New King Kong Game Looks Like Flop of the Year, Despite Strong Competition
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum lived to see quite a competitor for the title of worst game of 2023. It is Skull Island: Rise of Kong, released today.
In the autumn flurry of launches, you may have missed a "gem" such as Skull Island: Rise of Kong. This is an action adventure game from Chile-based studio IguanaBee, released today on PC, PS4, PS5, XOne, XSX/S and Switch.
In it, we play a juvenile version of the titular giant gorilla. He sets off on the trail of the alpha predator Gawa, who murdered his parents. As we fighti various primordial beasts, we not only get to know Skull Island, but also watch Kong become its king.
Sound pretty appealing? (Un)fortunately, this is one of those cases where practice does not go hand in hand with theory. For one glance at the gameplay inSkull Island: Rise of Kong is enough to cross this item off the potential purchase list without regret. Anyway, see for yourself:
Not only does the gorilla move very unnaturally, it regularly levitates above the surface, instead of putting its feet on it. Combat seems to be extremely simple, and limited to just a few moves.
The cutscenes are painfully comical, and the animations and models of individual creatures evoke associations with poor-quality PlayStation 2 era games. Similarly, the barren environments - which is all the more amusing because on the game's card on Steam boasts picturesque description of the mysterious Skull Island, abounding in "swamps, waterfalls, jungles and caves filled with skullites, from which the flora and fauna draw their power."
For comparison, you can also watch the trailer of Skull Island: Rise of Kong released today by the game's publisher, GameMill Entertainment. It doesn't impress either, although one has to admit that the fragments that comprise it were chosen quite cleverly.
Skull Island: Rise of Kong is already available on Steam By the time this news was published, it had received a whole five reviews. Needless to say, all of them are negative. Some of the authors are grumbling about the game's price, while others are wondering how this game was allowed to be sold at all. On Metacritic.com meanwhile, not a single press review has appeared.
Source: Metacritic.com
Thus, it appears that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will not become the worst game of 2023. Compared to Skull Island: Rise of Kong the former work by Daedalic Entertainment seems at least bearable.
