YMMV / Skull Island: Rise of Kong

• Adaptation Displacement: Many people are likely unaware that this game is not directly based on any of the films, nor does it have any connection to the MonsterVerse incarnation of the character (probably not helped by the game's title emphasizing Skull Island, similar to the MonsterVerse film Kong: Skull Island, to which it is completely unrelated). It's loosely based on a rather obscure novelization Alternate Continuity, specifically Kong: King of Skull Island, which is a prequel/sequel to a 2005 rewritten version of the original King Kong film's 1932 novelization that has long since fallen into Public Domain, allowing a number of unlicensed adaptations and spin-offs.
• Awesome Art: Though the game itself is awful to the core, the cover art (shown on the main page) is very badass looking, showcasing the Kong himself beating up a bunch of dinosaurs.
• Bile Fascination: The game is a low-effort licensed shovelware that does a huge disservice to its source material and is clearly just a forgettable cash-grab, but it gandered a lot of attention upon its release due to just how little effort was put into it, with many considering it a strong candidate for worst game of 2023, and a number of people checked out the game solely for that.
• Fandom Rivalry: A rather facetious example, given that the "fans" see both games as terrible, but Skull Island: Rise of Kong has one with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, another 2023 video game adaptation of an iconic multimedia franchise whose live-action films are distributed by Warner (King Kong and Tolkien's Legendarium respectively) that was poorly made. Rise of Kong was frequently described as "the next Gollum" from the moment the first previews were shown off, and the "fans" debate which of the two games is worse. Coincidentally, Peter Jackson directed movies featuring both characters (although both games are based on novels, not the films^note Skull Island: Rise of Kong is specifically based off a novelization alternate continuity, independent from the films.), and Andy Serkis played both characters.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: Aside from the general poor quality of the graphics and gameplay, the game has no real narrative beyond "clobber everything in your way until you get to the end", and can easily be beaten in under three hours (perhaps not coincidentally, a playtime of under two hours is needed for refunding a game on Steam). Given the game's linearity and lack of varying environments, it has very little replay value, so this ultimately adds up to a game that could cost you 10 USD for each hour of total gameplay.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Tiny Kong"^ExplanationKing Kong is known for being about the size of a skyscraper, but since you play as him here, he has been shrunk to the size of a regular gorilla. Naturally, this caused King Kong fans as well as the general public to mock the ape's size.
  • Gollum 2^ExplanationAfter The Lord of the Rings: Gollum released to overwhelmingly negative reception, it ended up becoming a major contender for the worst game of the year. Then this game released to possibly even worse reception, causing people to joke that this game is actually a sequel to Gollum, set in the exact same universe. It helps that, despite the fact that both are based on novels, they take a lot from the licensed movies distributed by Warner Bros..
• Obvious Beta: One of the biggest issues noticeable right away is that the game has textures, environments, and animations that would've looked rough even if the game had released on the Nintendo GameCube or PlayStation 2. Some have noted Peter Jackson's King Kong, which did release 18 years earlier on those consoles, looks and plays far better than Skull Island: The Rise of Kong. Frequent model glitching, terrible frame-rates, and lazy cutscenes make it obvious that the game was rushed out the door before it was ready for commercial release.
• Older Than They Think: Gaw and the other Deathrunners are not original to this game, but originally come from the obscure 2005 novel Kong: King of Skull Island, which the game is a very truncated adaptation of.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: The game released as an extremely buggy and unpolished Obvious Beta, with terrible graphics, bland and confusing set pieces, and gameplay that is dull and repetitive. Many derided its $40 USD price tag, due to both the above factors and the fact it can be easily beaten in less than four hours. Unfavourable comparisons were made between it and Peter Jackson's King Kong, which is, by contrast, considered a strong aversion, and saying it resembles a throwback to 2000s-era tie-in Shovelware.
• Signature Scene: The game gained viral attention (and ridicule) upon release for a cutscene of Kong encountering a Deathrunner, triggering a memory of Gaw attacking. However, the flashback is visualized through a single low-quality and poorly cropped still image that blinks on screen for a literal second with no context, making some theorize it was some sort of pre-visualization placeholder that somehow ended up in the final product.
• So Bad, It's Good: The gameplay itself is tedious and unsatisfying, the graphics are subpar and the music, sound effects and narration all sound like they were recorded through a pair of tin cans on a string, but the awkward and poorly made cutscenes have this bizarre charm to them that makes it somewhat bearable.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: On top of the game's many flaws, a number of people have noted that the "Teropod" enemy is an obvious plagiarism of the Malusaurus, an unused concept design for Jurassic World.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some have expressed interest in playing as the infant Kong from the game's start and see him grow up over the course of the game, gradually getting stronger and the game's scenery becoming smaller relative to him as the journey continues. Instead, the "rise" from the game's title is entirely skipped over, with the time between infant Kong watching his parents die and him growing up into an adult being glossed over via a Time Skip.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Kong himself is prone to making facial expressions that look...off, largely thanks to the cheap graphics.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Because Gaw is only briefly referred to as "her" in a single early narration line, many are unaware that she is female.