Summary
Killing Floor 3is the latest in Tripwire Interactive’s line of zombie horde shooters, and the series has come a long way from its origins nearly 20 years ago. It’s not yet known when the third entry will be released, but it’s been highly anticipated by players of the secondKilling Floor 2, a game that has been going strong for over seven years now. Set to utilize impressive visuals in Unreal Engine 5,Killing Floor 3is expected to bring a new level of quality to the core experience of mowing down the franchise’s signature Zeds, mutant clones that function as zombies which have largely stayed the same so far.
While the upcoming third entry uses the same technology as several upcoming AAA games,Killing Flooractually began as a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 before it was redeveloped as a standalone title. The more modern official releases of KF have often been compared to bothCall of Duty’s Zombies andLeft 4 Deadin terms of formula, but the reality is that the originalKilling Floormod, many of its enemy designs included, came before both of those. In a series that has remained so close to what was established back then, while also diverging from its original vision in key ways,Killing Floor 3has the chance to bring out the best in the enemies that make up its main focus.
The Original Killing Floor Set the Tone for Zeds in the Sequel
Killing Floor 2 Hardly Introduced Any New Zed Types
The addictive, wave-based gameplay loop that came to define the firstKilling Floorwas something that the sequel was able to maintain, but the follow-up also kept most of its enemies. New variants of Clots, Gorefasts, and Fleshpounds served to mix the spread up for the most part, butKilling Floor 2’s classesseemed to be more of a priority than the essentially updated versions of the same creatures as before.
This isn’t necessarily a downside to players who enjoy the known Zeds, but it’s also undeniable that they lacked the same unique quality they naturally had in their first appearances.
Robotic EDARs Don’t Evoke the Same Feeling
Apart from the variations of existing Zeds and new bosses which bear similarities toLeft 4 Dead’s Special Infected, the only truly new enemy thatKilling Floorintroduced is the EDAR, a type of security robot unlike any past creature that has appeared. These emotionless machines are certainly intimidating and challenging to face, along with complementing the more technological theming of the second entry, but they ultimately aren’t in line with what makesKilling Floor’s grotesque, disturbing opponents so memorable in the first place.
Killing Floor 3 Needs More Than Just Remixes of Existing Zeds
A Futuristic Setting Opens Up Potential for New Horzine Experiments
There has always been a sci-fi, somewhatResident Evil-esque twist toKilling Floor’s biotech-themed setting and maps, but the third game being set in the year 2091 has created a whole new set of possibilities. Decades would be ample time for the nefarious Horzine to develop new Zeds that go beyond predictable powers like grafted chainsaws and turning invisible, as seen with the new Fleshpound’s arms, and hopefully these fresh designs will be able to reflect an atmosphere as cohesive as that of the first game’s.
Recapturing the Horror of the First Killing Floor
The improvements to gameplay and mechanical depth that took place in the transition intoKilling Floor 2make it hard to go back to the original, but the feeling of the series asan alternative toCoD’s Zombiesis appreciated even after almost 15 years. The darker, murky color palette and more tortured, creepy appearances of the Zeds in the first game specifically came together to create a tone that was lost in the more sanitized, medically accurate gore of the sequel.Killing Floor 3seems to be going even further down this route in terms of style, but it’s still capable of finding its own kind of horror if it can let its Zeds properly evolve this time.
