Ron Gilbert told Polygon this week that another Monkey Island is “really complicated” and offered no timeline beyond a shrug. Two years after Return to Monkey Island wrapped up his creative arc, that reads as the end of the road for a while. These Monkey Island alternatives for PC are the games worth loading up in the meantime, all point-and-click adventures with the verb-driven puzzle logic, the smart-alec dialogue, or the LucasArts pedigree that made Guybrush Threepwood memorable in the first place.
We pulled seven from what is actually on Steam or GOG in 2026, ranged across price, era, and how modern each feels. Every pick runs on Windows and most run natively on macOS and Linux, with the older ones covered by ScummVM if the store version misbehaves.
Quick comparison
| Game | Best for | Approx. price | Age | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return to Monkey Island | Actual Monkey Island | Around $25 | 2022 | Ron Gilbert closing the arc his way |
| Thimbleweed Park | Ron Gilbert without pirates | Around $20 | 2017 | Five playable leads and X-Files tone |
| Grim Fandango Remastered | Best-written adventure ever | Around $15 | Remaster of 1998 | Manny Calavera in art-deco afterlife |
| Day of the Tentacle Remastered | Purest LucasArts puzzles | Around $15 | Remaster of 1993 | Three timelines that solve each other |
| Full Throttle Remastered | Short, cinematic ride | Around $15 | Remaster of 1995 | Ben and biker gangs, four hours end to end |
| Broken Sword: Reforged | Non-LucasArts classic feel | Around $30 | 2024 rework of 1996 | Templar mystery redrawn scene by scene |
| Sam & Max Save the World | Comedy with modern polish | Around $20 | Remaster of 2006 | Freelance police, episodic structure |
Why people are looking past Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island, Escape from Monkey Island, Tales, Special Editions, Return to Monkey Island. The catalog is not small. But once you have played the good ones twice, the specific itch persists: verb-based puzzles that reward reading dialogue, a comic sensibility that trusts the player to be smart, characters that behave the same way across scenes. The complaints on r/adventuregames and the Grumpy Gamer comments repeat:
- The remasters are the last supply. Special Editions of Monkey Island 1 and 2 exist, Return closed the arc, and Ron Gilbert says another one is “really complicated”. Nothing new is queued.
- The wider LucasArts vault is patchy. Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle got remasters. Sam & Max Hit the Road did not. Loom did not. The catalog is uneven.
- Modern adventures often drop the puzzles. Telltale-style choose-your-line games look like adventures but do not use inventory or verb logic. Players missing Monkey Island tend to want the puzzles specifically.
- The comic writing is rare. A lot of contemporary adventure games chase tone (folk horror, cozy, mystery) rather than jokes. Finding one that is actually funny is harder than finding one that looks like an adventure game.
Each pick below scratches at least one of those, ordered from most-Monkey-Island-like to most-different.
Return to Monkey Island, best if you never got to the 2022 return
Return to Monkey Island is the obvious first stop and the obvious blind spot for anyone who checked out of the series after Curse. Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman came back for it, Guybrush is older and more resigned, and the puzzles are legitimately Monkey Island puzzles rather than the branching dialogue that Telltale’s Tales had. The visual style split fans down the middle, but the writing is exactly what the series does when it is at its best.
Where it falls short: The art style is polarizing if you were expecting the Special Edition look. The final act is deliberately meta, which some players read as a shrug rather than a landing.
Pricing:
- Paid: Around $25 on Steam and GOG, regular discounts to under $10 on sale
- vs Monkey Island 1 SE: Same authors, same tone, longer runtime, more expensive
Migrating from Monkey Island 1 or 2: No save transfer, but every recurring character shows up and the plot pretends the intervening entries mostly did not happen. The learning curve is nothing.
Bottom line: If you skipped this at launch because of the art, play it now. It is the closest thing to Monkey Island 3 that Gilbert will make.
Thimbleweed Park, best for the Ron Gilbert voice without pirates
Thimbleweed Park is what Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick did between Maniac Mansion and Return. Five playable leads, an FBI-and-clown small town that is more X-Files than Caribbean, and puzzles that lean on classic LucasArts verb logic. The Twin Peaks influence is on the surface and the ending divides players, but the middle 15 hours are the best pure-LucasArts adventure released this century.
Where it falls short: The final act ties itself in knots. If you dislike meta reveals, you will not love the last hour. The tone shift halfway through catches some players off guard.
Pricing:
- Paid: Around $20 on Steam, GOG, and Xbox PC
- vs Monkey Island: More characters, fewer laughs, more atmosphere
Migrating from Monkey Island: Same UI conventions, same puzzle rhythm. Nothing new to learn.
Bottom line: The one to play right after Return if you want more time in a Ron Gilbert brain.
Grim Fandango Remastered, best writing in the genre
Grim Fandango Remastered is Tim Schafer’s noir set in the Mexican Land of the Dead, redrawn for HD with the original 3D characters over new pre-rendered backgrounds. The writing is the reason to be here. Manny Calavera the travel agent for dead souls, four years of the case that will not close, a script that lands lines the way Casablanca does. The puzzles do not always match the writing but the atmosphere carries.
Where it falls short: Tank controls are optional now but the level design remembers them, so movement feels awkward on modern gamepads and mouse. A couple of late puzzles are famously opaque.
Pricing:
- Paid: Around $15 on Steam and GOG, often $3 or less on sale
- vs Monkey Island: More cinematic, less funny, better dialogue
Migrating from Monkey Island: Similar-era LucasArts sensibility, different UI. Give the tutorial ten minutes to click.
Bottom line: Non-negotiable if you liked the writing in Monkey Island more than the pirates.
Day of the Tentacle Remastered, best puzzles in the genre
Day of the Tentacle Remastered is the sharpest pure LucasArts puzzle box, three characters split across three eras of the same house, each one sending items back and forth in time. Every solution is a chain and every chain is fair. The Double Fine remaster keeps the cartoon look and adds a hint feature that most people should ignore.
Where it falls short: Shorter than Monkey Island 1 (six to eight hours). The colonial-era humor lands unevenly.
Pricing:
- Paid: Around $15 on Steam and GOG
- vs Monkey Island: Better puzzles, weaker plot, more Saturday-morning-cartoon energy
Migrating from Monkey Island: Identical UI to the Special Editions. Zero friction.
Bottom line: Pick this the weekend you want to remember what a great puzzle chain feels like.
Full Throttle Remastered, best if you want it done in a night
Full Throttle Remastered is the shortest game on this list and the best pick for a Saturday night. Ben and the Polecats, a corporate frame-up, a road-trip through desert biker country. The runtime is four to five hours. The bike-combat mini-games are optional cheese, the actual point-and-click content is tight, and the voice cast is the tightest LucasArts ever assembled.
Where it falls short: So short that first-timers sometimes assume they missed content. The bike fights have aged badly and can be skipped from the menu.
Pricing:
- Paid: Around $15 on Steam and GOG
- vs Monkey Island: Shorter, moodier, less puzzly
Migrating from Monkey Island: Same era, tighter runtime. Reads more like an interactive movie.
Bottom line: Buy it on sale for a fiver and finish it in one sitting.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Reforged, best non-LucasArts classic
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Reforged is Revolution Software’s 2024 rework of the 1996 original, scene by scene, with hand-painted backgrounds redrawn at 4K and every animation redone. George Stobbart on the trail of a Templar conspiracy that runs from Paris to Ireland to Syria. The plot is more serious than Monkey Island, the puzzles are gentler, and the sense of place is stronger than any of the LucasArts stuff.
Where it falls short: No verb menu, single-verb interaction only. Purists miss the LucasArts UI. The goat puzzle survived intact (fans will know).
Pricing:
- Paid: Around $30 on Steam and GOG, often 40% off
- vs Monkey Island: More globe-trotting, less silly, better art
Migrating from Monkey Island: Different developer, different UI, same era energy. Ten minutes to acclimate.
Bottom line: The best “wait, that’s not LucasArts?” pick on this list.
Sam & Max Save the World Remastered, best if you like the comedy specifically
Sam & Max Save the World is Telltale’s 2006 episodic revival, remastered in 2020 by Skunkape Games (a team of ex-Telltale developers) with better lighting, new music mixes, and a hint system. The six episodes are self-contained cases that reintroduced episodic adventure as a viable format. The two leads, a dog detective and a manic bunny, are the comic descendants of Guybrush.
Where it falls short: Episodic structure means the puzzle scope stays small per case. The camera controls have not aged as well as the writing.
Pricing:
- Paid: Around $20 on Steam and GOG
- vs Monkey Island: Sillier, shorter cases, similar comic tone
Migrating from Monkey Island: Different UI (3D camera, direct control), same comic sensibility.
Bottom line: The best pick when what you actually want is the jokes.
How to choose
- Pick Return to Monkey Island first if you have not played it. It is the closest thing to a new Monkey Island the market will produce.
- Pick Thimbleweed Park if Return left you wanting more Ron Gilbert.
- Pick Grim Fandango Remastered for the best writing in the genre.
- Pick Day of the Tentacle Remastered for the best pure puzzle chain in the genre.
- Pick Full Throttle Remastered if you have one evening and want a great one.
- Pick Broken Sword: Reforged if you want a serious adventure story with painted art.
- Pick Sam & Max if the jokes were the whole reason you loved Monkey Island.
Stay on Monkey Island 1 or 2 Special Edition if the reason to come back is nostalgia rather than the puzzles. Neither of them has aged in the ways that matter, and they are the fastest way back into the exact tone.
FAQ
Is Return to Monkey Island a real Monkey Island game?
Yes. Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman wrote it. It is canon by any reasonable definition and it resolves plot threads left open since Monkey Island 2. The art direction is different from every previous entry, which is what set fans arguing on launch, but the puzzles, the tone, and the characters land where they should.
Which Monkey Island games are on Steam and GOG?
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Monkey Island 2 LeChuck’s Revenge: Special Edition, and Return to Monkey Island are all on both storefronts. The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island were pulled from digital sale years ago and are difficult to buy legitimately in 2026. Tales of Monkey Island is on Steam and GOG.
Do the LucasArts remasters work on Mac and Linux?
Grim Fandango Remastered, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, and Full Throttle Remastered ship native builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The Monkey Island Special Editions are Windows-only on Steam but run cleanly through Proton on Linux and CrossOver on macOS.
What is the shortest adventure game to try first?
Full Throttle Remastered at around four to five hours. Day of the Tentacle Remastered at six to eight. Return to Monkey Island at around ten. Anything else on this list is longer.
Are there any new point-and-click adventure games coming in 2026 or 2027?
Ron Gilbert has said Thimbleweed Park 2 is in production for around 2028. Wadjet Eye Games has a new original scheduled for 2027. Beyond those, most active studios in the genre (Daedalic, Nordcurrent’s adventure line) release smaller entries every year. The genre is not extinct, it just moves slowly.
