Me and my girlfriend have played through a lot of the games in this series by the time Return to Monkey Island came out, and I admit this one is easily my most favourite of them all.

I can't find the right words to describe all my thoughts and feelings on this game in a concise way, but there is something about the earnest cheerfulness this game presents to us, the players, that I find to be so deeply touching. By the time we reached the end of the game we ended up crying together, left with this vague but intense notion of bittersweet longing for... something. Perhaps we were left with a strengthened hope and belief in the fact that despite the inevitability of us growing older, we don't necessarily have to grow up and let go of looking at things with childlike wonder. Both of us are very much children at heart, and in so many ways this game felt incredibly affirming with that. Things change, as do people, but that doesn't mean we have to let go of the simple things in life that manage to spark joy in our hearts.

It was an incredibly beautiful experience and I already can't wait until we get to replay this game together again.

I grew up with the PlayStation version, but I played the Gamecube version earlier this year and I wonder if I might actually like it more. It was different enough that I actually found it somewhat challenging, although that is mostly because of the version differences breaking the sense of familiarity. The game itself isn't actually very challenging, but admittedly a few questionable decisions regarding the level designing and clunky platforming did manage to make me rage just a teeny tiny bit now and then.