Playing Killing Floor 3 at launch is my first time playing the co-op horde shooter series in years – and it's to this threequel's credit that after the rote tutorial my muscle memory kicks in. I'm blasting off the heads of Zed's (essentially infected zombies by way of a Hellraiser loving metalhead teen's scrapbook), and collecting 'dosh' to refill ammo, buy new guns, and upgrade armor at the trader between waves like I never stopped playing. As the extra dangerous and extra gross boss dies at the end of my first map clear, it feels a little like coming back to my hometown after years away.
Except I really do mean that. Hometowns never stay the same as they were – and there's still the nagging sensation with Killing Floor 3 that as happy as I am to return there's something missing. It might be the way battle pass challenges muscle in on the action, or extremely boring fetch quest story missions, or even the way the glossier graphics are about as far away from the rough and tumble gnarly textures of the original as you can get.
