Killing Floor 3 players afraid for future after disappointing beta launch

Killing Floor 3’s much-anticipated closed beta launched on Feb. 19, allowing a select group of players to try it out early. But fans are disappointed with the game and fear for the series’ future.

Following the closed beta’s launch, multiple posts criticizing the state of the game appeared online. They point out numerous issues, including optimization, performance, UI, AI, and map design, just to name a few. “Killing Floor 3 is just plain awful,” one player wrote on Reddit. “This beta is a disaster, and the worst part? This is what the final game will be. What you see here isn’t a rough draft—it’s what you get, it’s the full product with a fresh coat of ‘early access’ excuses.” The player underlined plenty of the game’s lackluster aspects. These include the gunplay, enemy AI, the game’s netcode, and more.

When it came to sharing their opinions, players didn’t hold back. “In all seriousness, the cons heavily overshadow all the good and mid-things KF3 has. It’s just not fun to play with underdeveloped sound design, gore and physics. Definitely skipping this one as sad as it is for me since I LOVE Killing Floor,” another post added. The player did praise maps, Zeds, and movement, showing that the game isn’t a completely lost cause—that said, there is still a long way to go before it’s something that fans are remotely happy with.

The biggest criticism aimed at Killing Floor 3 is that it doesn’t feel like a part of the franchise. It’s more dynamic, that’s true, but its soul has been lost somewhere along the lines. “This game has some things done right… but it [has] also done a lot more things wrong, starting with not being a Killing Floor game,” one player summed up.

These kinds of opinions can be found everywhere, but they have a point. As a lifelong fan of the series, I was naturally eager to jump into the closed beta and was lucky to do so. But my experience has been far from great so far, with optimization and performance issues running rampant.

Fortunately, in the end, it’s still only a closed beta, so there’s room for improvement. But while there’s plenty of elements to improve, time isn’t on Tripwire Interactive’s side. Killing Floor 3’s official release is scheduled for March 25. The closed beta is ending on Monday, Feb. 24, leaving the developer only a month to fill the gaps—and at the moment, it feels like there are too many of them.