Ron Gilbert, creator of the Monkey Island franchise, apparently wasn’t consulted and didn’t know that Monkey Island DLC was in the works for Sea of Thieves.
As reported by Time Extension, Ron Gilbert wasn’t aware of the upcoming Legend of Monkey Island free DLC for Sea of Thieves, which was announced in the Xbox Showcase last night and is set for release on 20th July.
When asked on the social-media site Mastodon whether he was involved with the DLC, Gilbert replied: “Nope. Wasn’t even told about it. Happened behind my back.”
Gilbert wrote and directed The Secret of Monkey Island back in 1990, and also directed the sequel, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, released the following year. He wasn’t involved with subsequent entries in the series, but came back to the franchise in 2022, writing and directing the acclaimed Return to Monkey Island (you can read all about the making of the Monkey Island series, with contributions from Gilbert, in this 2020 retrospective).
Rare has collaborated with Lucasfilm Games to create The Legend of Monkey Island for Sea of Thieves, and since Lucasfilm owns the Monkey Island IP, there is no legal reason why Rob Gilbert should have been consulted. But it does seem a bit off that the person who created the series – and who just last year successfully revived it – should be sidelined.
According to an interview with Sea of Thieves Creative Director Mike Chapman on Xbox Wire, The Legend of Monkey Island picks up with the story of Guybrush Threepwood after he marries Elaine at the end of The Curse of Monkey Island. As shown in the trailer above, it will feature appearances from the pirate LeChuck, as well as fan favourite Murray the Talking Skull.
Read more: Melee and Mirth: The Making of Monkey Island
Thank God Gilbert wasn’t involved. Fans will disagree until the end of time, but in my opinion, the ending to LeChuck’s Revenge sucked… and I’m not alone in that assessment.
I had hoped with Return to Monkey Island, he would have learned his lesson and given up on his metaphorical “was any of it real?” endings… after all, it had been 30 years since his last installment and the MI franchise had moved on from his vision…
… but no… he pulled the same bait and switch metaphor crap that he did with MI2. He pushed the ending *HE* wanted, not the ending the fans wanted… even though it stopped being *HIS* game long ago… Except this ending was worse, as we didn’t even get a climactic final confrontation.
I pray that this crossover erases the stain of RtMI’s ending and gives fans a true final send-off fitting for the characters that we have spent over 30 years with.