Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann Has a Return to Monkey Island Cameo

Neil Druckmann, the man behind the gritty The Last of Us games, made an appearance in the delightful and relatively colorful Return to Monkey Island.

Last night I finished Return to Monkey Island. It was an incredible moment for me, and as I watched the credits roll with my heart pleasantly full, I saw a name come up on the screen that I didn’t expect to see there – Neil Druckmann.

“Neil Druckmann? my mind tried to calculate, while my lips verbalized my astonishment. Surely not the Neil Druckmann that Ellie and Joel can be heard swearing left, right, and center about in a game that’s definitely not for kids.

Well, yes, it’s actually this Neil Druckmann.

I had a quick scout online and came across a tweet from the man himself thanking the Return to Monkey Island team for “going over [his] goals in life”.

He continued, “I still can’t believe it! Ahhhhhhh!” Accompanying that wholesome tweet was a still from the game with Guybrush Threepwood and who I assume is the character Druckmann provided his voice for.

I talked to this character during my reading (I talked to everyone, didn’t want to miss anything) and, I have to say, I didn’t link Druckmann’s name to this voice. I’ll have to go back with my son to his save file to see if I can recognize him now that I know.

But, despite my initial bewilderment at this cameo, it makes sense. Druckmann has been seen regularly tweeting about Return to Monkey Island recently, as he too is playing it.

Additionally, he was one of many industry players to share his support for Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert when he announced he was no longer going to share updates about the game on his blog due to unwarranted attacks from so-called fans.

This series clearly means a lot to Druckmann, as it does to many of us, and it’s fun to slowly uncover more little Easter eggs that have been hidden throughout the pirate world of Return to Monkey Island.