Poor Guybrush just can’t catch a break. All he wants to do is find La Esponja Grande, rid himself of the voodoo curse he inadvertently spread across the Caribbean, and reunite with the woman he loves. In Telltale Games’ latest chapter of the Tales of Monkey Island pentalogy, Lair of the Leviathan, our hero inches his way closer to his ultimate goal, but still has a long journey before him. Manatee ho!

Last month, Guybrush and the merciless pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay were swallowed whole by a giant manatee. This month’s chapter finds these two rapscallions literally in the belly of the beast. While one might have envisioned this unique locale as a wasteland or bottomless pit, it’s quite the contrary. Instead of dark and terrifying, the inside of the manatee is bright and colorful; it’s an indoor tropical paradise complete with a cantina, bongos, and a heaping pile of treasure.

The cast of characters is equally colorful: namely series newcomers Bugeye, Noogie, and Moose - members all of the Democratic Brotherhood of the Manatee Interior. Also appearing in this chapter for the first time is the eccentric explorer Coronado de Cava, a man equally insane and paranoid. Early in the chapter, the player must convince the untrusting de Cava that Guybrush are Morgan are just married tourists on their honeymoon in a sequence similar to The Newlywed Game. Just as with LeChuck’s transformation in an earlier episode, this puzzle introduces a sidekick dynamic, forcing two unlikely allies to work together. Puzzle design is uniformly excellent. Standouts include a pirate “face” off, reverse voodoo possession, and manatee matchmaking ala Cyrano De Bergerac.