KF originally had a cast of Soldiers and Police officers struggling to contain a threat that was about to engulf everything; KF today is full of chickens, robots, and other fun things that I haven't personally experienced for quite some time.
While not something I would call survival horror (Though the original mod could be classified as such due to the low ammo counts and difficulty), it is something I would call survival panic. While not exactly a scary game, can anyone who plays this game seriously tell me that they have never had a moment where the defensive line has failed? Where two, three or even four successive Sirens, Scrakes, or Flesh Pounds have murdered everyone and are closing in on you as you're desperately searching in vain for a way out? Those moments where 99% of the time you end up dead, you and your friends (If you're playing with them) usually laugh, or cry out in defeat, but generally you had a good time (hopefully). I'm referring to moments where you're in extreme danger, moments where you're going to die but have a few brief seconds to try and make an escape of some sort. Reactions to these moments obviously differ, but my point is that they exist and the general idea is that you see what's going to kill you, you can try to avoid dying, but you're probably not going to make it. Usually KF is pretty relaxing as you gun or slice down waves of baddies, but sometimes they get the drop on you and that's when those panic moments occur.
While these moments are still present in the game, the overall theme has been lost. The panic moments of staring a flesh pound down and turning to find two sirens behind you never left, but the atmosphere isn't the same. Rather then a rag tag group of survivors with whatever weapons they could find holding back the horde, you're a group of steam punk chickens firing space laz0rs and golden AK's and Flamers (Not even mentioning the fact that TWI used a very weak excuse to get around their pledge of never selling DLC weapons). I was fine with the early dlc such as the Fosters or DJ Skullys as their character bios made the whole thing plausible and I could suspend my disbelief for things like that. But there came a point where it was just too much and became frustrating to see Harold Lott comes to mind (That one just seemed like shameless pandering). Most people who are okay with this don't seem like they have owned or experienced the game when it first came out (These aren't statistics or anything obviously), but there are facts I can provide the are undeniable.
The fact is, my friends and I are no longer playing KF or RO/2 because of decisions made by TWI. We won't be pre ordering KF2 and I'll personally be cautioning most people I know away from the game due to decisions TWI has made. Is KF ruined? No, however it is for me and the guys I played it with. Is KF a perfect game? No, it has plenty of design problems that hinder it (Such as a leveling system that forces grinding upon people who may not have a lot of spare time, and that's coming from someone with level 6 perks with everything), however it was consistent with how it looked. I was okay with the themed events as they were few and far between and were amusing while they were there however weren't around long enough to become annoying (However plenty of people felt otherwise complaining about hitbox issues associated with the skins or their general distaste for the event).
The funny thing is I could see myself picking up KF, playing it, and having a grand old time if I had just bought it recently. I probably wouldn't be a fan of some of the things the game currently has, but I wouldn't dislike the game so much as nothing would have changed. The sad thing is nothing had to go in the direction it did. Had the game received new game modes, maps, and weapons that fit the original theme, I would enjoy it today as much as I did when I bought it, and if I were a new player I would enjoy it as well for the same reasons I did when I first got it. There wouldn't be a huge fracture in the community akin to what went on with the Red Orchestra community. It seems like TWI has a tough time keeping the players of their games together, hence why many have left or have lost trust in the company. Luckily for TWI plenty of new blood has filled that void and the general word of mouth still see's TWI as a good company. However much of that word of mouth is from people who haven't been with them all that long.
I personally won't be buying KF2 until long after it's out, possibly when it's on sale, when TWI shows me I can trust them. A start would be making promises that are kept and proving to me that they can foster a community without tearing it apart.