The Booze of Monkey Island is a fan-made mini-adventure that’s more than ship-shape

A group of Monkey Island fans have come together to create their own, mini point-and-click adventure game based on Monkey Island series.

It is called The Booze of Monkey Island, and project developer Bean Adventure Agency describes it as a “love letter” to the official Monkey Island games. Once again, players are popped into the shoes of Mighty Pirate Guybrush Threepwood, and once again, his love Elaine has fallen afoul of LeChuck. These are characters originally created by Ron Gilbert, as Booze of Monkey Island’s creators acknowledge in the opening credits.

The game starts with Guybrush in a destroyed ship, with a comatose pirate and a lot of debris standing between him and the way out. Of course, this being a homage to the point-and-click Monkey Island games, Guybrush can use objects around him to puzzle his way out of the ship, and onto the relative safety of Booty Island. Here, he makes a deal with the local bartender: convince three more patrons to frequent his bar, and he will help get Guybrush’s ship seaworthy.

I have played through the first few puzzle sections – which I won’t spoil here in case you fancy taking your own dive back into the depths of the Caribbean – but I will say this: it is a pretty slick little fan-made project for fellow Monkey Island fans. It boasts fun dialogue, great graphics and the same atmosphere you would expect from an official game from Gilbert and company.

Along with familiar locales, such as the Governor’s Mansion, players will also come across some familiar faces as they explore Booty Island. This includes Wally and Kate Capsize. Meanwhile, conversations with those on the island reference things that happened in the official Monkey Island games.

I am not sure how long The Booze of Monkey Island will last. After all, it is not an official Monkey Island game, and, well, lawyers. But, if you like, The Booze of Monkey Island can be downloaded from Bean Adventure Agency on itch.io for free now.

As for what Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert is up to, earlier this year it transpired the developer is working on a new game, which he describes as “Classic Zelda meets Diablo meets Thimbleweed Park”.