Monkey Island creator goes darker with new, Diablo-inspired roguelike RPG

Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert is famous for making some of the finest adventure games ever… and Return to Monkey Island. His influence on the genre is unmistakable, and many players owe their childhoods to him. Sure, the puzzles back in the day were bang-your-head-against-the-wall difficult, but the stories those games told live on within us forever. It was quite a surprise, then, when he announced that his next game, Death by Scrolling, would be a roguelike RPG. However, a recent interview where Gilbert talks about his gaming habits shines a light on the change.

Death by Scrolling is a bullet hell-style roguelike where you must kill enemies and avoid the Grim Reaper. Make your way through a vision of purgatory that scrolls vertically (hence the name) to keep you on your toes. Avoid skeletons and evil snowmen on your quest to collect enough gold to pay the ferryman's extortionate fare and reach the afterlife proper.

Like many of the best roguelike games, this looks to be a game you'll play again and again, pushing slightly further each time. I like the twist of the invincible antagonist-nobody can kill Death, after all-but why has Gilbert strayed so far from the light of Monkey Island?

"I play a lot of World of Warcraft and Diablo," he explains in an interview with YouTuber 'CressUp.' "So I like that visceral combat. So I wanted to build an RPG that had the exploration and the storytelling, but also this quick, visceral combat."

He goes on to explain that, as a game designer, he loves a challenge. New genres present new challenges, new puzzles to piece together in satisfying ways. "These are solved problems for [RPG designers]," he says. "But not for me."

Of course, RPGs and adventure games have some shared DNA, and Gilbert wants to bring that adventure-style storytelling to his new roguelike venture. Most importantly of all, however, is the fact that he finds it "creatively interesting."

That's not to say he'll never return to his adventure game roots. Later in the interview, Gilbert says he "never stops thinking about adventure games" and a year ago put together a design for Thimbleweed Park 2. However, if he does return to the genre, he wants "to do something that is really different and interesting," rather than rely on nostalgia like his recent forays. Citing Lorelei and the Laser Eyes as an inspiration is more than enough to excite me.

Death by Scrolling has no expected release date beyond "coming soon" at present, so why not pick one of the best RPG games to while away the hours until we get more news? Alternatively, our list of the best indie games has some great choices.

What do you make of Gilbert's turn towards visceral combat? Let us know in our community Discord server, where readers and staff chat all things gaming. A game with Diablo and Monkey Island DNA wasn't on any of our bingo cards, though.