Killing Floor is a cooperative zombie horde shooting franchise that is now over fifteen years old. It comes to us from renowned developer Twipwire Interactive, who, beyond Killing Floor, have also developed the Red Orchestra series alongside 2020’s Maneater. Now in its third iteration, Killing Floor 3 has a legacy to live up to and an expectation set by its dedicated fanbase. As one member of the aforementioned fanbase, the game’s release is exciting, but undeniably hasty.

The game tasks players with taking on the role of a specialist within a mercenary team to gun down, slice apart, and blow up the ravenous undead threat before them. Waves of zombies will clamber into the arena as you use whatever resources, teamwork and skill you have to end them before they end you. The conclusion of each wave facilitates a brief respite, where you can use any accumulated dosh to buy weapons at a trading post and stock up on any ammunition, tools, and armour you may need. Once you’ve purchased your goods, it’s time to set up in a prime location to take on the next wave, until you are met with the final boss.

This FPS series is grimdark in nature, with visceral gore and horrific threats as a core part of its DNA. Killing Floor 3 leans further into the sci-fi/futuristic angle, which does help it set itself apart from other titles in the genre, but leans further away from the grittiness that I appreciated from previous releases. With that said, Tripwire is a team that can craft a wonderfully detailed world, reminiscent of titles released from much bigger development teams. The zombie designs are especially captivating, managing to horrify and surprise in a way that’s hard to achieve in such an oversaturated market.

When comparing Killing Floor 3 with its 2016 predecessor, it’s easy to see what the latest title is lacking. Yes, Killing Floor 2 had the benefit of years of additional development time and extra content releases, but asking fans to buy into a new release with less content is always going to cause division. With 8 maps and 6 specialists to choose from, Killing Floor 3 feels acceptable but not inspiring. Anyone who may have played Killing Floor 2 recently may find this particularly limiting, as that title eventually grew to encompass 25 maps and 10 specialists. Perhaps even more impactful is the lack of a dedicated Versus mode that gave Killing Floor 2 extra longevity and engagement, allowing players to go head-to-head in larger lobbies where one team controlled the zombies themselves.

Despite being barebones in some areas, the one aspect where Killing Floor 3 does feel incredibly feature-rich is in its monetisation. With multiple editions, a Supply Pass, a Season Pass (which is apparently different from a Supply Pass), as well as a premium currency shop, Killing Floor 3 is brimming with opportunities for players to pay extra money. That’s really where things feel iffy with this release. This title is drenched in promise and possibilities, but is hampered by limited content and some seriously unfortunate performance issues. Rather than spend the extra development time to fix up shortcomings, that time was spent on turning the release into a modern games-as-a-service machine.

What bestows the most hope for Killing Floor 3 and what will keep me coming back for more is actually Tripwire Interactive’s development history. Yes, the game feels underbaked at the moment. But there’s a solid foundation on which to build, and a studio that has proven its willingness to do the work to make those improvements and to continually build upon that foundation. I hope the aggressive monetisation at the game’s launch helps to fund continuous free updates, because it’s what the title needs right now to get it into a healthy place.

Killing Floor 3 will no doubt be an exciting gore-fest for you and your friends to blow off steam while blowing off zombie limbs. Perhaps patience will prove to be a virtue for this specific title, though, as a rough launch inspires caution rather than elation.