Today we'll be exploring Horzine's two most mass-produced zeds: the clot and the cyst.

"The KCJ-09 and the SI-07 are the backbone of today's most advanced militaries.Their presence in the field means less boots on the ground—saving budgets… and lives."

Clot-Tempered



If you've played a Killing Floor game, you've probably killed a lot of clots—they're everywhere, they're legion, and they're looking for someone to claw to death.

The original Horzine bioweapon, the clot was accidentally created during co-founder Kevin Clamely's attempt to clone his deceased son, Kevin Jr. While initially met with skepticism by the world's major militaries, they soon became the standard infantry unit as they were far less expensive than training, equipping, and feeding human troops.


The clot has been updated for the 2090s to incorporate cybernetic elements like enhanced vision and hearing, a steel-reinforced skeleton, as well as mechanized hands. While not individually powerful, they can be dangerous in groups—especially when enraged by the death of one of their zed brethren.


"The clot was the third enemy character that we designed and completed for Killing Floor 3 after the cyst and crawler. It was the first character with the extensive mechanical augmentations across its body. It was important to establish how we were going to go forward with both the shape the direction and aesthetic of these mechanical components on this new generation of zeds.

We exaggerated the size of the hands to enhance the terrifying nature of the slashing and tearing attacks of this enemy to ramp up the intensity of the interactions players have with it. We also wanted to accentuate the body horror by showing how the tubes, wires, and mechanics that pull and stretch the skin in all directions as well as how the armored parts connect to the flesh of this monster. Specific examples would include how the false spine affixes to the back and how the chest and abdominal apparatus adhere to the front of this enemy."

• Hammy Shah, Character Artist​

Malignant Cyst

The cyst debuted in KF2, as the clot's easily underrated cousin—slower, clumsier, but equally persistent.

As Horzine grew, they sought new markets for their bioweapons. While developing nations lacked the financial resources of more industrialized countries, they still needed war materiel, and so the cost-conscious cyst was created.



Unlike the clot, this zed is primarily organic—it features no flashy robotic augmentations. What it does feature is the new ability to expel great gobs of bloody saliva, blinding their opponents before closing in for the kill.



"The cyst was the very first character we completed for the game. We wanted to make sure even a fodder enemy was off-putting and still a fun fight for the player. I personally enjoy how, while being a very weak enemy, they are still capable of disrupting the fight with a horrifying grab.

With its new design, we wanted to showcase zeds now having reveals. Its hood pulling back and revealing a fleshy, underdeveloped skull is to intentionally create layers of horror. Which is a theme we wanted to build upon with this generation of specimens."

• Samantha Rogers, Lead Character Artist​

During your missions, you'll encounter hordes of these zeds. Individually, they might not pose a major threat, but you underestimate this pair of pugnacious adversaries at your own peril.

Thanks for stopping by for another Nightfall News briefing! Make sure to check out the Killing Floor 3 playlist over on our YouTube channel for even more zed reveals! And to stay up to date on all things Killing Floor, please join the awesome community members on Discord, Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and the Tripwire official forums.

Greetings esteemed long term guests of the monastery!

Today we bring some exciting news, in preparation for the launch of The Stone Of Madness, we are also updating the demo to bring it in line with the launch build and the changes that have been made since Steam Nextfest. A big thank you to all of our pris... guests who have helped provide feedback and reports to help us make many of these changes! Some key highlights include:

• Prologue
  • Most hard resets during the tutorial have been removed. Being caught or detected during the early stages of the prologue will instantly respawn the character in a safe point instead.
  • Guard placement and routes have been reviewed
  • Balance Adjustments – Multiple gameplay balance changes have been made to improve the overall experience.
• Controls
  • Action cancel – Progressive actions (such as looting, or lockpicking) can now be cancelled using Left Click and Space. Progressive actions can no longer be cancelled using Right Click.
  • Keyboard Scheme– Updated the PC keyboard control scheme.
    • The Beckon Action has been remapped to Left Control (prev. Left Alt)
    • Crouching has been remapped to C. (prev. Left Control)
  • Toggle view cone – Left Alt + Left Click on NPCs will activate their view cone. Middle click still works as usual.
  • Pushable blocks – Input options for interacting and moving pushable blocks with Eduardo have been reviewed and features several improvements.
  • Mouse navigation – Character mouse navigation have been improved
  • Left click interaction – Several changes have been made to improve detection of interactable items using left click.
• UI
  • Skill change – Added control legend for Skill change on the HUD
  • Character selection – Added a new panel showing the deployed characters and their respective control keys on the HUD.
  • Deployment Popups – Players are now notified when new guards are deployed.
  • Menu navigation with mouse – Mouse actions on menus have been reviewed and updated with several improvements

You can find more information about the Demo itself in our Demo FAQ here.

Tripwire Presents and The Game Kitchen are pleased to announce The Stone Of Madness Special Edition and the availability of The Stone of Madness pre-orders!

Launching Jan. 28, 2025 on Windows PC via Steam (officially Steam Deck Verified), Epic Games Store and GOG, PlayStation®5, and Xbox Series X|S, with pre-purchase on the Nintendo Switch™ system beginning soon. Developed by The Game Kitchen, acclaimed developers of Blasphemous and Blasphemous 2, The Stone of Madness is currently available for pre-purchase for a MSRP of $29.99 for the Standard edition and $34.99 for the Special edition, which includes a digital copy of the game, digital artbook with over 60 pages of gorgeous art, and the digital official soundtrack (OST) featuring 24 songs including title song 'La Piedra de la Locura' available to listen to now on YouTube. All digital pre-purchases will be discounted at 10% off their standard pricing, ending on Jan. 28. Eager fans on PC can download the demo available through Steam, taking players through the multi-hour prologue experience.

Players can learn more about strengths, weaknesses, and phobias of the five uniquely flawed playable prisoners in the latest series of character vignettes released by Tripwire Presents. From young Amelia the rogue, using her small size and quick hands to sneak into forbidden areas and pilfer goods whilst avoiding the horrors of a child's overactive imagination, to Eduardo the oversized craftsman, silently using his immense strength to overcome obstacles and avoiding dark and dimly lit areas that haunt him, each of the prisoners will work together to overcome their fears and escape…hopefully with their sanity still in tact. All five videos can be viewed via this YouTube Playlist.

The Stone of Madness is a tactical stealth adventure game set in a Spanish madhouse in the late 18th century, presented with gorgeous hand-crafted, period-inspired artwork. Located in the Pyrenees, a timeworn Jesuit monastery is home both to a madhouse and an inquisitorial prison; five mysterious characters have been imprisoned between its walls under different pretenses. Plagued by cruel punishment, madness, and despair, they will soon devise a plan to escape this place and its evil inhabitants, relying on each other to face their deepest fears.

The Stone of Madness key features include:
Escape the Monastery: Control all five characters independently to aid in their escape, taking care to preserve each member's sanity as much as possible. As they explore the corridors and rooms of the monastery they may discover useful tools or clues to aid their escape. They must avoid detection at all times, the Inquisition is not known for their mercy.

Manage the Madness: Each character carries their own unique traumas and phobias contributing to their own respective madness. Managing their mental health will be crucial to their escape, using a system of character progression and regression. Failing to maintain a character's sanity can trigger new negative traits including paranoia, dementia, or bouts of violence.

Discover the Secrets Within: Choose between two different escape plans, with each campaign featuring unique stories, objectives, and surprises. These plans will play out through a day and night cycle separating daytime actions and nighttime preparations, giving the prisoners time to rest and recover. Most actions will be best performed during daytime, even with the Inquisition's presence, however the darkness of night offers unique opportunities, and risks. There is a reason most inmates rarely venture out after dark.

Experience Stunning, Hand-painted Art Style: The visuals in The Stone of Madness have been lovingly hand-painted and animated, drawing heavy inspiration from 18th-century artist Francisco De Goya. An isometric perspective allows players to explore scenes and observe minute details as if they're adventuring through a Goya painting brought to life.

We will be updating the forums to the latest build and as such have to put them into maintenance mode before the upgrade tomorrow. Hopefully this work will only span a few hours at maximum.

Hello there. I was wondering if Killing Floor 3 will actually end up having Workshop/SDK for the game overall and if its going to be on game's launch in March or later?

I have been creating a ton of custom content including total conversions and maps for the Tripwire titles, however I missed Killing Floor 2 a bit since I was ocuppied with RO2 and RS2 at a time.
But yes, all previous projects were built on Unreal Engine 2 and Unreal Engine 3 allowing modding of any sort. Killing Floor 3 is first game made using Unreal Engine 5, and while I loved working with it, very few games using UE4 and UE5 shipped with the workshop, Chivalry 2 being the most notable example that didnt have despite previous title including workshop support.

Thank you in advance.

Still no word yet on the closed beta, the game is set to release in 2 months and we haven't gotten any word on when a beta is starting

Hi there. We're just shy of 2 months away from March, KF3 release date. I just wanted to know, since I didn't find any info about it. Is it gonna release in Early Access? Or is it gonna be a "full fledged" release?

Thanks and best wishes to the devs in this final stretch.