Skull Island: Rise of Kong

Last updated
Skull Island: Rise of Kong
Skull Island ROK Cover.png
Developer(s) IguanaBee
Publisher(s) GameMill Entertainment
Director(s) Daniel Winkler
Producer(s)
  • Aaron Frenkel
  • Guillermo Gómez Zará
  • Tamara Wilder
  • Pamela Hauyon
Programmer(s) Sebastian Beltran
Composer(s) Ronny Antares
Series King Kong
Engine Unreal Engine 5
Platform(s)
ReleaseOctober 17, 2023 [1] [2]
Genre(s) Action-adventure

Skull Island: Rise of Kong is a 2023 action-adventure video game developed by IguanaBee and published by GameMill Entertainment. The game is based on the King Kong novels by DeVito Artworks. [3]

Contents

The game was officially announced on July 20, 2023, after being leaked a day earlier. [4] It was released on October 17 of the same year for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PCs via Steam. The game received negative reviews from critics.

Gameplay

Skull Island: Rise of Kong combines brawler combat with exploration gameplay, following Kong as he travels across the titular island after the death of his parents. Kong can perform a light attack, a heavy attack, or a targeted super-jump and can heal by collecting edible plants. Enemies include both the island's basic wildlife and several named bosses faced in dedicated arenas.

Development

Joe DeVito, writer and illustrator of the novel Kong: King of Skull Island , was involved with the development of the game. He stated: "I could not be more excited to be working with GameMill Entertainment's talented team that will provide both King Kong fans and gamers the chance to experience King Kong's primordial world in a gamified way". [5] [3]

Following the poor reception of Skull Island: Rise of Kong, a report by The Verge revealed that GameMill gave IguanaBee one year to build the game from scratch, beginning in June 2022. Unnamed sources alleged that two to twenty developers were working on the game at any given time, and that the team were required to crunch in order to finish the project. The report also stated that GameMill gave IguanaBee very few details about the game, forcing the latter to improvise. [6]

Reception

This cutscene from Rise of Kong was poorly received by critics and went viral online. Rise of Kong Cutscene.gif
This cutscene from Rise of Kong was poorly received by critics and went viral online.

Skull Island: Rise of Kong received "generally unfavorable reviews" for the PC version, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. [11] No critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic. [12] Phil Hornshaw of IGN described the game as "ugly and full of bugs", stating that "at its core, it's just boring. It makes no meaningful attempts to do anything new or clever". [7] Shunal Doke of GamingBolt said that "the game has terrible visuals, some downright horrendous gameplay, and level design that seems to be more keen on wasting your time rather than presenting you with any interesting challenges or rewards". [14]

In one particular cutscene that was spread online via Twitter, [10] King Kong has a flashback to his past while encountering an enemy, with a static image being presented on screen to represent the flashback before Kong attacks the enemy. [7] [8] [9] Kong's animation was described by Zack Zwiezen of Kotaku as being equivalent to a "broken animatronic on some long-forgotten abandoned Disney ride". [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>King Kong</i> (2005 video game) 2005 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft

Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie is a 2005 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft, based on the 2005 film King Kong. The game was created in collaboration between the film's director Peter Jackson and the game's director Michel Ancel. The film's cast members reprise their roles. The game follows New York scriptwriter Jack Driscoll through Skull Island, as he attempts to save love interest Ann Darrow who has been sacrificed by the island's natives to the giant gorilla Kong.

<i>Fallout 3</i> 2008 video game

Fallout 3 is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the Fallout series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment. The game marks a major shift in the series by using 3D graphics and real-time combat, replacing the 2D isometric graphics and turn-based combat of previous installments. It was released worldwide in October 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Captain Blood, formerly known as Age of Pirates: Captain Blood, is an upcoming action-adventure game based on the novels by Rafael Sabatini about the titular Captain Blood. The player will assume the role of the Captain, following his adventures in 1685 Spanish Main.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beenox</span> Canadian video game developer

Beenox Inc. is a Canadian video game developer established in 2000 in Quebec City. The studio became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision on May 25, 2005.

<i>Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues</i> 2009 action-adventure video game

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is a 2009 action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by LucasArts. Based on the Indiana Jones franchise, it is the sequel to the 2008 video game Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. It was released for the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows; Feral Interactive published a version for Mac OS X in 2011. TT Fusion developed a handheld version for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable that, although released under the same name, is different in gameplay and amount of content.

The Coalition is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver. A subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, a division of Microsoft Gaming, the company was founded in 2010 as Zipline Studios. Following the release of its debut game, Relic Rescue (2011), Zipline was renamed Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver. In February 2012, the studio released the flight simulator Microsoft Flight. Later that year, in November, Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver was rebranded as Black Tusk Studios. After Microsoft acquired the rights to the franchise Gears of War in 2014, the studio was commissioned to develop new games in the series. Black Tusk was renamed The Coalition in June 2015, and in August released Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, a remaster of the original Gears of War (2006). In the ensuing years, the studio developed Gears of War 4 (2016) and Gears 5 (2019). It also collaborated with Mediatonic and Splash Damage to develop the real-time strategy Gears Pop! (2019) and the turn-based tactics Gears Tactics (2020), respectively.

<i>Alien: Isolation</i> 2014 video game

Alien: Isolation is a 2014 survival horror game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Based on the Alien film series, the game is set 15 years after the original 1979 film, and follows the engineer Amanda Ripley, voiced by Andrea Deck. Amanda investigates the disappearance of her mother, Ellen Ripley, aboard the space station Sevastopol, which has fallen into disarray due to an alien creature on the loose. The game emphasizes stealth and survival horror gameplay, requiring the player to avoid, outsmart, and fight enemies with tools such as a motion tracker and flamethrower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IguanaBee</span> Chilean game developer

IguanaBee is a Chilean independent video game developer, established in 2011 and located in Santiago.

<i>Skull and Bones</i> (video game) 2024 video game

Skull and Bones is a 2024 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Singapore and published by Ubisoft. The game revolves around piracy and naval warfare with a fantastical setting in East Africa and Southeast Asia during the late 17th century, the peak of the historical Golden Age of Piracy. It was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on February 16, 2024, after multiple delays and developmental difficulties, to mixed reviews from critics.

<i>Resident Evil Village</i> 2021 video game

Resident Evil Village is a 2021 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is the sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) and the tenth main game of the Resident Evil series. Players control Ethan Winters, who searches for his kidnapped daughter in a village filled with mutant creatures. Village maintains survival horror elements from previous games, with players scavenging environments for items and managing resources while adding more action-oriented gameplay, with higher enemy counts and a greater emphasis on combat.

<i>Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League</i> 2024 video game

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a 2024 action-adventure shooter game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games. Based on the DC Comics team Suicide Squad, it is a spin-off of the Batman: Arkham series, and a follow-up to Batman: Arkham Knight (2015). Set five years after the events of Arkham Knight, the game's storyline follows the titular supervillain team, who are assembled by Amanda Waller and sent to Metropolis to stop the alien invader Brainiac and kill the members of the Justice League who fell under his influence.

<i>G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout</i> 2020 third-person shooter video game

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout is a third-person shooter video game based on Hasbro's G.I. Joe toyline, released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 13, 2020, and for Microsoft Windows on December 15, 2020. The game was developed by IguanaBee and Fair Play Labs and published by GameMill Entertainment in North America and Maximum Games in Europe. It is the first G.I. Joe console game since 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

<i>Battlefield 2042</i> 2021 video game

Battlefield 2042 is a 2021 first-person shooter, developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The twelfth main installment in the Battlefield series, it was released on November 19, 2021, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. 2042 is the first installment since 2006's Battlefield 2142 to solely be a multiplayer video game, without a single-player campaign. It is also the first installment to feature support for cross-platform play.

<i>Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition</i> 2021 video game compilation

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is a 2021 compilation of three action-adventure games in the Grand Theft Auto series: Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002), and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). Developed by Grove Street Games and published by Rockstar Games, all three games are remastered, with visual enhancements and gameplay upgrades. The games feature different protagonists and locations within the same continuity. Grand Theft Auto III follows silent protagonist Claude in Liberty City; Vice City, set in 1986, features mobster Tommy Vercetti in the fictional Vice City; and San Andreas, set in 1992, follows gangster Carl "CJ" Johnson within the state of San Andreas.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2</i> 2024 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a 2024 third-person shooter hack and slash video game developed by Saber Saint Petersburg and published by Focus Entertainment. The sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (2011), it was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X /S on 9 September 2024. The game received generally positive reviews from critics.

<i>Skul: The Hero Slayer</i> 2021 video game

Skul: The Hero Slayer is a 2021 roguelike-action platformer developed by SouthPAW Games and published by Neowiz. The game was released on January 21, 2021 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, and launched on October 21, 2021 for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and launched on June 4, 2024 for Android and iOS. In the game, players control a skeleton named Skul as he attempts to save demonkind from their enemies, the heroes. The player can remove Skul's head for different skulls, granting new combat abilities across randomly-generated levels. The game received positive reviews on release.

<i>Choo-Choo Charles</i> 2022 video game

Choo-Choo Charles is a 2022 horror game developed and published by Two Star Games. The player controls a monster-hunting archivist with the goal of upgrading their train's defenses in order to fight and defeat the titular character, Charles, an evil spider-train hybrid monster that wanders the landscape looking for people to eat.

<i>The Walking Dead: Destinies</i> 2023 video game

The Walking Dead: Destinies is a 2023 action-adventure video game developed by Flux Games and published by GameMill Entertainment. It is based on the first four seasons of the TV series The Walking Dead.

<i>Achilles: Legends Untold</i> 2023 video game

Achilles: Legends Untold is an action role-playing game by Dark Point Games in which players control the Greek mythological hero Achilles.

References

  1. ↑ "Skull Island: Rise of Kong". Steam. Valve. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Mike. "King Kong Returns to Video Games With Action-Adventure Title 'Skull Island: Rise of Kong' [Trailer]". Bloody Disgusting. Bloody Disgusting LLC. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  3. 1 2 "DEVITO ARTWORKS TEAMS UP WITH GAMEMILL ENTERTAINMENT". Licensing Magazine. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  4. ↑ Yang, George. "Skull Island: Rise of Kong Video Game Officially Announced". IGN. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Mike (2023-10-10). "How Skull Island: Rise of Kong Is Inspired by Its Rich Lore". Xbox Wire. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  6. ↑ Parrish, Ash (2023-10-20). "That bad King Kong game was only in development for a year". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Hornshaw, Phil (18 October 2023). "Skull Island: Rise of Kong Review". IGN. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 Zwiezen, Zack (17 October 2023). "New King Kong Game Is Very, Very Bad". Kotaku. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  9. 1 2 Bergin, Lauren (17 October 2023). "Somehow 2023 has a new worst PC game of the year". PCGamesN. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  10. 1 2 Yin-Poole, Wesley (17 October 2023). "The Internet Is Already Roasting 'Worst Game of 2023' Skull Island: Rise of Kong". IGN. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  11. 1 2 "Skull Island: Rise of Kong for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Skull Island: Rise of Kong Reviews". OpenCritic. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  13. ↑ Parker, Lewis (2023-10-24). "Skull Island: Rise of Kong Review". PC Gamer . Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  14. 1 2 Doke, Shunal (23 October 2023). "Skull Island: Rise of Kong Review – So Bad It's Boring". GamingBolt. Retrieved 24 October 2023.

Notes

  1. ↑ Based on 5 reviews
  2. ↑ Based on 8 reviews
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.