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I usually don't write reviews but as a longtime supporter of Tripwire and their games, I have this to say, since I still support the team and I really enjoy their work, it breaks my heart to see the negative reviews and low player count on Steam at the moment, fortunately cross-play, PlayStation and Xbox players help with keeping the game thriving.

I'm going to update my review for this game. This almost feels like a No Man's Sky/Cyberpunk 2077 situation. At release it was an unpolished mess, and right now it still needs a good amount of more polishing but let me say this Killing Floor 3 is GOOD, I bought this game last week and put in over 50 hours already. Tripwire, here's my $40, you earned it, and thank you for not giving up.

And yes I have played Killing Floor 1 and 2, I played Killing Floor 1 back in 2009 when you could buy it in-stores in it's CD-Case. It IS A KILLING FLOOR GAME. For the reviews that say it is not a Killing Floor game, that's how I felt about Killing Floor 2 at first when Tripwire added sprinting, the colorful UI, and started leaning toward a more cartoony aesthetic. I didn't like it a first, but nostalgia can be painful at times. I learned to grow. That being said, Killing Floor 3 returns back to it's gritty nature of Killing Floor 1, although not as dark but definitely darker than Killing Floor 2. Killing Floor 1's gameplay is the slowest, Killing Floor 2 is faster, and Killing Floor 3 is the fastest as of right now (meaning a lot more ZEDs will SPRINT at you, it can be overwhelming). That being said, this is a review for 3 and not 1 and 2; so I'll do the best as I can not to compare, don't expect Killing Floor 1 or 2, because that's what I did with Killing Floor 2 - expecting Killing Floor 1 so I was disappointed with KF2's release but I still enjoy that game to this day.

I bought KF3 the ultimate edition with all the extra stuff (on sale) but I can easily say if Tripwire will optimize this game more and get more good quality content created it can easily be worth the $40 (but no rush Tripwire).

This game struggles a lot with a lot of things and has plenty of good but we're only going to address a few which we will dive into:
1) Optimization
I think I spent the first day - about 5-7 hours optimizing the game.
There's an EXTREME fps boost configuration on the mod site Nexusmods for Killing Floor 3 by wowowiwa that will help with FPS although it will severely affect game quality (you'll see pop-ins but if you're running a really low-end PC, this will help a lot). I opted out of this after using it since I am able to play the game with significantly less issues since recent updates.

I ran Windows 11 Debloating powershell scripts (thanks to @AstroDuck in the comments), ran everything on low, frame generation, DLSS on Quality and Ultra Performance, and for those who are compiling shaders every time you're launching the game and it takes 15 minutes, this is what worked for me: increasing the shader cache size in NVIDIA Control Panel to 100 GB, this way the game won't have to compile shaders every game, every startup (check YouTube and other guides for tutorials and optimization).

Currently running it at low settings with DLSS on Quality, and frame generation and the game still runs wonderfully compared to my initial experience and the game really does look good. It's a genuine improvement of graphics and I believe it's a faithful successor to the series in terms of art design. Recent updates have improved performance for most users although YMML.

2) Content
Weapons
The roster of weapons are okay (more coming soon right?) and the gun designs are okay, I even dare say good. I definitely want more but for what we have it's actually really good. All the animations are solid (and if you're really a fan of KF, you'll notice this, Tripwire really took the time with animations in this game and that was one of the main things Tripwire focused heavily on in previous games I think they're the pioneers of weapon inspect animations especially when KF2 released, I bought it just for that lol, making the guns feel good and satisfying to use [although if you bought the KF2 Year 2 Armory Pass, the weapons in that pack actually suffered a lot in animation ex: G36C, I think Tripwire was going through a transition phase being bought into Saber Interactive so there must've been a big change in team like the animators, and probably their very first times animating too, so give them grace], guns are solid, and love the ability to mod the weapons (although the RNG to craft is not it, Tripwire is currently reworking this). Just needs more guns but even KF1 had a limited amount of guns at first so we were running to community servers just to have custom mutators that were running IJC and other weapons before they were official. All that to say this - THE GUNS AND ANIMATIONS ARE GOOD! Thank you Tripwire, please keep doing what you do.

Characters
I read the complaints about annoying voice lines and terrible character design and I really believe this is not truthful at all. I actually really appreciate the characters, the story, all of it. It really adds depth to the game. And if you're reading this Tripwire, I really enjoyed reading the comic y'all created in-game as well. When I first played Killing Floor 1 I wanted a campaign mode for the longest, years later KF1 came out with an objective mode it wasn't a campaign mode but it was enough for young me in that short time. Although KF3 doesn't have an official campaign mode, it has a story and I actually like it. Call me and/or the story shallow but the intimacy of the characters in the game warms my heart lol, the stronghold hub, and mission control, and my favorite part is a photo taped on the console with the team together. It helps you be grounded and hopeful when the world outside is literally Hell on Earth. (also the ambient music with the hums and sounds of computers while you're in the hub is superrr relaxing. I was sitting in-game and just listening to it while journaling IRL). The Stronghold feels and is exactly as it should be - strong and safe. I really want more voice lines, I miss the portraits of characters popping up when you'd taunt or use voice lines in KF1, and hear "new mag in" during reloads. It makes the game feel lively, and KF3 is getting close to that liveliness but maybe I'm just a sucker for nostalgia, KF3's characters are good and looking forward to more added to the team roster. And the cosmetics really aren't bad. I kept reading about how bad they were or were not worth the money but my opinion here - they are definitely worth. Also thank you God and Tripwire for the separation of perks being hard-baked into the character themselves.

Gameplay
This right here is huge and is easily why I put over 50 hours within my first week of buying KF3. Doom, Unreal Tournament, Quake - the movement is there. I wasn't much of a PvP guy growing up, nor am I really now. I bought Rainbow Six Siege exclusively for Terrorist Hunt in it's alpha stages (but you didn't come here to hear about that). Movement is very much Doom like, sprint is there, and dashes. When I saw the trailers at first I was a bit appalled by the dashing but after playing I love it. Sliding and vaulting definitely needs a lot more polishing as those feel awkward, the animations for it are actually pretty bad but everything else feels soo smooth. The gunplay, the movement, the ZEDs all sprinting at you while you do FEAR Bullet Time Doom Dash Deus Ex Half-Life type beat containing the outbreak one ZED at a time, it's a Killing Floor game. Don't knock it until you try it and if you're afraid just wait for a sale, it's well worth the sale price.

I'm running out of room to type this review but there's soo much more to say so I'll wrap it up here. I may be an old head or even slop enjoyer (as many have called this game slop >insert sad face here) for saying this but 8/10. This is KILLING FLOOR 3 and it's GOOD.

I'm not sure what the developers are up to but the game is still a blast, some TLC and it's going to be legendary today just like it was in 2012. They're going to implement a hot-fix quickly after hearing comments from the community I'm assuming. Hopefully these upcoming fixes and updates will improve the quality of life in the game.

Edit: I realized not much change is coming to this game. It feels as though the game was stripped of it's features and are slowly being added back into updates to rehash them as new updates.

I wasn't sure about this game - I've always seen it on the Steam store for years, I believe it was the first iteration and the reviews were a mixed bag at the time. I'm happy to say this game is a hidden gem and I wish I had played it sooner. It was a breathe of fresh air over the typical shooter, zombie game, or survival game. I had never played a zombie survival game where caring for a community was a core aspect of its game play, in fact it threw me off because it was new to me and I didn't want to bite the bullet to try something new and end up disappointed. I picked up State of Decay 2 while it was on sale for $10 and I've never been happier. It's a steal to say the least. Give this game a chance if you're looking for a "relaxing" zombie survival game, where your sense of peace continually grows as you expand and develop your family to survive the zombie apocalypse.