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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39998
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The kind of terms in which I'd phrase what you're asking (and which you may find in searches elsewhere) is that: the story's **climax** must **resolve the problem** which was established in the **inciting incident**. So, yes, to be a satisfactory story, with a setup like that, it's probably going to need to end up with the hero/heroine defeating the monster and escaping the island. That's true (otherwise, why are the monster and the island in the story at all?).

However, the interesting part of a story, many would say, isn't _what happens_, that's just a list of events and not interesting at all; it's **_what the characters learn from that_**. (Perhaps even, what the _reader_ learns from that). So... the hero/heroine kills the monster but escapes the island. So far, so predictable. But:

- Do they do so as glorious conquerors, the other villagers escaping with them, with the hero having learned their own strength? (If you were watching a Disney movie, you could place a bet on this. Are you writing a Disney movie?)
- Do they kill the monster but the villagers all die - the hero escaped, but only at great cost, having learned what price they are prepared to pay for their own freedom?
- Do they sacrifice themselves to let the villagers escape while the monster is distracted - having learned that the greatest good for the greatest number is more important than personal success?
- Do they find a way to signal for help killing the monster from those living on nearby islands, having learned that nobody can succeed in life alone?
- Do they escape, only to learn that they (and all the villagers) were sent there as punishment for some crime that their amnesia had forgotten; they learn that understanding context is important before taking action?

So that's at least five different ways that the predictable "hero escapes island" ending can vary quite significantly.

But actually... _do_ they escape, after all? The problem presented by the inciting incident needs to be resolved, but there's no law to say it has to be resolved positively.

- Do they choose to remain on the island, having learned that being content with what you have is worth more than some unknown glory that's always over the horizon?
- Are they killed by the monster, having _failed_ to learn that the self-doubt and angst which the monster metaphorically represents is holding them back?

And what about the other things you mention in the setup?

- Why does the newcomer have amnesia? What is it that he's forgotten? Was the memory taken from him - or has he suppressed something in his own past?
- Why does this entire island of villagers have a life that "revolves around" trying to escape? They have a perfectly good village, large enough to support them - why leave at all?
- What is the monster? Why is it there? Who put it there? If they leave it alone for a while instead of trying to escape, will it get hungry and swim away to another island? A monster is never just a monster - for what is it a metaphor (fear, selfishness, greed, old age, justice, injustice, vengeance, ...) and how does that affect how the hero fights it?

The answers to those questions could be surprising and could keep the reader interested to the end.

Original score: 3