Sometimes, all a game needs to do is hand players a gun and let them go to town on zombies. It’s a classic experience in the gaming industry for a reason, and Killing Floor (and its Zeds) has always been synonymous with this concept. 20 years after Killing Floor was originally released as an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, its threequel is preparing to bring its frenetic, chaotic gameplay into the modern era. Killing Floor 3 officially releases on March 25, and Game Recently spent a few hours killing Zeds in it.
Killing Floor 3 is taking a huge leap timeline-wise, taking place 70 years after Killing Floor 2. The story focuses on a rebel group known as Nightfall as it fights the megacorpo Horzine and its army of Zeds, but the meat and bones of the franchise has always been killing Zeds. In that regard, Killing Floor has dialed it up to 11 with smart quality-of-life franchise improvements and made it nearly impossible to go back to Killing Floor 2.
Out on The Killing Floor
In Killing Floor Mode, players proceed through multiple waves of Zeds, upgrading their gear at a Trader between rounds, and hopefully improving everything enough to take down the boss at the end. Part of Killing Floor 3‘s appeal is its difficulty, as while we easily walked through the “normal” mode, cranking the difficulty up made it much more challenging. Doing so meant we couldn’t make it past Wave 3, and as Tripwire explained, the game is at its best when players are barely surviving. Instead, players will want to upgrade their specialists and modify their weapons to prepare them for future outings as they try to make their way through all of Killing Floor 3‘s maps and difficulties.
The chase is that simple: die, progress specialist and modify weapons, improve, beat, ratchet up the difficulty, die, and so on. Thankfully, each specialist can be leveled up to 30, but that doesn’t immediately nullify difficulty. Killing Floor 3‘s difficulty will ratchet up to meet player levels, so while “normal” will still be relatively easy, it will still be challenging for someone of that level. And each specialist comes with a gadget that can be a lifesaver. The Engineer class’s twin sonic cannons are great at clearing waves of enemies and holding bosses, while Foster’s drone is a great way to recover or press the attack. Indeed, gadgets are an important part of Killing Floor 3; there’s no surviving without them. That doesn’t mean Killing Floor 3‘s weapons don’t get plenty of love, as there are several for the launch and several mods to make each weapon a personalized Zed-killer.
As players modify and tinker with their guns, they’ll be leveling up too. This also increases a player’s operation budget, which is an allowance for the cost of weapons and mods when loading into a level. In short, the more players play, the better they can go in prepared. But players will want to be mindful of modifying their weapons because of the cost, adding a fun management element to Killing Floor 3.
Killing Floor 3 Launch Features
- 7 survival maps
- 3 difficulties
- 6 specialists (30 levels each)
- 30+ skills per specialist
- 14 enemy classes
- 3 boss fights
- 36 weapons (24 primary, 6 secondary, 6 grenades, 6 gadgets, and 6 tools)
- 150+ weapon mods
- Narrative Assignment Campaign
Quality of Life Improvements Over KF2
Beyond progressing and killing Zeds, which is itself a ton of fun, three major things stood out to us during our preview: Zed Time, the movement system, and the MEAT system. When it comes to Zed Time, there were instances in the past games where it was more of a nuisance when it struck than anything else. If players were caught at the wrong time, it would just interrupt and slow down gameplay with no real benefit. That’s no longer the case with Killing Floor 3. As Zeds slow down, players remain capable of moving down hordes of them within a small safety net. When Zed Time triggers in Killing Floor 3, it is a universal reward that also lets players take in the finer things like the MEAT system improvements.
While the MEAT system has always been great, it also gets smart improvements in Killing Floor 3. It ensures that blood and gore persist when traveling through the level, but the new and improved MEAT system also ensures that Zeds react accordingly to the damage dealt. If players burn a Zed for example, they will react, move, and change accordingly—adding so much to the immersion of the experience. Any singular wave can be overwhelming, so it may be a little hard to appreciate this at all times. But especially during Zed Time, it’s good to stop and smell the undead roses. Otherwise, players will be booking it and fighting for their lives on the higher waves and difficulties of Killing Floor 3.
That’s really where the game shines: when it feels like players are knocking on death’s door. That’s always been true of the franchise, but unfortunately, there have been times in past games where friction between gameplay and mechanics would result in unwarranted deaths. Killing Floor 2‘s movement could often feel rigid and limiting compared to what the game would throw at players, but that’s no longer the case. Standard additions like vaulting go a long way alongside its more freeform movement system, and this means that players can avoid death as necessary. Of course, there’s a matter of skill and overcoming the horde, but it feels much more intuitive to navigate around than prior games.
Overall, there are a lot of improvements in Killing Floor 3, warranting its threequel status and ultimately showcasing the importance of iteration in a franchise. It may not be a revolutionary new game, but it is a huge improvement over the past two co-op zombie games. We may have just had a couple of hours in Killing Floor 3, but it’s already tough to go back to Killing Floor 2 as a result.
- Released
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March 25, 2025
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language