Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is the first 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 is set after the events of Escape from Monkey Island and starts when
protagonist Guybrush Threepwood attempts to rescue his fiancee Elaine Marley
from the clutches of zombie pirate LeChuck. During the fight, Guybrush,
clumsily as ever, manages to mess up the voodoo recipe that was supposed to
defeat LeChuck and loses both Elaine and his ship. The main goal is to find
back Elaine and deal with the evil pirate once more, through a number of
trials and problems that prevent him from leaving the island. The first
chapter takes place on an entirely new location called Flotsam Island and
includes an entirely new cast of characters along with some familiar ones.
Many of the voice actors for the main roles previously lent their voices to
earlier titles in the series.

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, item combination puzzles and more extensive
tasks that require maps and the use of the environment. 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 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal