You guys don’t think it looks like Curse?
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That’s strange, I felt the opposite. To me, the color scheme was identical to more than one background in Curse.
Actually, when I saw the image the first time, I instantly mistook it for a background of the game. I realized that it wasn’t only after I started paying attention to its contents.
The first image your posted by the gravekeeper’s fire is exactly what I thought of when I saw Tiller’s SCUMM bar. I wonder if it’s been a while since some of us have played through CMI? I did a playthrough recently when we were doing the MI playthrough and not all of CMI is bright and cheery.
I agree that Curse has always felt different from MI 1 or 2. Nonetheless, after some initial irritation about how bizarre the characters looked, I have enjoyed the style of CoMI very much.
I think, the charaters look bizarre as well in RtMI, but, after all, RtMI looks way more similar to MI 1 than CoMI does. Obviously, it was important to Ron, Dave and their team that people would recognize any places from previous MI games, which actually is remarkable to me, because I didn’t oberserve this ambition in CoMI, Escape or Tales.
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I need help figuring out if this is an optical thing I’m seeing wrong, or if I’m seeing it right and it’s just the style.
Is it the case that LeChuck has his lips permanently extended beyond his head? Like… two different versions of a mouth existing simultaneously? You sort of look to the center and he has a grim face, but then you notice there are mouth corners hanging on the edge independently and this version is a smile? It’s gotten me since the trailer, but now we’re seeing more and more of LeChuck; maybe I’ve just been “looking at it wrong”?
EDIT: Like… the foreground layer being his nose and lower jaw - the grim face. The background layer being his smile curving upward. With an intersection in the lower-center where his foreground jaw covers his background curving smile (offering competing versions of teeth), the two coexisting in a way.
It could be just the style or it could be that the mask doesn’t cover entirely his face.
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Dude, don’t hype me for this being a zombie mask with a kid’s face underneath it.
Why shouldn’t it be? It’s Gilbert’s universe.
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…and regardless of what other people think, I still maintain my impression that the game is intentionally focused on kids and silly juvenile humor.
Rex Crowle excerpt from the PC Gamer article.
Even though we’ve been working in a very modern style, the colour palettes and the shapes are deliberately very reminiscent of the original games. You can kind of step back from your monitor and see that it almost looks identical to the early games from a distance. At least, that’s the idea. And then you get close and you see that there’s so many more details; there’s so much more movement in there. That’s how we’re connecting the style across the years.
I think there is an element of point-and-click adventures that are a little bit like pop-up books. I love how with pop-up books, with each page that you open, it’s just a whole new world. I think that’s the really fun thing about point-and-click adventures; the rewards are going to a new section each time and getting to take it in. All of the environments are all hand painted and crafted, and they can all differ massively from each other, but like with a pop-up book, they are all about speaking to the player’s curiosity and getting them engaged with these detailed environments.
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That’s nice. Another confirmation that the pop-up book theme is somehow related to the art style.
Even in the official website, the player can interact with a spider, not because it’s important to do that but just because it’s funny.
It reminds me how some pop-up books work: sometimes a page contains small elements that can be further explored, revealing new details.
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Gee, I don’t dare ask what it would look like if the color palette were not reminiscent of the original games😬
(except the exteriors. Those are faithful to the originals, admittedly)
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I’m just going to say strong disagree to the following phrases:
“modern style”, because Ron saw the fanart over ten years ago.
“almost looks identical to the early games from a distance”, because I have been reminded by fans countless times that it looks different and that is a good thing.
“you get close and you see that there’s so many more details”, because big whoop if your basic geometric shapes have various shades of color to them when you zoom in, it doesn’t come close to the details of Guybrush opening a parrot’s cage 30+ years ago. I’m cursing outloud right now, all the lies and pretension.
You know, with the actual secret of Monkey Island, people have speculated so many varied possibilities, that there’s no way Ron’s answer or non-answer can be very different than at least one of the guesses. Especially after Thimbleweed and Ron’s interviews over the literal decades, I have trouble imagining that any story beat they come up with can shock us to our core. Yes, Noah Falstein was very impressed with what the first ten minutes did, but has he played Undertale and Deltarune? Has he played the Stanley Parable? Gamers have seen things and written dissertations before.
Even though I could be wrong: I have trouble imagining anything about the narrative or style of the game that could get people as surprised and controversial as what has hovered around the art discussion. The game might prove me wrong. But if not, wouldn’t that be a shame? Wouldn’t it be a shame if the most notable facet of this game were its new character art, love it or hate it?
You guys have pondered whether the art will hold up in future years. But have you speculated whether, in future years, more people will associate Return with its bold story and characterization, or with its bold art and character design? This magazine article seems to highlight it quite a bit.
Okay, I’m done. Again.
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My dear fellow monkey island fan, let me share with you a different path: it might be better to hope for the best and later being disappointed than assuming for months that the game will not fulfill your desires.
I’m reading On Stranger Tides not because I suspect/hope that the new game will adopt that same tone or style but because I’m pretty sure that it will not and, at least, I want to transform this waiting period into a positive experience.
The second paragraph sounds like you are not hoping for the best, but are instead tempering your expectations so as to more likely be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.
That might well be. 
Seriously, Thimbleweed Park was an excellent game, in my opinion, but the social context in which the game existed (the Kickstarter, the development blog, this forum, the people that I’ve met, etc.) is for sure the real value that I got from that project.
In the same way, the social experience that I’m getting from interacting with other RtMI fans has a value greatly superior than just “getting/playing the game”. I’m already aware that the game will not satisfy my expectations, because my expectations are mine and they have little to do with what the developers wanted to create.
So it’s better to attribute to this game less importance and to enjoy the moment instead of really hoping for unrealistic expectations.
Does this mean that I wouldn’t scream like a cheerleader if the game will show to me what I wanted to experience? No. I definitely would. But not counting on it is the key to a healthful wait. 
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It’s true that I’ve gotten more joy from reexploring Secret of Monkey Island in the last few months, than I did in my childhood. Revisiting the game and discovering more about it… surpassed my nostalgia for it. 
Even in reexamining MI2, I learned about the layer of angst and nihilism that I hadn’t realized before; I think I have a better understanding of why I loved it so much in high school!
MI6 would have a better chance at competing against my “memory of Monkey Island”, than it does competing against my rediscovery of it.
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I haven’t voted because you have closed that poll much too early, tsts.
When I first saw those screenshots I immediately thought of Knights and Bikes.
I was still surprised when I found out on RtMI’s homepage that Rex Crowle is actually the art director!
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Oh, sorry Nor. 
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No problem, at least I got here before its release. 
…
It hasn’t been released yet, has it?
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