De la A a la Z de Killing Floor 3

Con Killing Floor, Tripwire Interactive unleashed a truly fresh hell. Their gleefully gruesome first-person survival horror co-op shooter began, as all good futuristic dystopias must, with an out of control tech corp—in this case, Horzine Biotech, an England-based house of horrors where experiments in cloning and genetic manipulation see once-human subjects mutate and become slavering zombie-like hordes, known as Zeds. Tripwire went all out on the mutate part of the equation, by the way, with ten different monster types all looking to make a snack of your face, armed with rows of razor teeth, or claws like a machete, or just plain old chainsaws. Players are military clean-up, dropped into Zed-ridden areas with an incredible array of weapons for detaching limb from mutant limb in spectacular fashion, plus the ability to up their odds of survival with medi-packs, body armor, and welders. The lauded sequel Killing Floor 2 sees the action expand to Europe, as what does any good (bad) megacorp do when the limbs hit the fan? Relocate and do it all over again. On July 24th, the Zeds reach the US, and beyond, in the highly anticipated Killing Floor 3. Are you ready?

Bryan Wynia, Studio Creative Director at Tripwire Interactive, dodged mutant Crawlers, Fleshpounds, and Impalers, as well as fan traps, to get the news on responding to the beta, making the Zeds deadlier than ever, and what role enhanced AI plays, into the eager hands of Intel Gaming Access. “Killing Floor 3 builds upon the foundation of the previous two titles in the series,” he tells us. A once idyllic company town descends into blood-soaked chaos when a hidden Zed storage facility is inexplicably activated. Your mission is to succeed where the local security force failed, and neutralize the Zed threat. “The game takes inspiration from action-horror movies like Aliens and Predator, as well as the body horror of John Carpenter’s The Thing and David Cronenberg’s filmography,” Bryan continues. “The horror setting makes it unique among the current line-up of co-op shooters.” Those cinematic influences are as much felt as seen—this is gut-punch gaming, the onslaught is nerve-shredding and the gore dynamics hair-raising (ever think you’d see a head unfurl like a flower..?).

“Players will jump into a fast-paced gameplay loop in which they team-up to battle hordes of bio-engineered creations called Zeds,” Bryan affirms. “They can look forward to a deep system of skill progression and weapon customization that empowers them to slay their way. An incredibly detailed, dynamic dismemberment and gore system ensures a uniquely visceral experience.” And system it is, it even has an acronym: MEAT, aka Massive Evisceration And Trauma. “We’ve completely revamped our MEAT gore system,” Bryan enthuses, “meaning more precise dismemberment and more detailed carnage. Our enhanced enemy AI system allows Zeds to perform feats and attacks that make our Zeds deadlier than ever before. For example, certain enemies can wall-crawl, teleport, and even fly short distances.” Flying Zeds? Make them splatter like bugs on a windshield.

Following a big hit is no easy feat, but Tripwire dodged the sophomore slump with the relentless Killing Floor 2, and so might be forgiven for thinking they have it all figured out. No notes. Carry on. As you were. Luckily, that just isn’t their style. They listen, respond, refine—and the Killing Floor 3 that releases on July 24th is what it is because Tripwire are obsessed with much more than gore dynamics (though, let’s be honest, they are totally obsessed with gore dynamics, in the best way).

“After the release of our February closed beta playtest,” Bryan says, “we received valuable feedback from our community that required a serious rethink and rework. While we had limited time to pivot, the team pulled together to focus on the essential pillars of our series and improve on those key areas to ensure the best launch experience possible for our fans.” These are not empty words. The team decided to postpone the original launch and addressed the community back in March, saying: “Our goal isn’t just to make Killing Floor 3 an ambitious step forward for the franchise, but also to maintain the core experience that you’ve come to know and love.” Horzine Biotech never learns; Tripwire make it their mission to evolve, and exceed.

One issue they pledged to address was performance, and so attendant stability. “Because Killing Floor 3 is such a frenetic, fast-paced game, having consistent performance is vital to the player’s literal survival,” Bryan explains. “We’ve provided a robust selection of scalable graphics settings so they can best optimize their experience, no matter what PC they’re using within our recommended specs. So the best way for PC gamers to experience the game is to tune those settings to whatever in their opinion gives them the right balance between visual fidelity and performance for their specific machine.”  

There’s also a little more than can be done. “Early in development,” Bryan recalls, “we partnered with Intel to integrate their cutting-edge IntelⓇ Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) technology for the first time in a Killing Floor game. This collaboration allows us to offer our PC audience a range of upscaling solutions, ensuring optimal performance across various PC configurations. Intel’s support was invaluable in development. They provided actionable insights on performance optimization for Intel CPU and GPU cards, enabling our systems and engine to scale effectively across diverse system configurations.”

Advance word on Killing Floor 3 is that Tripwire’s commitment to excellence more than pays off. Performance aside, a delay isn’t always fatal. So what’s next for the gleeful gorehounds? “We’ll be supporting Killing Floor 3 in the coming years with ongoing seasonal updates,” Bryan says. “We’re also currently at work on some unannounced projects that we’ll be excited to reveal in the future.” We’ll steady our nerves in readiness.

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