Return to Monkey Island director will no longer post about the game online due to toxic comments

Return to Monkey Island director will no longer post about the game online due to toxic comments
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

Posted in News

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Ron Gilbert has said he’ll no longer be posting online about upcoming adventure Return to Monkey Island.

Gilbert made the announcement after he shutting down comments on his Grumpy Gamer blog following what he called “personal attack comments”. Indeed, at the time of writing the entire site is inaccessible, though it’s currently not clear if this is also Gilbert’s doing or otherwise. Gilbert had been sharing behind the scenes insight into Return To Monkey Island on said blog since April.

A final post spotted by Video Games Chronicle and reposted by Guybrush Threepwood voice actor Dominic Armato explained Gilbert’s reasoning. “I’m shutting down comments. People are just being mean and I’m having to delete personal attack comments. It’s an amazing game and everyone on the team is very proud of it. Play it or don’t play it, but don’t ruin it for everyone else. I won’t be posting anymore about the game. The joy of sharing has been driven from me.”

Return to Monkey Island‘s art is being led by Rex Crowle, who previously worked on Tearaway, Knights and Bikes and Little Big Planet. Gilbert has previously defended the new game’s art style, praising Rex’s involvement. “Rex is an amazing creative force and we have a team of incredible artists, animators, sound designers, programmers, and testers all pouring their souls into this game and it’s beautiful to see, play, and listen to.”

Of course, the series is also no stranger to controversial art style changes either. Back in 1997, The Curse of Monkey Island faced a pre-internet pushback going from pixel-art to a hand-drawn style. We certainly think it’s looking great so far, so we hope the naysayers minds can be changed.  We’ll find out when Return to Monkey Island launches on Nintendo Switch and PC later this year.