Monkey Island vs. Max Payne…this is what the editors say about the return of the classics

The “Internal editorial” format gives you an insight into the editorial team far away from a webcam, magazine column or videos. Each PCGH editor gives their personal commentary on a topical issue here. We not only cover the whole world of PC hardware, but also games including current console titles, films and technology in general – which influences our daily life in a variety of ways. Redaktion Intern appears regularly at the weekend. The topic this time:

Monkey Island vs. Max Payne…

Background: Max Payne & Monkey Island

Calendar week 14 of the year 2022 was a celebration for PC friends of all ages. While the young and those with an affinity for technology were delighted with various news about Unreal Engine 5, the older ones are happy about the return of two warhorses: Guybrush Threepwood and Max Payne will soon experience more or less new adventures. The genres could hardly be more different, but both brands set standards.

Payne to the Max: As Remedy, developer of Max Payne 1 and 2, announced, they are working together with Rockstar Games on remakes of the two games, which enjoy an almost legendary reputation among shooter friends. It’s been over 20 years since the film noir shooter’s eponymous hero, Max Payne, set out to avenge the murder of his wife and daughter. The original version from July 2001 was confiscated directly by the BPjM, only in 2012 Max Payne was removed from the list of media harmful to young people. The excellent sequel was released in October 2003 with the subtitle The Fall of Max Payne, it passed as an “18er”. Rockstar Games is taking over the entire budget for the development, it should correspond to “the scope of a typical AAA game production by Remedy”. This means that there is no “small” remaster here. The agreement also provides that Remedy will receive a royalty “after Rockstar Games recoups its development, marketing and other costs of distributing and publishing the game.” The project is currently in the concept development phase.

Mighty pirate: For a long time, there was hope for the “real Monkeys Island 3” and now it can become reality: Ron Gilbert’s Terrible Toybox and Devolver Digital have secured the rights from Disney and want to bring an adventure called Return to Monkey Island onto the market. According to the trailer, Return to Monkey Island is the long-awaited game that will follow on from The Curse of Monkey Island and Monkey Island: LeChuck’s Revenge. Not much is known, but you can already say that it will not be a pixel art game like Thimbleweed Park. Terrible Toybox uses 3D technology and the trailer should already make it clear what style the adventure will have. This might displease the die-hard fans in particular, but it’s at least roughly in line with the Monkey Island special editions. The fans can at least be appeased with the English voiceover: Guybrush Threepwood is again provided by Dominic Armato. Best of all: The game is coming in 2022, according to the trailer. Read bluntly what the PCGH editors think of all this in the picture gallery.