One of the most revered and treasured video game franchises is making a grand return with a brand new entry. Return To Monkey Island has been announced and will be helmed by none other than the creator of the series Ron Gilbert. Gilbert actually made this reveal on April 1, but since that was the day of pranks and jokes, no one seemed to take it seriously. As it turns out the joke was on everyone, as Gilbert has made the reveal official with an actual website and a full announcement trailer to boot.

A little something we’ve been working on for the past 2 years in complete secrecy.https://t.co/qwmxpYjpe5

— Ron Gilbert (@grumpygamer) April 4, 2022

The game is being billed as a full-fledged sequel to the first two entries in the series, The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, both of which were created and directed by Gilbert before he departed LucasArts to form another gaming studio. The sequels that followed, The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island, were made without Gilbert who has been fairly vocal about his dislike for the later entries. Therefore, Gilbert is presenting Return to Monkey Island as the proper follow-up to the first two.

The trailer runs for less than a minute but its message is very clear. We see the talking skull head, Skull Murray, get kicked right into the water by another skeleton playing a violin. This is more than likely a message from Gilbert, as Skull Murray was created after he departed, and represents the latter half of the franchise. We don’t know a lot about this new entry other than it’s coming sometime in 2022, and that it’s being published by arguably the largest indie publisher on the planet; Devolver Digital.

It’s possible that we’ll actually get the secret from the Secret of Monkey Island, something that has yet to be revealed in the 30 plus years since the original came out. Gilbert has mentioned in the past that if he ever got the chance to make another entry he would unveil the mystery surrounding the island. That alone has us excited to play this title, along with the fact that Gilbert is finally back in the director’s chair for this one. Hopefully, he’ll have some more information for us in the coming months.

Return to Monkey Island will launch sometime this year.