of the most successful examples of this type of game was The Secret of Monkey Island, which released in 1990.
The inaugural game in what would become a successful series for LucasArts, The Secret of Monkey Island was a point-and-click adventure title that followed protagonist Guybrush Threepwood as he explored the titular island. Guybrush hopes to become a successful pirate, but must complete three trials to do so – winning a sword duel, finding buried treasure, and stealing an item from the governor’s mansion. Along the way he hears of the Ghost Pirate LeChuck, who he must eventually defeat in a battle that rages across the entire island.
The game was designed by Ron Gilbert (who also worked on Maniac Mansion), Tim Schafer (who went on to found Double Fine Productions), and Dave Grossman (who created the Pajama Sam adventure games). Gilbert in particular was frustrated with many adventure games of the time, which had a tendency to lock players into a no-win situation where a death or otherwise “game over” scenario was unavoidable. Secret of Monkey Island was designed so that this wasn’t possible, instead allowing for a greater sense of exploration and freedom without the concerns of a surprise game over. As far as the atmosphere of the game itself, Gilbert took a lot of inspiration from the classic Disney dark ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as from the Tim Powers novel On Stranger Tides.
Secret of Monkey Island sold well and was critically acclaimed on its release; today it is considered one of the most influential point-and-click adventures of all time and is on the “best of” lists from many publications. Four sequels have been released in the decades since, with the most recent, Tales of Monkey Island, arriving in 2009. The original game was also remastered and rereleased in 2009. The future of the series has been foggy, though – when Disney purchased LucasArts in 2012, they accordingly acquired the rights to the series. There have been no formal announcements whatsoever since then about a new entry in the series.
