The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Last week a shady Netherlands key shop that let me stack coupon codes came through with a half price code labeled “KILLING FLOOR 3 – NOT CHINA”. Time to make it everyone’s problem.
Despite the internet’s insistence to the contrary, Killing Floor III is in fact yet another Killing Floor game. I’m convinced the people calling it “soulless” or whatever are equating soul with 2010s grime textures. This game’s not great, and believe me we will get into many reasons why, but it is exactly the level of quality that I assumed a new release in this franchise would be in 2025. In many ways we’re looking at the exact opposite scenario as Payday 3‘s tragic death spiral. Where Overkill overpromised and wildly underdelivered leading to the community turning on them, Tripwire delivered a game that was consistent with their track record, only to be met with far more vitriol than any Killing Floor game warrants.
Bit of context and bona fides first: I have a couple hundred hours across both prior games and as a result intend to ceaselessly compare the changes over the course of this long-ass piece. I’ve always preferred KF1 if that matters. Even played the Ouya game once, not that I can prove it! Most of my takeaways for this game are based on playing on Hard. I’ve played some Normal and Hell on Earth, but the former’s way too easy and I need a few more skills both for my perks and as a player before I’ll be comfortable on the latter, because every game in this series gatekeeps the fuck out of you if you don’t put the grind in. Some of what I’m saying may not apply to hardcore series vets that jumped straight to HoE and pretended that other modes don’t exist, but I’m mostly not talking to y’all, and I’ll join you soon enough anyway. This is largely for the folks that are looking for a game to blow off steam with the fellas after work and enjoyed prior KFs, whose only exposure to KFIII is seeing a YouTube thumbnail that said the game is ass. We’re going to cover it in 4 sections: technical, notable game design changes, the enemies, and the perks/specialists. I’m fully aware that writing a 4000 word piece on Killing Floor is niche beyond reason, but this was already aiming at the teeny tiny section of the venn diagram where “Dedicated KF Fan” and “Literate” overlap, I knew the risks when I started and am far too invested to quit now.
The Absolute Technical State
This is unfortunately an Unreal Engine 5 game. KF has always been on Unreal but UE 2 and 3 were not as rough as this. You’ve almost certainly had a horror story with a game in this engine by this point and if not, KFIII is happy to oblige. I appreciate that you can turn off a fair amount of UE5’s unnecessary performance obliterators compared to many other early adoptees, but that doesn’t mean the game runs well, especially in multiplayer when 6 people’s visibility-ruining gun and ability effects are popping off at once. My rig clears all the requirements with room to spare and I still encounter hitching and dropped frames at every player count. Hope you don’t mind redoing your settings on each boot either, because the game has a tendency to reset those!
When you load into the game you may notice that you’re in a hub! Your eyes are deceiving you. You will do everything from the menu, accessible with tab, instead of walking to the activation buttons dotted around the station that take you to specific sections of said menu. There is nothing to do in this space. The hub purely exists so it can force everyone to ready up by walking to the VTOL and seeing everyone’s cosmetics. I’m not offended by its existence because it’s literally nothing, it just sort of confuses me. Mycopunk mogs this game’s hub to the point where they’re almost incomparable.
The server situation is baffling. The game has Easy Anti-Cheat and progression is server-side because god forbid people skip the grind or cheat cosmetics, but multiplayer is hosted peer to peer, which means you’re getting the worst of both worlds. Given how important it is to minimize latency in games like this, you’d probably like to be able to ensure you play within your region. Too bad, fucko! No server browser! No text chat either! Turning crossplay off doesn’t even work consistently! The consoleification of KF is complete. You will click the matchmaking button, resistance is…entirely realistic because you were probably just going to play with friends anyway, but still. The saving grace is that if you set a specific map and difficulty the player counts are low enough that you’ll probably be the one to start it, so your ping will be fine.
The weaknesses of intentionally picking the worst architectural foundation possible are most clearly demonstrated by what I have to assume is the result of frequent account sync. Because everything is stored server-side, the game is constantly checking for changes to materials, XP, levels, what have you, and it has a habit of tripping over itself once in a while. In an environment with action as constant as KF where all of those values are most likely to change frequently mid-fight, this kind of sucks ass! In solo the worst this has resulted in is 1-2 noticeable stutters per session, which is bad but manageable. In multiplayer though…I have no idea what the fuck is going on. Sometimes it’s the same, only hitching a bit, and other times it seems to cause rubberbanding with a tendency to snap.
My favorite bug story thus far was in a 6 player game. We were fighting the Chimera, and the server did the server thing. Suddenly, my semi-auto gun’s fire rate became uncapped and allowed me to fire forever as fast as I wanted without reloading or updating the counter. I did try to reload to fix this, but I was right back to spamming my Ifrit as quick as I could click. My DPS shot up to more than double the next closest player’s. Suddenly the boss’ health zipped back up a bit, and the game informed me that I was in -600 ammo debt, effectively repoing my primary. We did not win that round!
I could go on and on here, but I think you get the gist. KFIII is playable on PC, but only just, and its issues are constant speedbumps in a game all about getting into a flow state. I don’t doubt that these can be improved, and it is their current roadmap priority, but frankly there’s a lot of things on that list and I suspect this will be a trickier fix than anticipated, especially given how many parties have had a hand in this game’s creation.
Systemic Obsession
Let’s move on to the actual video game, yeah? KF has always felt a bit stiff and this entry does little to address this. Because this is a contemporary shooter they’ve added mantling and a slide, both of which are slower than you’d think. We also have tiiiiiny little dashes in our kit now, performed by hitting sprint in a non-forward direction, and these are simultaneously a godsend for dodging the new bevy of ranged attacks they’ve given the zeds while also being almost completely useless in melee. You’re not spamming i-frames here, you’re just sidestepping and will still get absolutely fucked on by a horde if you’re not paying attention.
Here’s a straight up positive change: Zed Time builds on a visible meter now, giving teams a good sense for when they should attack or retreat as you’ll all know exactly when you’ll hear the bwooooooom of slo-mo. I like this with no reservations! It’d be nice if it couldn’t pop on the last 1-2 enemies, but that’s kind of always been a problem and lord knows KFIII isn’t all that interested in improving the formula.
How’s about a mixed result change? Large enemies can be staggered into a flashing state for a Doom 2016-style invincible execution, letting you skip the last chunk of their health bar, but it doesn’t always register well on account of the server stuff and hoo buddy you’ll get fucked up if it doesn’t. Even when it works, you can get bodied by attacks like a Siren wail or anything a Bloat does if they happen to line up with when the animation ends. I find myself rarely going for these unless the big lug is more or less alone, and even then if they’re more than 10 steps away I’m probably just gonna decline and unload.
Healing works completely differently than the teamwork-centric system of old, and is simultaneously more conventional and convoluted. By default you hold 3 vials that give you plenty of health. More are purchasable at the trader, and you get a free heal when you touch the pod at the end of each wave. Healing your pals is now basically for Medics only, which I feel iffy on given how much fun it was to save your friend and get a few bucks in return in the previous games, but it feels like a concession for how braindead the Average Horde Shooter Enjoyer is. You’re not allowed to get mad at that, I’m one of you and am dumb as hell. There are also revives now, which also feel like a concession but I don’t feel any kind of way about. It’s shockingly difficult to get a rez off without getting murdered unless you’re a properly kitted medic, and even then the risk often outweighs the reward, meaning it typically plays the same as always.
The weight system is totally gone. Now we just have 2 dedicated slots for primaries, a sidearm, and your consumables (vials, nades, tools). This means you should basically always upgrade to the biggest baddest gun that fits your build. At the moment the means that a lot of players’ endgame consists of buying the Firebug’s Spartan Laser that takes up 1/3 of your screen. I’ll grant that gunmaxxing was happening in most KF1/2 lobbies anyway, but requiring it makes round to round progression feel a bit limited.
What helps this a bit is the weapon customization, and I’m actually a bit more positive towards this than most folks seem to be. Every gun has several craftable parts for stat bonuses made with materials acquired by killing zeds and destroying stuff in the environment, kinda like a more plentiful version of KF2‘s collectable hunting. Each you add makes it more expensive to pick up at the trader, but you 100% must make some better guns if you intend to get through harder difficulties as the damage and performance boost from each part ranges from decent to massive. Where I’m a little more iffy are the randomized additional bonuses that these parts come with each time you buy one, but the guaranteed stats are enough on their own to make these feel like just that, bonuses, and rerolling is super cheap. Some are way better than others though, because of course they are, so expect the most dedicated players to keep hitting the lever until they finally get their godroll mag extender, then complain about how long it took in the Steam forums.
On the other hand, the new spread of nine different damage types is all kinds of baffling. Cut damage, for example, is ass against anything that remembered to wear clothes unless you only hit their fleshy bits. Meanwhile force damage has literally no weaknesses, typically deals in AoE, often staggers, and is largely present on endgame-compliant weapons. Given that they’ve soft-assigned damage specialties to each perk, you can see how this fucks Ninja over pretty badly! Now look – this is still Killing Floor. Game knowledge, by which I mostly mean map knowledge, movement, and good skill allocation, will win the day almost every time. You certainly can make lesser builds/dmg types work, but you should be aware that you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage if you choose to LARP as a swordmaster.
Lastly, and there are other notes but I just don’t feel like touching on everything when there’s so much ground to cover, there’s still a fair amount of map fuckery despite the removal of welding. Multitool interactables open up doors and ziplines, the door bombs seal a door (while allowing teammates through, meaning you can’t weld grief anymore) then explode when breached, and large enemies smashing through the environment can do the same for the zeds to some extent. I want to be clear that I find these changes to be a positive trade overall, but it is worth mentioning that ziplines are far more abusable than most maps’ weldable doors ever were, letting you cut massive chunks of map over and over at no risk to yourself. Sure using them has a cooldown, but it’s not nearly long enough if you just keep moving and loop the zeds forever. Combine this with the multitool also opening armor crates and switching on turrets, and you’ll be hard pressed to not use it in every game. This is far less of an issue in multiplayer but solo is particularly hurt for it.
Zed’s Dead, Baby
Enough systems. Let’s talk monsters! I’m just gonna give them all sections and group them when appropriate:
Clot & Gorefast: Basically unchanged. There are some new attacks and animations thanks to all the new dismemberment and other interactions, but none of that alters their gameplan: walk forward and punch. I’ve never been especially good at telling the Clot variants apart but one of them can spit at you, which is neat I guess? Gorefasts feel like they do way more damage with their sprint but this is easily circumvented by terrain and you can still pulp them with a tap. Moving on.
Bloat & Siren: Look cool as hell now! Both give way bigger tells when they’re about to attack, with the Bloat inflating his body like Lanky Kong before spewing (which also reveals a weak point, nifty design!) and the Siren extending a legitimately disturbing giraffe neck before wailing. I lost my shit the first time I saw that animation and I still think it’s one of the biggest glowups anything got from KF2 to III. They also both have a new ranged attack in case you try to kite them forever like old times, and the Siren’s in particular is nastier than her actual shriek. I have no idea why that’s tuned the way it is. You’re arguably better off running towards her now, and that’s actually kind of a cool bit of risk/reward, but I’m not convinced it’s intentional.
Stalker (RIP) & Crawler: The Stalker is gone! I don’t know why! Her lack of presence isn’t really felt as the Crawler essentially takes her job too, finally freeing Commando up to do things other than reveal invisible enemies that weren’t very good at being invisible in the first place. Crawlers can finally do what they were intended to in ancient Tripwire design documents before they realized it’d crash UE3: crawl on all surfaces. That means instead of occasionally missing the Stalker’s shimmer, you’re forced to constantly look up and around for pale low-profile enemies that’ll ambush you. Combine that with another excellent visual redesign, with their entire torso opening up like a croc’s mouth, and you’ve got a The Thing-ish vibe that I like a lot.
Husk: Fuck this thing! The Husk is basically a Darktide enemy in a game that doesn’t give your dodges i-frames. It jetpacks around, takes potshots with generous AoE, and occasionally fires a mortar barrage that’s likely to at least nick you in any open area. They even get a kamikaze rocket move if left on critical health, and their bodies are resistant to most light fire unless you hit their fuel tank. Everyone who played KF2 hated those damn robots, but I guess Tripwire et al decided that their goofy ass horde shooter really needed a mostly mechanical man with a gun in their enemy roster, so they just gave that job to the Husk. Gross.
Scrake: I think someone on the design team got tired of Scrakes being Diet Fleshpounds and decided to give them everything they could think of. They’re tough as hell, the chainsaw reaches way farther, and they got a fucking Mortal Kombat grappling hook with no audio cue that comes with a free followup slice. It has a very clear visual tell, but come on man. This thing alone is enough reason to bring a gun that’s big and deals heavy stagger, because Scrakes demand immediate solutions. Good thing you’ll literally always do that, right?
Fleshpounds: Compared to New Scrake these feel anemic. They’re a bit smaller than they used to be and have slightly different weaknesses thanks to breakable parts that can neuter their rage, though these seem particularly hard to pop. They did gain a new Mr. Fantastic-ass extendo arm slam, but it’s not especially painful and is pretty easy to sidestep. He also gets his ankles broken if you have any amount of height difference and he’s not literally on top of you. It’s weird that the scariest non-boss of the last two games is no longer top dog, but the Scrake is just that overtuned.
Bosses: Mixed bag! No returning friendos to be had, but these new kids aren’t bad. The Impaler is the dumb one, constantly charging forward until you get it to half health, at which point it keeps doing that but also occasionally fires easily dodged projectiles. It’s a bit better in multiplayer because you have to fight a lil gang of them, which is funny. The Chimera is another walk’n’punch guy, but gets a teleport and can summon goons to run interference. You’ll also need to shoot the fried egg-looking blobs it leaves everywhere, which does a nice job of dividing player attention. Lastly, my favorite, the Queen Crawler. The Thing goes from an inspiration for the small version to a full on John Carpenter tribute here, as it shifts its meat around to protect its glowy weak points and keeps spawning babies. This is a great creature design and a lot more engaging than KF2‘s various takes on “Man With Gun”, not that I wouldn’t be happy to have the Patriarch yell “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY CHILDREN” at me for the third time.
It’s Time 4 Da Perkulator
Perk time! I’ll be covering them from worst to best. I’ll also mention the default tool and guns for each perk if relevant, even though you equip anything on anyone and frankly should shop around. Lastly, every perk is viable assuming you’re at a reasonable level. Fundamentals of positioning, movement, and target prioritization will take you much farther than anything else, even though the delta in power between the worst and best gets kinda nutty.
Commando: I know I said they freed Commando up to not just be an info class that was good with automatics, but that doesn’t mean they did anything with the design space. Now Commando is just the home of dakka in a game where ammo’s pretty damn expensive. Their ability is a drone that delivers, you guessed it, more dakka. It can’t even cover your back either, because it only shoots where you’re facing. Couple that with some pretty underwhelming guns and an ammo bag that’s very much not meant to be shared with the other kids in the class, and you’ve got a perk that simultaneously isn’t awful but also isn’t worth the time investment. Also, boy this canonical clone of Mr. Foster is not nearly as funny as the original. Barely any quips, and they’re mostly grumbly complaints rather than going full Bri’ish. Right tragedy, innit.
Ninja: Being the cut damage specialist in a game that hates cut damage is going to be a rough baseline, but the kunai and shock traps are so ridiculous that they almost make up for it. What hurts Nakata most aren’t his numbers, it’s the load-bearing parry being inconsistent due to the servers being so spotty. Melee classes need a lot of help to compensate for being in every enemy’s effective range and it doesn’t feel like Ninja’s able to make full use of his kit, which is a shame because when it works it offers some pretty sweet room for skill expression. Tripwire has said that the return of Berserker is going to be focused on heavy smashy gameplay compared to the speedy, finesse driven perk we currently have, and I suspect that’ll end up working better if only because it’s less likely to get server’d. That said if the technical side gets sorted the sky’s the limit for Ninja.
Medic: This sure is a combat medic! It’s, uh, required! You probably won’t play it a ton in lower counts unless you just want to be unkillable, which your Sanctum can absolutely do against anything smaller than a whole ass horde, but Obi’s presence and syringe bags are all but required in a full lobby. The dedicated guns are mostly unexciting to me, though I’m pretty sure you could turn the goofy Ghostbusters laser into something notable with enough skill points and elbow grease. Given that this is kind of the only manageable way to get heals going without sacrificing your tool slot I’d recommend you at least get acquainted with this perk, even if it’s not quite as flashy this time around.
Sharpshooter: I am so torn here. Sharpshooter hits like a bus and does so efficiently, clearing big targets faster than almost anyone assuming you can aim. Her default tool is effectively the substitution for welding, sealing a door and blowing it up once the zeds punch it enough, which helps create chokepoints that she can shred through. The problem, somewhat predictably, is that she needs to go out of faction for anything that handles small mobs well. The freeze grenade is kind of awful and the ability, despite how much fun it is to have a Yondu arrow that automatically kills zeds and grants buffs while it’s at it, has a mind of its own and doesn’t always take out the targets you’d prefer. I think I like this perk more than it might deserve, but I have too much fun playing Luna to place her any lower.
Engineer: Shotguns. Multitool support in the skill tree. A grenade that actually kills. Bigass wave ability that bullies large zeds. Two of the best endgame weapons currently available. I don’t know why you wouldn’t at least consider having an engineer on your squad. Imran’s also my favorite specialist character-wise thus far, and probably the one I’m going to use more broadly once they let us pick characters freely again.
Firebug: Of my 130 hours in KF1 I spent over half on Firebug alone. I’ve always loved this class, even when it’s awful, and my loyalty has finally been rewarded with the Vulcan, a combination laser gun and .50 cal that deals force damage for some reason. Combine that with some truly nasty skills that allow for incomparable flexibility and a solid get off me button for your ability, and you have a package where the only weakness is the intolerable specialist you’re currently forced to play as. When Tripwire finally decouples Devlin from Firebug I will truly be free to play my class free of torment, no longer having Whedonesque quips dripped into my ear like poison into King Lear’s.
Conclusion
Killing Floor‘s secret is that it’s always been mid, but in ways that never stopped it from delivering its intended experience. KF1 was built on a rickety foundation, had some truly atrocious map design, and its glacial progression made playing its harder difficulties exclusive to folks with triple digit hours. KF2 launched barely functional, had truly hostile monetization despite promises to the contrary, and gave up any attempt at thematic cohesion in favor of adding as many cosmetics as possible. KFIII launched light for a game in current year (17.4 GB vs KF2‘s eyewatering 96 GB, not that that means much), tried to turn it into a hero shooter only to walk it back (pending at time of writing), and the performance is so inconsistent that I legitimately cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying myself!
What gives KF its “soul” isn’t any individual mechanical detail, piece of presentation, or even a Harry Enfield impersonator screaming about doin’ up the ‘ouse; it’s shooting guns with other human beings. KF has always just been a series where you and your friends use increasingly ridiculous weapons to turn increasingly dangerous hordes into increasingly chunky salsa and I’m tired of people pretending it’s anything more than that. Even when rolling solo, it’s still a perfectly good time to stumble to the VTOL, hit the matchmaking button, put on your ass kicking playlist, and shoot zeds until you remember you have work tomorrow. Live Serviceification and Embracer’s constant push to release stuff before it’s ready notwithstanding, this is still exactly what I’ve come to expect from a new Tripwire game: rough edges on the technical front, wonky balancing that’ll likely never be fully fixed, heaps of areas on which to improve in clearly evident ways, and an undeniably good time even with all its issues accounted for. Give it a few months for patches and a deeper discount and you’ll have a game worth plenty of weeknights. Despite it all, it’s still Killing Floor.
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