Kong: Survivor Instinct

I don't know what else to say about Legendary's Monsterverse. This entertainment universe continuously gives fans genuinely awful products that sell like hot cakes because we get to see some of the most iconic and compelling monsters battling it out and flattening the human world at the same time. Ever since the Monsterverse kicked off with 2014's Godzilla, it has become increasingly worse, with the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters show being more of a highlight and with 2024's Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire being the lowest low yet. At least in the film world. For the games sector we've been treated to some abhorrent games utilising these characters, with 2023's Skull Island: Rise of Kong being laughably bad, and now developer 7Levels is here to attempt to get the ship back on course.

This effort is coming in the form of Kong: Survivor Instinct. For starters, let me lay out some facts. First of all, this game has no connection whatsoever to last year's miserable effort. Secondly, unlike the Skull Island game, this is an official Monsterverse game that tells a story set between the events of 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong and this year's The New Empire flick. Thirdly, it features a rooted, human approach, one where you take on the role of Alex as he travels into a Kong-devasted zone in an effort to find his daughter. The catch is that this story soon spirals out of control in a typical Monsterverse fashion, as Alex begins learning more about who his daughter really is and how she's connected to shady organisations and the Titans. With these three elements in mind, Kong: Survivor Instinct offers a 2.5D platform adventure where you come across not just the iconic ape but also a few other notable Titans, be it Abaddon, Scylla, Tiamat, and various other monsters like Skullcrawlers and spiders, plus human threats too.

Immediately upon booting up Kong: Survivor Instinct the production quality of the game becomes apparent. This is 7Levels' biggest game to date, but they are still a small studio, which means we get a title that is mechanically limited, filled with frustrating quirks, and has voice acting and a story that doesn't blow you away. The graphics for the environment tend to be quite good when roaming around and exploring, but when Kong shows up or the game zooms in and focuses on key moments, the limited graphical offering stands out and makes you cringe a tad. It's certainly not a stunner.

Despite these issues, the Metroidvania-like setup and progression actually works quite well. It's limited and basic and doesn't have the depth of say Metroid Dread, but there's a flow to the exploration that works and you are constantly rewarded with upgrades like a gun and a sledgehammer that can be used to access previously inaccessible areas, as well as having hidden nooks to find items to improve Alex's health and pistol magazine size. This is on top of finding tons of Monsterverse lore and information along the journey. As far as an adventure platform experience goes, Kong: Survivor Instinct works, however, there are a few key elements that really don't.

The combat is just bad. There's a very basic melee, block, and parry system that revolves around you overcoming human threats that swarm you from both the left and the right. There are gunmen, armoured folk, shield-using individuals and more that up the difficulty, but the main problem is that this system is sluggish and flat and makes you sigh audibly every time you're forced to beat an enemy to death with a pipe or plant a bullet in a foe's forehead only for Alex to state "that's enough violence for a lifetime" and then proceed to shoot someone two minutes later.

The platforming is also littered with environmental tasks and challenges that are too repetitive and frankly feel uninspired. You better get used to pushing a crate to climb to new heights or shaking a barred door to break it, because these are just two of the tasks that 7Levels puts in your way along the journey. Granted, these are minor problems when stacked up to the escape sequences when a Titan attacks, as these moments are some of the most frustrating and exhausting moments in the entire story. Essentially, there will be times where you have to evade a rampaging Kong or an attacking Abaddon, for example, and in these moments you're simply platforming as usual but at a much faster pace than typical. The main problem is that these sequences use instant fail. If you go somewhere you shouldn't, if you get too close to a Titan's body part, if you miss-time a jump, the list goes on, you restart the encounter from the beginning. The planned grandiose design of these moments is drowned out by frustrating and annoying game design.

Kong: Survivor Instinct is not a great video game, but it also isn't a disaster. There are elements and moments where you become quite embroiled in the story and fall into the rhythm of the platforming, and this is bolstered by the fact that it's quite a tight and streamlined experience lasting around four-to-five hours if you attempt to find everything. You don't play this game and feel offended and cheated, as was the case with last year's Skull Island or even at times with the recent The New Empire film, but at the same time, there's not a lot here that stands out and really impresses. It's a simplistic and budgeted offer based on one of the most expensive and lucrative franchises in entertainment, and that's it. Beyond offering a bit of extra lore for the dedicated Monsterverse fan, there's not much else worthy of attention.