“Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!” is one of the most well-known phrases in the history of video games for good reason. And it wouldn’t have existed without Ron Gilbert, the author of ‘Monkey Island’, ‘Thimbleweed Park’, and ‘The Cave’, who is now returning with a game that harkens back to 16-bit adventures in the style of ‘The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’. And I’m not far off with that comparison.
Doing the monkey
The game in question still doesn’t have a title, but we do know that it is a mix of three franchises that are initially impossible to combine: Zelda, ‘Diablo’, and ‘Thimbleweed Park’. We will know more as the year goes by, as it may be released in 2024. Although, frankly, I would expect it more for 2025.
In her Mastodon account (because yes, Gilbert is one of those people who left Twitter and really did it) she has already indicated that she has joined Terrible Toybox as a mission designer for Elissa Black (‘Objects in space’). And according to Gilbert, “This increases the chances of finishing the game by 37% before getting bored and disappointed”.
Frankly, coming from Ron Gilbert it’s a guaranteed purchase. He may be the person with the clearest ideas, the sharpest pencil, and the most polished style in the industry today, and anything he decides to do will automatically be interesting. We’ll have to wait to find out until late 2024. Or early 2025. At this point, who knows.