Killer Instinct
Discover your Killer Instinct! The legendary fighting franchise is back with over-the-top action, a wild cast of combatants, rocking reactive music, and C-C-C-COMBO BREAKERS!!! Choose your ultimate combatants each with fluid animations, unique combat tactics, and enthralling special attacks. Use the open-ended combo system to rack up huge combos as your opponent looks for openings to break you and turn the tides of battle. Go online and compete against players from all over the world, or master your combat skills with in-depth tutorials and intelligent AI combatants. FEATURES: • Extensive cast of powerful combatants with tons of customization options including Retro Costumes and Accessories. • 20 Stages with dynamic stage environments. • Award winning audio • Competitive online matches. • Unique, well balanced characters to fit your fighting style. • Test your skill online in Ranked Leagues.
Game Discussion
Steam User 19
GODLIKE! Underrated af, this is the HYPEST and the FAIREST fighting game out there. Marvelous for mashers and FG pros alike. Seriously, a gift from the Gaming Gods given the tumultuous conditions this game was made under. Try it for free! #BringBackKI
Summary:
✅ Godlike well-balanced gameplay with the perfect game speed.
✅ Godlike netcode with crossplay and every game mode imaginable.
✅ Godlike fairness with the combo breaker and the counter breaker systems.
✅ Godlike innovation with the shadow AI that has now become the standard in the genre.
✅ Godlike (and the craziest) roster. The most unique characters in the genre along with wildly unique gimmicks. Cinder may be trash-tier, but his gimmicks and personality are God-tier.
✅ Godlike tutorial teaches everything about the game and plenty of advanced tech in the genre. Full-fledged practice mode with dedicated practice for combo breakers...DUDE!
✅ Godlike sound design that no one in the genre has the b*lls to replicate. The sync during ultra combos is the stuff of legends. Godlike "Hypeman" announcer too!
✅ Godlike soundtrack with some of the dopest dynamic tracks you'll fight to. Cinder, Omen, Orchid, TJ, Thunder, Hisako, Maya et al. have eargasm-tier themes.
✅ Godlike detail and design on non-human character models. The human skin textures look a bit dated though - it did release in 2013.
✅ Godlike environments that react to the action on screen. Godlike particle effects that don't violate the eyes like Tekken 8 - just look at the ice on Glacius and fire on Cinder!
❌ Godlike innovation also gave us the season pass and microtransaction model that fubar-ed the genre. While KI is free to play and still fit everything within the full price range, greedy a$$ devs + publishers make fighting games cost upwards of $200 with this damn model.
❌ UnGodlike: Slightly intrusive microtransactions that impact the fantastic roguelike Shadow Lords mode. No need to purchase them to finish this mode, but it's scummy nonetheless. FU Microsoft, I won't blame the devs.
❌ UnGodlike: Given the shift in devs, composers, and the overall MS situation, seasonal content feels disjointed. Season 2 has a killer arcade mode, but season 3 doesn't. Season 1's arcade isn't as fleshed out as Season 2's. Wish all characters had ultimates also!
Steam User 15
Hear and feel every hit. Discover the joy of two-way interaction in a fighting game. You won't regret it.
Full disclosure, I worked on Anniversary Edition.
Steam User 10
One of the best fighting games of all time!
Soundtrack 10/10
Sound design: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Character design: 10/10
Netcode: ROLLBACK
This game is more than 10 years old and still remains a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ MASTERPIECE!
Steam User 10
I played the first KI on SNES. I flayed the skin on my thumbs to get the combos right. I literally bled for the game. Was it worth it? Hell yes! This is just as awesome!
Steam User 11
Don't go by my play time, I started on Xbox then moved to the Xbox app on PC. Bought this on Steam because this is hands down the best 2D fighter in existence! The fact that this was made on such a crap budget shows how much the devs loved K.I. They did it justice for sure. Don't be intimidated, it has one of the best training and practice modes ever and isn't that hard to understand. It puts the modern Mortal Kombat games to shame imo. The fact that this game is so loved after it's been out this long speaks to it's quality. I really hope we can get a big budget sequel one day!
Steam User 11
I got the free version of this game on a Steam Giveaway. The game is a blast to play, very fun and the combo assist allows anyone to make some crazy and fun combos. I played the original KI on SNES and KI Gold (KI 2) on the Nintendo 64, I loved both games and I am happy that the Killer Instinct feeling is very strong here on this new reboot. If you love fighting games, you should definetely play it. The only thing I think is missing would be a proper Story Mode. It has the Shadow Lords mode, which is kinda a Story Mode, but more focused on Missions. Anyway, this is a great fighting game!
Steam User 7
Killer Instinct is old, and practically dead but is still fun to those who play alone. The game is "free to play" but you only get access to one character and I don't think it even rotates the free fighter anymore. Although, the game goes on sale now and again and you can get access to every single character and dlc that existed for as low as $10. Even for full price ($30) it's not a bad deal, just don't expect to play online.
Killer instinct is also incredibly easy to enter as a fighting game if you're not experienced due to auto combos. You can generally mash buttons, but you will learn how to properly press buttons, how to avoid and perform combo breakers, and how to use special moves.
For those who are worried about playing alone, shadow lords will give you tons of extra playtime as its a rogue-lite, and gives you some stuff to work towards like skins for each character, which also includes fighting against shadows which are basically ai versions of players which also has its own modes relating to it. You can make CPUs fight each other if you just wanna watch some fights in real time as well.
Revision: Upon further looking at some stuff in the game, the weekly fighter does still reset, so you're not stuck to one character all the time if you don't have the extra money you're willing to spend. You can get Orchid and Jago for free by playing shadow lords. So technically you could just buy 1 or 2 characters, but I'd recommend just buying the full game.