After a curious absence from Devolver Digital's Devolver Direct showcase earlier this month, Return to Monkey Island, the long-awaited newest entry in the Monkey Island series, finally appeared during the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase earlier this week. This latest trailer revealed new story elements for Return to Monkey Island as well as a first look at gameplay. One of the biggest reveals however was of its art style, which has received some backlash since it was first teased in April. With the release of this trailer, the latest wave of backlash has caused series creator Ron Gilbert to shut down his personal blog.

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Gilbert has run his blog, Grumpy Gamer, for years, where he would post updates on projects currently in development, personal posts, and stories about his time at LucasArts and Humongous Entertainment. After Disney's acquisition of LucasFilm and its IP, Gilbert wrote multiple pieces about how he would create a new Monkey Island game if given the chance. Today, in response to backlash surrounding Return to Monkey Island's art style, the Grumpy Gamer blog has been taken down, with the link to the site timing out and not loading.

Before delisting the site, Gilbert responded to personal attacks he and the team were receiving regarding the game, which has since been shared by Guybrush Threepwood voice actor Dominic Armato. In the post, Ron Gilbert states "I'm shutting down comments. People are just being mean and I'm having to delete personal attack comments." He later continues "I won't be posting anymore about the game. The joy of sharing has been driven from me."

This response has understandably disappointed many within the Monkey Island community that are happy or indifferent towards the art style change, however it is just as understandable that Gilbert felt the need to make this decision as some comments on the thread were definitely in poor taste towards the team making the game and Gilbert himself. Regardless, it's sad to see the developer have to defend itself from personal attacks over something that ultimately matters very little in regards to a Monkey Island game. Hopefully this situation calms before the release of Return to Monkey Island later in 2022.

Return to Monkey Island will release on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2022.

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