Game profile
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
The 1990 classic returns in this special edition with redrawn artwork and an optional original pixel look. Guybrush Threepwood wants to become a pirate and falls for the governor of a Caribbean island full of puzzles and ghost pirates.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Adventure / Puzzle, set in a fantasy world. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays light and upbeat. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. Sessions of an hour or two sit at the sweet spot here.
Difficulty stays forgiving, so progress rarely depends on your reflexes. The narrative carries the whole thing, and the mechanics serve it. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Genre cornerstone
- Quirky pirate humor
- Classic puzzles
This fits you if
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- you enjoy being made to think
- the writing matters more to you than the mechanics
- you want zero frustration and no difficulty wall
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
- you are watching your budget
Look elsewhere if
- you need real difficulty to stay interested
- you skip cutscenes and want to get to the gameplay
- you want something that lasts, this is over after 8 hours
- you specifically want an open world to roam
How long is The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition?
About 8 hours in total. At two hours per evening that is around 4 evenings, so about a week of casual play.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 85 out of 100, which puts it above 59 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 518 overall. That is mid-table for this database. Not a standout at the top, but solidly rated.
For comparison, Adventure averages 83 points across the database, so this one sits 2 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 171 collected ratings.
Released in 2009, which makes it 17 years old. A genuine classic, and worth checking how the version you buy holds up today.
The facts
- Release year
- 2009
- Genres
- Adventure, Puzzle
- Playtime
- approx. 8 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Relaxed, forgiving
- Story weight
- Carries the whole game
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Fantasy
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 85 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition | 2009 | approx. 8 hrs. | 85 | Budget |
| Master Lemon: The Quest for Iceland | 2025 | approx. 8 hrs. | n/a | Budget |
| Edna bricht aus | 2008 | approx. 8 hrs. | n/a | Budget |
| Broken Age | 2014 | approx. 8 hrs. | 77 | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- n/a Master Lemon: The Quest for Iceland Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy, rated higher
- n/a Edna bricht aus Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy
- 77/100 Broken Age Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy
- 82/100 Tangle Tower Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy
- 92/100 Return to Monkey Island Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy, rated higher
- 87/100 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Shared: Adventure, Puzzle, Fantasy, longer