Ron Gilbert won’t post about Return to Monkey Island following online abuse

However, he is also missing the point. This isn't about pixel art vs whatever. This is about the fact that the art direction in the trailer simply looks "meh" on a game that people were mega-hyped (through many of Gilbert's own actions!) about.

My first thought was "Why does everybody look so ugly?" Followed by "The backgrounds are incredibly busy, and the characters get lost in them." Followed by "He should have watched Samurai Jack over and over before doing this art style."

These are not the initial reactions you want to invoke in people. Especially when you veered off from the art style that a lot of people expected.

Nevertheless, I'm still going to absolutely buy this and play the hell out of it.

Style shift angers people because its a violation of what they liked about the series. The first two games have a very consistent Disney-like style that was common Lucasarts adventure games of the era and earlier. The third game is flashier and more stylized take on the same thing, but ultimately still looks fairly mainstream American animation, a bit more stylized, just more like Don Bluth having a very bad day or Nickelodeon with a huge budget than Disney. The fourth game is essentially the same style as Curse, just in 3D - and it was clearly a bad decision, aesthetically, to go 3D - the tech wasn’t there. Tales, which isn’t exactly a sequel (specifically my understanding is Gilbert regards this as Monkey Island 5, not Tales), is a more successful attempt at essentially the same look as the fourth game. Ron Gilbert really underestimated the artwork direction Steven purcell(Sam and max) brought.

This is probably the George Lucas star wars prequel effect in action. Some people NEED editors and feedback. After playing Thimbleweed Park, Im convinced Gilbert is one of them. I have no doubt the backlash against him will only get worse as people actually play the game ala the star wars prequels.