Abandon All<\/a>) has been replaced with a new, faster-paced song. It’s blasphemous to say, but I actually really like the new song and think it fits the theme of a quicker, more brutal boss fight. <\/p> Two new maps bring unexpected changes to Killing Floor 2<\/em>. Farmhouse is a tiny tiny tiny<\/em> close-quarters map: a two-story house and barn surrounded by a cornfield makes for the perfect little skirmish. Since the area is so small, you’re forced to be more mobile than previous maps, and you’ll spend most of your time kiting around the yard. Since enemies can spawn in the cornfield, nowhere is completely safe, and it’s a welcomely unwelcome feeling. Barricaded windows on both the house and barn can be destroyed to provide vantage points for picking off Zeds from above, giving you plenty of ways to re-enact your favorite horror films.<\/p> Black Forest is the other new map, and it’s much larger. It’s a brightly-lit forest where there are remnants of train tracks and an old bar, and a Horzine train recently crashed nearby. Rushing rivers cascade through the wreckage, and it’s all very scenic. As waves progress, the sun goes down, reducing visibility. The bar has walls that can be destroyed by way of gunfire or overzealous Zeds, which startled the crap out of me the first time. It’s hard to feel safe when even walls can’t protect you. When I asked the developers if they planned to have day\/night cycles and semi-destructible environments in future levels, they said that nothing was currently planned, but it’s a definite possibility.<\/p>
<\/p>
Even though that last map gets fairly dark, you’ll now be equipped with a flashlight no matter what weapon you have in your hands. I’m not sure how I feel about this yet, since flashlight attachments used to be an integral part of weapon selection. It’s definitely convenient to always be able to see in dark levels (looking at you, catacombs<\/em>), but it remains to be seen whether this’ll be a good change in the long run. <\/p> Another welcome change is that the collectibles hidden in each level are now much less of a pain in the ass. Instead of having to find all of them, you only have to find ten per level. They still only unlock achievements, but it’s more enjoyable when you don’t have to scour maps for every little collectible. Plus, the new maps have themed items: little dolls in Farmhouse (a reference to the Toy Maker<\/em> mod in the first game) and little Clot Mother chunks in Black Forest.<\/p> There are a host of other changes in this update as well. Audio has been re-balanced and there are more sliders to customize your sound experience. The Fleshpound supposedly has new sounds, but I wasn’t able to hear them all that well (I’ve been having speaker problems, so this is probably on my end). Berserker has been re-balanced as well, with Fortitude giving only 75 more health instead of 100, and Smash being less ridiculous, lessening the 100% bonus to hard hits going down to 25%. The main menu has also been changed to make room for the shop tab, where you can buy either costume sets for Hayato, Mr. Foster, and Constable Briar or decryption keys to unlock crates.<\/p>
<\/p>
As far as the item drops go, they’re earned at the end of a battle in the results screen, so players won’t sprint away and abandon their team to get a shiny new gun skin. In my 10 or so hours with the update, I’ve unlocked 7 gun skins and one cosmetic item. Of course, drop rates are probably different in the build I played than the one will go public, but it’s still worth mentioning. I don’t think the system was fully implemented yet as I didn’t see any mention of conditions (such as battle-scarred or field-tested).<\/p>
One new character also makes his debut in this update. Oisten Jaegerhorn, a big burly Swede, is a member of a Metallica tribute band called “Metalbika.” Most of his little comments involve his being in a metal band, such as saying the Siren has a bad singing voice. He’s especially fun when he picks up dual revolvers and says stuff like “IT TAKES A VIKING TO HOLD TWO OF THESE” in his booming, enthusiastic voice.<\/p>
All-in-all, this is a hefty update that fuels my ever-burning interest to blow up Zeds in new ways. The Patriarch makes the formula less predictable, the new concepts in the maps introduce fresh ideas, and Tripwire stills knows how to make good guns go boom. The incoming map and mod support will bring even more to the plate, but I wasn’t able to see them in action. I’m curious to see how the community will react to the Gunslinger, as right now, it’s kind of amazing at everything. It’s a trash-killing boss-murdering machine with just the right amount of friction behind every pull of the trigger. I hope that every other class gets brought up to this level, instead of Gunslinger getting nerfed. <\/p>
But then again, I haven’t tried Hell on Earth difficulty with a full squad. I hope to play with you all soon (couple of weeks maybe?) when the update comes out.<\/p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":175889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"article_type":"","gamurs_wordpress_blocks_hide_tags":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[1,97,634,101],"tags":[214,3783,8345,799,223],"internal-label":[],"invoiceable_action":[],"article_type":[],"coauthors":[{"id":47,"display_name":"Zack Furniss","user_login":"Zack Furniss","user_nicename":"zack-furniss"}],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Killing Floor 2's Return of the Patriarch update is worth the wait – Destructoid<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n