Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan Review

We’ve reached the middle of the first season in the Tales of Monkey Island. Usually the middle of a story arc is the most boring part. Episode three in Tales of Monkey Island, Lair of the Leviathan, could easily be overshadowed by the nostalgic wonder of the first episode and the culminating battle/plot resolution/twist/hullabaloo/whatever we can expect from the last episode. While episode three does provide a lot more time for character exposition and some emotional tension, it is by no means boring and it was definitely just as entertaining as the past two episodes.

In fact, Lair of the Leviathan is a more faithful return to the Monkey Island games of the past than either of the first two episodes.
There are several reasons for that. The character conversations seem to be much deeper than in previous episodes. This episode requires a lot more interaction with characters, which opens up opportunities for classic Monkey Island humor. But the most obvious return to the glory days of Monkey Island comes in a new version of insult swordfighting. I refuse to say more than that. If you’ve played the game, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t then there’s no way I’m going to spoil such a delightfully unexpected part of the game. Trust me, it’s worth it.

To add to all the classic Monkey Island gameplay elements, Telltale Games included a character that you’ll be intimately familiar with if you played the original games. It was a nice reunion, but definitely not as exciting as a thought it would be.

Regardless, Lair of the Leviathan provides hours of fun and manages to provide a whole new section of the overall story while doing some much needed character development and progression of the plot. Warning, spoilers ahead if you haven’t played the first two episodes. Things are getting tense as Guybrush is still separated from his beloved Elaine and trapped in the belly of the beast with one of his greatest fans/enemies, Morgan LeFlay. The setup allows us to explore a setting I’ll bet you never thought you’d see (although considering that this is a Monkey Island game, the unexpected is the norm) and still investigate the motivations behind our main characters. It was the perfect way to keep ToMI fans connected with the characters and not have the whole season devolve into a puzzle-of-the-week (or rather, month).

Speaking of puzzles, there was a marked difference in the style of puzzles in this episode of the game. You still have the classic adventure game mechanic of picking up items and using them with other things or people, but this episode throws in a lot more character interaction as a puzzle device. It was a welcome break from the sort of puzzles we’ve come to expect, and it provided a lot of opportunity for humor. If I’m honest, one of the last puzzles took this concept a little too far. It was a little aggravating, definitely funny, but aggravating.

All this combines to give me a reassuring sense that the Tales of Monkey Island episodes are steadily improving, even though they started off great to begin with. Even the animation seems to have improved a bit, and the set design in Lair of the Leviathan was definitely my favorite so far.

In fact, as I write that, I find myself saying that about a lot of the elements of this episode: my favorite jokes so far, set design, puzzle styles and characters. It appears Lair of the Leviathan really is improving on previous episodes. That’s a really great trend for anyone who’s a fan of the series, and it will be quite an impressive feat if Telltale can continue that upward trend for two more episodes.
Looking for other Tales of Monkey Island reviews?

Episode One: Game Review: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

Episode Two: Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay Review