Rise of the Pirate God is the fifth and last episode in Tales of Monkey
Island , a series of point-and-click adventure games based on the Monkey
Island franchise that was started by Lucasfilm Games with The Secret of
Monkey Island (1990) and ran until the fourth game Escape from Monkey Island
(2000). After nine years, the intellectual property was licensed by adventure
developer Telltale, Inc. where many of the original LucasArts adventure
developers had since moved.

The game starts off where the previous one ended. Guybrush has been killed by
LeChuck, and finds himself crawling out of his grave in the afterlife. After
crossing the river Styx, he arrives at the Crossroads, where the afterlife and
the real world meet. He learns that everyone who arrives there, brings
something with them to which they cling. He himself has brought a Shred of
Life, with which he hopes to return to save Elaine and beat LeChuck.

Unlike Escape from Monkey Island the game is rendered entirely in 3D, and the
typical Telltale engine is used. Guybrush can be controlled through the
keyboard keys or through mouse movement (selecting the character and dragging
the cursor to the desired destination). Only a single mouse cursor is used for
all actions and important items are stored in an inventory where they can be
examined. Entirely new for a Telltale game is the incorporation of the classic
adventure mechanic where items can be combined in the inventory to form new
objects or to interact with each other.

The game makes many non-essential references to the earlier games and contains
the classic Monkey Island ingredients such as humorous conversations and
events, based on slapstick, play on words, witty retorts and contemporary
cultural references, conversation trees, an unconventional approach to puzzle
solutions, and the anti-heroic main character. The game’s puzzles include
triggers based on conversations, and item combination puzzles. It is not
possible to die in the game and player can set the ratio of hints Guybrush
casually mentions while progressing through the game. Full solutions are
however never provided.

Unlike other Telltale episodic adventure series, individual episodes initially
could not be purchased separately. Because of the larger story arc or possibly
financial reasons, users were required to buy the five episodes as a whole as
they are released on a monthly basis. Later, the decision was reversed and
episodes were also offered individually.

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 5: Rise of the Pirate God