I just finished this game and have mixed feelings about it, though I think any Monkey Island fan should play it despite its flaws.
There are tons of throwbacks to the earlier MI games, particularly the first three. Fans will pump their fists and scream "Yes!" a lot. There are some big laughs and a few new characters I like quite a bit.
I played on Hard (instead of Casual) difficulty. It was challenging enough to make me use the very good hint system a few times, but unfortunately none of the puzzles had the complexity of MI1's grog or MI2's spit. And there was practically no insult swordfighting.
In the latter half of the game, things open up with a lot of new areas, adding to the challenge of the puzzles. But the pace of the story remains sedate and the new areas often have little or nothing to do in them. Even worse, as you close in on The Secret, the cutscenes promise some major conflicts that ultimately have little or no payoff.
The ending is bizarre, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. It was absurd but told its message in a clever and poignant way. I don't think I've seen a story end quite like this before. And other parts of the plot had themes on storytelling, marketing, misinformation (with a really on-the-nose dig at the pandemic), and environmentalism.
Here's how I rank the MIs.
1. MI1 (The Secret of Monkey Island)
2. MI2 (Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge)
3. MI3 (The Curse of Monkey Island)
4. MI6 (Return to Monkey Island)
5. MI5 (
Tales of Monkey Island)
6. MI4 (Escape from Monkey Island)
Though I find RTMI a bit disappointing, I'm glad I experienced it, and I feel it was made for fans like me who've been playing these games for decades. So if you're a MI fan, play this. Don't expect the greatness of the past, but expect something interesting. And if you're not an MI fan, definitely play MI1, 2, and 3 pronto, then play RTMI.