Monkey Island has been one of the more beloved adventure game franchises for years, attracting legions of fans with its offbeat humor and campy pirate aesthetic. Although the franchise is still going strong – the last game released in 2022 – you can play a brand-new Monkey Island game right now, with one small caveat: it's fan-made.
Not that that should turn you off, granted. Fan-made games are getting ridiculously good, and by all appearances, Bean Adventure Agency's The Booze of Monkey Island captures the spirit of the original admirably. The game is short, clocking in at about an hour and a half in its current Early Access state, but it's a dense 90 minutes.
Notably, the infamously litigious Disney owns the Monkey Island IP, so it may be worth trying the game now before it's wiped from existence by a cease and desist. As is the only legally acceptable release scheme for fan games, Booze of Monkey Island is available as a completely free download, and comes highly recommended. I know I needed a bite-sized distraction this week. A whole buffet of them, ideally.
