‘Return to Monkey Island’ features a cameo from Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann

The recently-released Return to Monkey Island features a cameo from none other than The Last of Us and Uncharted director Neil Druckmann, in the latest in an affectionate back and forth between the developers.

• READ MORE: ‘Return To Monkey Island’ review: a monumental masterclass in metatextual mischief
  

Druckmann voices a minor character, found later in the game. Fans may even not notice that it’s him at first glance, but as Eurogamer notes, the game’s credits confirm that it is indeed Druckmann behind the character.

Druckmann took to Twitter to celebrate his appearance in the game, describing the cameo as one of his “life’s goals.”

If you know, you know.

(My eternal gratitude to @grumpygamer, @craigderrick, & @kbavoice for topping my life goals! Still can’t believe it! Ahhhhhhh!) pic.twitter.com/CHtpUXjMVx

— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) September 22, 2022

His cameo is the latest in a back and forth between the two developers, as keen-eyed players might have spotted a Monkey Island reference in Uncharted 4.

In that game, players can find a series of pirate captain portraits, including one named ‘Guy Wood,’ a clear reference to Monkey Island protagonist Guybrush Threepwood. This was something that Druckmann had requested himself during the game’s development, as he revealed to VentureBeat in a 2016 interview.

“I asked one of the concept artists to do it,” said Druckmann to VentureBeat. “I thought I would just sneak it in there, and then word got out that it was in the game. Then HR came up to me and said we had to get permission for it. We couldn’t leave it in the game. So I thought, dammit, Disney will make us take it out. But we reached out to Disney and they actually said they were flattered, so we could go for it. That was pretty cool.”

Return to Monkey Island has been a welcome and hugely successful return to the classic point-and-click series. In our five-star review of the game, Jordan Oloman described it as feeling like “ watching a comforting action movie from your childhood,” praising developer Terrible Toybox for venturing “beyond fan service” and providing “a very clever and well-made game for newcomers outside its reverie orbit.”

In other gaming news, Slime Rancher 2’s sales have surpassed its developer’s “pipe dream” in just 6 hours.