Why is the internet ripping a new King Kong game to shreds?

pcgamer.com:

Skull Island: Rise of Kong was released on Steam on October 17, and if you use any of the various social media platforms you've probably already seen clips and stills from it. The various algorithms have all reached the same conclusion: this thing is comedy gold, and people are revelling in a dunkfest at its expense. In particular, it's being compared to Daedalic's Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which has been unfairly labelled by some as the worst game of the year (it's not great, but such a label is ludicrous).

But what exactly is it about this King Kong game that's inspired such a collective reaction? The game is developed by Iguanabee Entertainment, a Chilean studio that seems to fund its own original titles by developing the odd licenced property—often leaning towards childrens' brands, such as 2020's GI Joe: Operation Blackout (Steam reviews: mixed).

This business model is a long-established way of keeping the lights on for small and medium studios, to the extent even the likes of PlatinumGames operate in the same way. What's also notable is that the studio's original games have much better reviews than the licensed stuff, with the latter being archetypally average. Skull Island: Rise of Kong definitely fits the bill here, and its aesthetic skews younger, perhaps hoping to attract some of the audience for Netflix's Kong: King of the Apes and in particular the recent Skull Island animated series (the rights for King Kong are an utter mess incidentally, and have been for the character's entire existence).

So Skull Island: Rise of Kong is fairly typical of the older style of licensed games. It's an uncomplicated 3D platformer with a bit of jank, a big brand that will hopefully shift a few copies, and some chronically bad