Definitely one of the games of year 2022 (can't forget Hyperbolica of course). Everything's amazing: the music, the atmosphere, the graphics are a bit perhaps too "pointy" but can get used to. As an adventure it is perfect and even has a few nifty additions that make it very enjoyable:

• Reloading an old save game gives you a (in-universe) summary of what has happened and what the next goals are. You won't be lost if you return to the game after a long while.
  
• This is reinforced by the constantly updated to-do list, so you always know where to go next and what's already been solved.
  
• The dialog history is nice, although I have never had to use it, since most characters repeat the important lines of dialogue anyway when asked.
  
• The book of hints is very useful in preventing you from being stuck, but you still feel bad from using it (as you should)!

The humor hasn't degraded a little bit from the previous games, and it's not overplayed at all. All in all, this game is perfect, well... except for a few details...

• There are only 8 usable save slots. Why?! It's hard to know how often I'd need to use a new save slot in advance, so for save maniacs like me this has been mildly annoying. You can of course always backup the save files, thankfully, but this feels like a bad oversight.
  
• This game is basically one big nostalgia trip, in many aspects. It really feels like a continuation of the Secret of Monkey Island, but the continuity is a bit lacking for MI 3 to 5. This makes sense, since Ron Gilbert didn't work on those, but Mêlée Island specifically looks too similar to MI1 when compared to Escape from Monkey Island, for example. I also wouldn't mind seeing more new places there, considering it's the setting of a large part of the game.
  
• Especially in the later parts of the game, I agree that it feels a bit unfinished, and there could be many more things to do and places to visit. I don't think it's bad, since the story or pacing doesn't suffer from it, but I feel it could have been much richer, and longer as a result, especially some of the ideas that get hinted at, but never tackled. Compared with the previous games, this feels a bit shorter, and I don't really get why. They were developing it in secret after all, and they could have waited if they needed to. I hope some of the cut content eventually gets back into the game though.
  
• And of course the ending. I don't think it was completely bad, but it is kinda lackluster, even if you consider that are are (at least) 10 distinct endings to the game. What I did like was how it made me occupied thinking about it even days after finishing it (like Life is Strange did, for example), and I like how you can pretty much get your own ending and interpretation (and clearly deny Ron Gilbert himself). The "meta" aspect of it, that you can essentially escape the frame of the story, is amazing, but the ending is too short, it lacks a grand "coda" of sorts, something which all previous games (even MI2) had. It doesn't feel like you've finished the game at all, it simply just ended. The 3-second after-credits shot is not enough!

Definitely one of [i]the[/i] games of year 2022 (can't forget Hyperbolica of course). Everything's amazing: the music, the atmosphere, the graphics are a bit perhaps too "pointy" but can get used to. As an adventure it is perfect and even has a few nifty additions that make it very enjoyable: [list] [*]Reloading an old save game gives you a (in-universe) summary of what has happened and what the next goals are. You won't be lost if you return to the game after a long while. [*]This is reinforced by the constantly updated to-do list, so you always know where to go next and what's already been solved. [*]The dialog history is nice, although I have never had to use it, since most characters repeat the important lines of dialogue anyway when asked. [*]The book of hints is very useful in preventing you from being stuck, but you still feel bad from using it (as you should)! [/list] The humor hasn't degraded a little bit from the previous games, and it's not overplayed at all. All in all, this game is perfect, well... except for a few details... [list] [*]There are only 8 usable save slots. Why?! It's hard to know how often I'd need to use a new save slot in advance, so for save maniacs like me this has been mildly annoying. You can of course always backup the save files, thankfully, but this feels like a bad oversight. [*]This game is basically one big nostalgia trip, in many aspects. It really feels like a continuation of the Secret of Monkey Island, but the continuity is a bit lacking for MI 3 to 5. This makes sense, since Ron Gilbert didn't work on those, but Mêlée Island specifically looks too similar to MI1 when compared to Escape from Monkey Island, for example. I also wouldn't mind seeing more new places there, considering it's the setting of a large part of the game. [*]Especially in the later parts of the game, I agree that it feels a bit unfinished, and there could be many more things to do and places to visit. I don't think it's bad, since the story or pacing doesn't suffer from it, but I feel it could have been much richer, and longer as a result, especially some of the ideas that get hinted at, but never tackled. Compared with the previous games, this feels a bit shorter, and I don't really get why. They were developing it in secret after all, and they could have waited if they needed to. I hope some of the cut content eventually gets back into the game though. [*]And of course the [spoiler]ending[/spoiler]. [spoiler]I don't think it was completely bad, but it is kinda lackluster, even if you consider that are are (at least) 10 distinct endings to the game. What I did like was how it made me occupied thinking about it even days after finishing it (like Life is Strange did, for example), and I like how you can pretty much get your own ending and interpretation[/spoiler] [spoiler](and clearly [i]deny[/i] Ron Gilbert himself)[/spoiler]. [spoiler]The "meta" aspect of it, that you can essentially escape the frame of the story, is amazing, but the ending is too short, it lacks a grand "coda" of sorts, something which all previous games (even MI2) had. It doesn't feel like you've finished the game at all, it simply just ended. The 3-second after-credits shot is not enough![/spoiler] [/list]