Summary
Alleged concept art for a canceledDonkey Konggame from Vicarious Visions has been leaked online. TheDonkey Kongseries is one of Nintendo’s oldest and most recognized franchises, predating evenSuper Mario Bros.and introducing gamers to both the titular gorilla and the Big N’s plumber mascot. Over the years, Donkey Kong has appeared in numerous spin-offs and crossovers in addition to his own platforming adventures, though he hasn’t had a starring role in a brand-new video game sinceDonkey Kong Country: Tropical Deep Freezeway back in 2014.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the former Vicarious Visions, the studio now known as Blizzard Albany,was working on aDonkey Konggamefor the Nintendo Switch that was codenamedDonkey Kong Freedom. According to the rumors, it would have brought Donkey Kong into an open-world format on a mission to save his jungle home from destruction. However, the project was supposedly scrapped sometime around 2016, with Activision shifting Vicarious Visions’ focus towardCrash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.
What appears to be concept art from this unproducedDonkey Konggame has recently surfaced online, being posted onRedditby user BirdonWheels. As reported byNintendo Life, this artwork depicts Donkey Kong standing in front of jungle ruins of some kind, with a door and statues decorated with images of monkeys and bananas amid a lush green landscape. BirdonWheels claims to have uncovered this artwork while digging through an old hard drive filled with assets from Vicarious Visions, and that the timestamp on the image is for June 20, 2025.
Leaked Artwork Gives Players A Look At The Rumored Donkey Kong Game from Vicarious Visions
This would be right around the time that Vicarious Visions was said to be working on itsrumoredDonkey Konggame, but it isn’t clear if this concept art is indeed authentic. According to the reports from earlier this year,Donkey Kong Freedomwould have been focused on fluid traversal gameplay, such as grinding on vines and swinging from trees, and it looks like the image depicts the beginning of a level set in a temple.
This is simply speculation though, asDonkey Kong Freedomwas reportedly canceled due to thedecline of theSkylandersseries,which caused Activision to switch its focus away from single-player experiences. While fans are still waiting for a brand-newDonkey Konggame, developer Forever Entertainment is bringingDonkey Kong Country Returns HDto the Nintendo Switch on June 23, 2025.
Donkey Kong Country
Released over just a two-year period between 1994 and 1996, many consider the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy to be among the finest side-scrolling platformers ever made. After a long hiatus, the series returned in 2010, with another game then being released for the Wii U some four years later.
