Announced during the Xbox Games Showcase last month, The Legend of Monkey Island is the latest collaboration to feature in Sea of Thieves. Starting on July 21, instalments of The Legend of Monkey Island will release monthly, exploring an all-new Tall Tale featuring beloved characters (and voice actors) from the original franchise.
Your adventures will have you meet Guybrush Threepwood, his beloved Elaine, the dreaded ghost captain LeChuck, Murray the Demonic Talking Skull and more iconic characters. Taking a break from the Sea of Thieves, you’ll visit freely explorable versions of Mêlée Island and Monkey Island, solving puzzles reminiscent of the original franchise, meeting weird and wonderful new characters and reliving the iconic nostalgia-soaked series from a new perspective.
Three Tall Tales comprise The Legend of Monkey Island in Sea of Thieves, built in collaboration with the original developer Lucasfilm Games and free-to-play for all players.
Ahead of launching the first instalment, Xbox invited us to sail into the Sea of Damned and drop anchor at Mêlée Island for the first time.
First and foremost, it’s worth noting that this expansion is for more than just fans of the Monkey Island franchise. No prior knowledge is required, and the new Tall Tales offer something for everyone. This standalone experience offers plenty of background to the Monkey Island history, ensuring every player can follow along and enjoy the adventure.
The Tall Tale begins with a ghostly monologue from the disembodied voice of Guybrush Threepwood, introducing himself and his pirate legend. There’s an eery threat looming over the Island; of course, it’s up to you to figure out what’s going on and fix it. Sailing into the bay, I felt like I was on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney and overwhelmed by nostalgic whimsy as my Sloop neared the island of Mêlée. Excitedly, I leapt off the deck and onto the dock, forgetting to anchor. As the bow of my ship crumbled, my belongings floated to the ocean’s surface, and I found myself on the doorstep of a familiar place, The Scumm Bar.
From the get-go, it was evident that Rare has put enormous effort and care into recreating the environment from the original 2D games. Mêlée Island is beautifully rendered and designed to feel like a living and breathing world. As soon as you dock, you are free to explore the available areas of the island and complete a handful of puzzles and tasks for a colourful cast of characters that all intersect to help you progress.
These puzzles are just plain fun. The Tale requires a little bit of critical thinking to analyse dialogue and other context clues but it never felt unnecessarily complex or time-consuming. The momentum never dragged, I didn’t have to do too much backtracking and overall, I felt rewarded whenever I was struck by an ‘aha’ moment or came across exactly what I needed to succeed.
The Sea of Thieves collaboration with The Legend of Monkey Island is nothing groundbreaking but it is very entertaining and I am already looking forward to the next chapter. You can enter the Tall Tale with your crew, but I think this expansion (at least the first instalment) is better as a solo experience. There is so much to explore and so many nuanced references to the original franchise to discover, I encourage players to set a steady pace and take the time to immerse themselves in the rich world that Rare has built.
Sea of Thieves is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC via the Xbox App and Steam. It’s also included in the Xbox Game Pass subscription for players on both console and PC.
The first instalment of The Legend of Monkey Island is available on all platforms, free to all players now, so go check it out!
