God this is really good, and solidifies a lot of my feelings about the Monkey Island "series," about how letting it continue after it's said what it has to say just turns it into self-referential nothing.
It's like how Fallout had its cold war scare anti-nostalgia message at first, and now it's a franchise where all it's about is itself, just a cartoon boy and old timey music and bombs.
Howard the Duck is like this too. Mainstream 70s comic where an author reflects his own alienation and disgust with the commercial world by portraying himself as an absurd duck in the Marvel universe, now the character is just a bad movie and the butt of jokes.
The Simpsons has been like this for what 25 years? It reflected changing family and societal values during a generational shift away from boomers, now it's just Yellow Family Guy
This continued need to "bring back" old expired ideas is such a weird drug addiction, just always chasing this high that you'll never get again.
...except Sonic Mania was really good so idk maybe it works sometimes
