Monkey Island's insult sword-fighting playable for free in your browser

Monkey Island's famous insult sword-fighting section was a memorable mixture of excellent puzzle design and charming, folksy put-downs. Now, thanks to modder Karza , you can expand your rapier repartee in this playable browser-based HTML5 port of the minigame.

Never played The Secret of Monkey Island? Insult sword-fighting was a way around the problem of adventure gaming being crap at combat, instead putting the emphasis on the banter of the battle. Each pirate you face has a selection of jibes and witty comebacks, and, through the process of continuous defeats, Guybrush copies each call-and-response, becoming a better swordsman in the process. It's an elegantly designed puzzle and, thanks to being completely removed from the game's more traditional verb wheel-oriented segments, works perfectly well as a standalone game.

The game contains insult sword-fighting from both Secret of Monkey Island and the third game, Curse of Monkey Island. Play it here . Just don't be tempted to repurpose the remarks for your day-to-day life. I can't think of many offices where suddenly shouting "how appropriate, you type like a cow!" would be warmly received.

Hypothetical time! If you could pick one segment of any game for standalone browser-based treatment, what would it be?

Thanks, Eurogamer .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.