''Skull Island: Rise of Kong'' is a 2023

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developed by

IguanaBee IguanaBee is a Chilean independent video game developer, established in 2011 and located in Santiago. Overview The company has created games for different platforms and different clients, such as ''Mr Deadline'' for Wacom, Ciclania as well as ...

and published by GameMill Entertainment. The game is based on the ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

'' novels by DeVito Artworks. The game was officially announced on July 20, 2023, after being leaked a day earlier. It was released on October 17 of the same year for

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, and PCs via

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. The game received negative reviews from critics.

Gameplay

''Skull Island: Rise of Kong'' combines

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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". Following the poor reception of ''Skull Island: Rise of Kong'', a report by ''

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'' revealed that GameMill gave

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.

Reception

''Skull Island: Rise of Kong'' received "generally unfavorable reviews" for the PC version, according to

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website

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. 10% of critics recommended the game, according to

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. Phil Hornshaw of ''

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'' 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". Shunal Doke of ''GamingBolt'' said that "the game has terrible visuals, some downright horrendous gameplay, and

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that seems to be more keen on wasting your time rather than presenting you with any interesting challenges or rewards". In one particular cutscene that was spread online via

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, 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. Kong's animation was described by Zack Zwiezen of ''

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'' as being equivalent to a "broken

animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

on some long-forgotten abandoned Disney ride".

References

Notes

External links

* * * {{King Kong 2023 video games Action-adventure games GameMill Entertainment games IguanaBee games King Kong (franchise) video games Video games about dinosaurs Video games developed in Chile Video games set on fictional islands