Revive The Dirty Aesthetic

[Yeowskii]

I remember in KF1 so many maps were way more industrial and grimey. Much more rust, dirt, rotting wood, and concrete. I'm pretty sure this came from Killing Floor's origins as a half-life mod with the more realistic textures. It kept the game feeling like a horror game, and fit the apocalyptic theme far better. Killing Floor 2 went back and forth on it. It stayed around in maps like The Tragic Kingdom, Power Core, and Nuked (my favorite maps by the way), but went the other way with Biotics Lab, Desolation, and Moonbase. The latter examples were fine as far as maps go, but the horror factor was a lot more subdued. I still miss KF1 maps like Hellride, Waterworks, or the old Biotics Lab.

Personally, my favorite maps are the ones that make me feel like I should get a tetanus shot after playing. I hope the devs bring back that hostile feeling to the environmental textures in Killing Floor 3.

 

[Aleflippy]

THAT, I can get behind ! I never understood why people claimed Killing Floor has ever been horror (it's not... it has monsters and gore, that's pretty much it), but it WAS full of dirt. KF1 is an ugly game, not in the way that it looks bad, but it looks ROUGH. From enemies to maps and weapons, everything seemed washed out, used and abused... I almost believe the lack of polish is what made it stand out even more, kinda like you see a resurgence of "PS1-era horror games" lately. It looked pretty ugly and blocky... but it almost added to the dread. I stand my point that Killing Floor has too many corny characters (including the zeds!) and pumping tracks to work as a truly horrific game... But it felt similar to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or even the first two Bioshock games : it felt decayed. It felt post-apocalyptic without being a mere copy of Fallout. And not many games managed to make me feel that way.

Hell, even if I keep disagreeing with people tagging Killing Floor as an horror game... Playing the game on Suicidal/HoE difficulty, without any music and by yourself is honestly not too far from a Silent Hill experience.

As for the maps themselves (even if my first paragraph kinda speaks about everything, maps included) : I also agree. I wasn't against the base idea of embarking on a European Tour with KF2... but then it devolved into a succession of military bases, spaceships and labs... Boring as hell. I do miss Wyre and Bedlam a lot. Waterworks wasn't the scariest maps, but I had many great playthroughs over there. And you didn't want to stay inside very long! I would add Icebreaker to the mix, and possibly Farm (even if it was far too open).

I do believe KF2 has a few gems nonetheless. Nuked as you mentioned, but also Farmhouse and Catacombs (even if nobody ever wants to play them). I also really love Dystopia, Black Forest and Prison if we're talking about "vibes" more than gameplay.

 

[Anon24w0w~]

I don't know if we can do that, when KF3 action is placed in cyberpunk'd 2091.