Commanding a fiercely passionate player base, Killing Floor 2 remains to this day a superb example of how to craft a compelling, cooperative focused online shooter with depth to spare. With nearly a decade on the clock since the release of Killing Floor 2 and with the release of its sequel, Killing Floor 3, creeping upon us soon, here are all the exciting new features and updates that Killing Floor 3 introduces, compared to its highly popular predecessor.
A Shift To Unreal Engine 5
With Killing Floor 2 leveraging the now fairly antiquated Unreal Engine 3 when it was released back in 2016, it makes sense from a continuity perspective that developer Tripwire Interactive would want to stay on Team Epic and make the leap to Unreal Engine 5 for Killing Floor 3 – and that’s precisely what they have done. By moving to the latest iteration of Epic’s Unreal Engine, Killing Floor 3 boasts a massive uptick in terms of texture, lighting and shadow detail far above and beyond what was seen in its predecessor. More than that, by using Unreal Engine 5 Killing Floor 3 also boasts the most grotesquely detailed and terrifyingly animated ‘Zeds’ the series has ever seen.
Updated M.E.A.T System Ramps Up The Gore
Gorehounds can rejoice – in providing players with the most detailed Zeds they have ever seen, Tripwire Interactive has also made sure that they can be destroyed in all manner of increasingly splattery and crunchily satisfying ways as well. Once again leveraging the M.E.A.T (Meat Evisceration And Trauma) gore system which was present in previous games, Killing Floor 3 looks set to take the series’ violence and gore to another level, with the latest iteration not only providing many more points of dismemberment, but persistent pools of liquid claret too – essentially making every map look like an abattoir convention.
Finally, Full PC & Console Crossplay
With Killing Floor 2 only supporting crossplay between PC users who owned the game on Steam and the Epic Games Store respectively, the door is arguably open for developer Tripwire Interactive to do more on this front than they have before. And wouldn’t you know it – the Roswell-based studio has done just that by instituting full crossplay between PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S players and thus allowing Killing Floor 3 players across all systems to get in on the Zed murdering festivities. Huzzah!
More Agility, Less Zeds, Double The Threat
For veterans of Killing Floor 2, one of the biggest changes that the series threequel brings to the table will be keenly felt early on. Chiefly, Killing Floor 3 empowers players to be much more agile than ever before with all manner of dodging, sliding and climbing manoeuvres now available to be used during combat, all the while slowing down the gunplay somewhat when compared to its predecessor. Furthermore, while the number of Zeds in each game has also been reduced when compared to Killing Floor 2, they’re also much more deadly now, thanks to their newfound agility, skills and bolstered AI. Speaking of which…
Upgraded AI Makes The Zed Hordes A Real Problem
With the previous Killing Floor games it could be much too easy to assume (and you would be right to, for the most part) that the monstrous, zombie-like Zed hordes had all the cleverness of George Romero’s dim, shambling corpses rather than the smarter undead beasties that have followed in the decades since. With Killing Floor 3 everything changes in this regard since the numerous different types of Zed enemies now not only employ coordinated strategies to take out players but can also make ample use of the environment, including stalking unsuspecting folks through vertical crawl spaces, vents and much more. Oh, and by default they’re generally faster and more lethal than their Killing Floor 2 counterparts. So yeah, thanks for that folks.
An Evolution Into A True Survival Horror Shooter
Though Killing Floor 2 overwhelms the senses with a veritable army of Zeds to dispatch on screen at any single time, it’s clear that the game struggles to maintain any kind of oppressive or scary atmosphere. Put simply, the now-aged visual design and adrenaline-focused gameplay of Killing Floor 2 didn’t allow for it. With Killing Floor 3 though, we see a massive swing towards survival horror, boasting a real emphasis on moody lighting, detailed shadow rendering, positional 3D audio design and fewer but exponentially more deadly enemies. All of this adds up to provide Tripwire Interactive’s threequel with the sort of taut and terrifying atmosphere that would more readily be associated with survival horror efforts like Dead Space and Resident Evil as a result. Bring. It. On.
A New Mod System Empowers Player Customisation
Representing a significant expansion over the modification system seen in the previous game, Killing Floor 3 introduces procedurally generated blueprints which can be obtained by curious players who visit the trader stations located on each map, thus boosting replayability. In terms of the existing arsenal of weaponry, Killing Floor 3’s overhauled mod system also offers up a broad selection of accessories such as extra magazines, scopes, stocks and more, enabling players to modify their instruments of destruction according to their preferred playstyle.
Wave Goodbye To Perks, Say Hello To The Specialists
One of the biggest ways that Killing Floor 3 separates itself from Killing Floor 2 is in how it absorbs the old perk mechanic into a new Specialist system. Similar to the operators seen in other titles such as Rainbow Six Siege and Battlefield 2042, each Specialist in Killing Floor 3 essentially embodies the perks seen in the previous game (the Specialist known as Devlin for example, is functionally representative of the Firebug perk from Killing Floor 2). In addition to that, each Specialist also brings a 30-level deep progression system to the table that offers a broader latitude of player customisation than what was available previously in the series. Oh, and Killing Floor 3 also allows multiple players on the same team to use the same Specialist – awesome!
Excited to dive into Killing Floor 3 and experience all the new features and improvements? Good news, it’s available on Green Man Gaming! With enhanced graphics, full crossplay support, and a terrifying survival horror twist, Killing Floor 3 is ready to take your cooperative zombie-slaying to the next level. Don’t miss out – grab your copy today and prepare for the chaos!
