A brand-new King Kong video game titled Skull Island: Rise of Kong has just been announced. The legendary giant ape of the silver screen has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years thanks to Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse movie franchise, with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire set to rock theaters next March. Kong's influence in the world of video games is also substantial, as the fabled movie monster served as an inspiration for Nintendo's similar simian mascot Donkey Kong.
A franchise that has existed for as long as King Kong has is bound to have a few video game adaptations under its belt, with the great ape headlining a handful of 2D titles in the 1980s. Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of the original King Kong spawned its own FPS adaptation that was hailed at the time for being one of the better movie tie-in games of the 2000s. King Kong’s most recent video game outing came in a special Call of Duty crossover event that saw him reunite with his longtime nemesis Godzilla, though this was met with a mixed response from players.
Now, a new King Kong video game has been announced in the form of Skull Island: Rise of Kong. A pulse-pounding trailer for this new game was posted on YouTube earlier today, and begins with grainy footage of the titular island being overrun by dinosaurs as a young Kong watches on. The trailer then cuts to third-person action-adventure gameplay footage of a now-adult Kong battling waves of these dinosaurs and other monstrous creatures with various dodges and striking attacks. Eventually, the trailer ends with the game's title and a launch window of Fall 2023.
Skull Island: Rise of Kong is being developed by indie studio IguanaBee Studios and published by GameMill Entertainment, the company behind numerous licensed games like the Smash Bros clone Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues. The game was leaked on Amazon's Spanish website just before it was officially announced, with translated descriptions stating that Skull Island: Rise of Kong will task players with avenging the death of Kong's parents at the hands of Gaw, "the ultimate alpha predator" whose name was featured in past King Kong material as the leader of a species of dinosaurs called the Deathrunners.
King Kong hasn't seen a standalone game in quite some time, with his last solo outing being the virtual reality sci-fi title KONG VR: Destination Skull Island back in 2017. This makes Skull Island: Rise of Kong all the more intriguing, especially since it seems to put players in the role of a younger Kong from before he became the powerful beast known and feared throughout the world of cinema. If nothing else, Skull Island: Rise of Kong might be a satisfying appetizer for the great ape's big-screen return in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire next year.
Skull Island: Rise of Kong will launch on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S in Fall 2023.
