Killing Floor 3: Inside the sequel's unreal upgrades and fright-filled gameplay

The needle injects the egg, and the monstrosity is born. The humanoid grows in a tank filled with translucent sludge, muscles bulging out of its mottled, pinkish skin.

Now it’s full-grown, lying on an operating table, dozens of tubes feeding god-knows-what into its hulking mass. Its face looks almost human, but gone wrong. It has people-teeth, but way too many—dozens, at least, and no lips to cover the stacked rows.

A spidery machine moves its long limbs toward the monstrosity’s chest, with cold determination. The monstrosity blinks with dim awareness. It is awake when the machine carves a yard-long gash into its chest, pries open its rib cage and installs a device in the air gap where flesh and organs used to be. The machine adds an ominous red visor to cover the monster’s eyes and whirligig threshers to cover the monster’s arms. The monster rises, radiating red fury.

This is a Zed, the genetically engineered nightmare at the core of forthcoming sequel Killing Floor 3. It is one of hundreds. Maybe thousands. And they all want you dead.

The hordes are still being assembled at developer Tripwire Interactive, but we recently sat down with Creative Director Bryan Wynia to learn about the ingredients of a Killing Floor game and how to make a sequel different enough without losing the blood-soaked magic along the way.
 

The ingredients

Making a sequel is a balancing act. Change too little, and it feels bland and derivative. Change too much, and you lose the core. So to understand a sequel, it’s important to understand what’s being carried forward—and Wynia has a clear vision of what makes a Killing Floor game. He started with the broadest strokes:

“Wave-based combat, co-op multiplayer, blood and gore, and great-feeling weapons are non-negotiables for any Killing Floor game,” said Wynia.

More specifically, a Killing Floor game should feel like a thrill ride to players.

“I see the game as a roller coaster, with rising and falling tension, punctuated by sudden scares,” he said.

And even more specifically, it’s the Zeds that fuel Killing Floor 3’s fire.

“Every Zed is designed to instill fear in the player and provide them with a distinct challenge,” he said. “Being genetically engineered bioweapons, they’re smarter than your typical mindless monster, which makes an entire horde of them even more threatening.”

And that brings us to the dance of combat, where Killing Floor's weapons empower players and turn them into Zed-killing specialists.

“In Killing Floor, your weapons are all that stand between you and total annihilation. We treat them almost like characters, focusing on making them feel powerful, impactful—and now, customizable.”

It’s that combination that sets Killing Floor games apart from its contemporaries, in Wynia’s view.

“The goal is to present players with a slightly different challenge,” he said. “Our Zeds are not simply reanimated corpses trying to eat your brains. They are killing machines designed with a variety of methods to rip you apart!”
 

The upgrades

Killing Floor games have always been about players facing the overwhelming odds of the Zed hordes, and the march of technology since Killing Floor 2’s 2016 release has allowed Tripwire to ratchet up the pressure even further.

“You'll actually be facing more Zeds on-screen than ever before,” said Wynia. “In previous Killing Floor games, we had 32 Zeds on screen. In Killing Floor 3, we will have up to 48 Zeds. Not just that, but they are capable of distinct attacks and of reaching players in totally new ways. For example, the Crawlers can crawl on the ceiling and walls. Husks utilize a jump pack to flank players. So you’ll have to stay focused at all times.”

Under the hood, Tripwire’s adoption of Unreal Engine 5 has been a huge boon for the blood that flows through the franchise.

“Unreal 5 has allowed us to design features we’ve always wanted to see in a Killing Floor game. For starters, per-instance data allows us to spray blood on absolutely everything, which is a dream come true for us horror fans," said Wynia.

“Unreal 5 has also allowed us to heighten the realism of our Zeds with location-based damage and mesh deformation," he continued. "Killing Floor 3’s weapons can be used to blow off pieces of the Zeds in dynamic ways that vary based on damage type—corrosion, fire, basic, et cetera—adding to the action-horror tone and giving the player some truly destructive power.”

Killing Floor 3 isn’t just upgrading the past with simple numbers and blood splatter. It’s also leaning heavily into a science-fiction narrative.

Its story begins after a period of growth for Horzine Biotech, the company behind the Zeds. That informs not just the narrative, but the design of the game and the player experience as well.

“In this not-too-distant future, Horzine has grown significantly in power and continues to manufacture dangerous bioweapons," said Wynia.

“It was an incredibly fun creative exercise to think about how Zeds, weapons, and the world would have developed over time," he continued. "We approach the creation of Zeds and other enemies from the viewpoint of not only developers but Horzine as well. One example of this is the advancements in the creation of the Fleshpound. Giving this Zed the ability to attack foes at a distance made sense from not only a game design but a narrative perspective as well.”

The focus on what you can see and play is obvious and important, but Killing Floor games are also a soundscape of heavy metal horror. Killing Floor 3 keeps the tradition alive, with multi-instrumentalist Rocky Gray leading the sonic charge.

“There’s always been a significant crossover between horror and metal—think about movies like Trick 'r Treat and Demon Knight. Something about the two just clicks,” he said. “Killing Floor’s soundtrack has always played such a pivotal role in the series’ identity, that’s why we brought back Rocky Gray as our composer. Honestly, we were so excited about his work that we literally couldn’t wait to share it with the community.”

It’s such an integral part of the experience that the game’s YouTube reveals focus as much on the soundtrack—filled with atmospheric synths, pounding drums and chunky riffs—as the actual action-horror enemy reveals.
 

The core

For Wynia, the core of the franchise remains intact in Killing Floor 3. It’s building on its predecessors, pushing some of its ideas forward, but still features the same sonic landscape and player-centric design.

“Empowering the player is very much a priority for us,” said Wynia. “It’s about giving players a variety of options to engage and destroy their enemies. Impactful weapons, weapon mods, tools, gadgets, and enhanced levels and skills are a few of the ways we empower players.”

And that’s how Tripwire is striking the balance between old and new.

“It’s all about blending player wants, series staples, and new ideas to create something that honors Killing Floor's roots while evolving enough to push the series forward.”

You can add Killing Floor 3 to your wishlist on the Epic Games Store. For more on the gore, be sure to read our hands-on impressions of Killing Floor 3 from Gamescom 2024.