REVIEW: ‘Killing Floor 2: Perilous Plunder,’ is Free and Fun! (PS4)

Killing Floor 2 has kicked summer off with a free event: Perilous Plunder. Developed and published by Tripwire, Killing Floor 2 is a first-person shooter revolving around the concept of horde mode, pitting players against wave upon wave of enemies. The base game was originally released in 2016, but Tripwire has been releasing free seasonal content for the game over the years culminating in this summer’s Perilous Plunder content featuring a pirate theme.

In the first game, Killing Floor, a biotech company by the name of Horzine was working to create clones for the military. Instead, a malicious scientist hijacked the experiment and unleashed the clones across the UK. Killing Floor 2 is set a month after the first game, where the outbreak has spread beyond Europe, causing governments to fall.

These clones, also known as Zeds, are grotesque, murderous creations that players fight in waves. With each new wave, more enemies are released on the players along with new enemy types that each have special perks and abilities. This process culminates in a boss battle on the last wave, where the game randomly chooses from a handful of boss characters which the players fight. Each boss has a different way to defeat them, requiring some adapting on the players’ part.

At the end of each wave, players can access a pod for a limited time. This pod allows the player to buy new weapons, armor, ammo, and grenades. The activated pod changes each time, activating one of a handful across the map, requiring players to changes their location each wave.

With Perilous Plunder, there is plenty of swag to collect, from new weapons to character outfits and skins, along with a new map to explore. Four new weapons are available, two of which are technically alterations to current in-game guns. However, the alterations are well worth it. One fires explosive pellets and the other fires microwave projectiles. These changes make for some really fun gameplay and new styles of play. The other two weapons are brand new but require an in-game purchase to acquire. However, these weapons can be shared between players, so if you play with some generous people, you’ll likely get your hands on the guns even if you don’t buy them.

There are new seasonal objectives to be met in the new map, Desolation. Completing objectives will earn you Vosh, the in-game currency, which can be used to unlock crates containing a random item.  Playing waves on the new map also increases your chance of tickets dropping which can be redeemed for exclusive summer items. In other words, there are a few ways to earn limited-time summer items. And the grind for tickets is well worth it; the new character skins are both cool and quirky.

We also get a new skin for one of the bosses, the Matriarch. Her new skin gives her a bit of a Big Brother look from Bioshock but goes well with the theme of the summer content. However, it’s just a skin so her attacks are consistent with past versions. This is usually how the boss skins work based on other limited-time events, but it would have been nice to get a novel enemy. I can’t complain too much though since we did get a new boss back in December of 2019 with the Yuletide Horror event and all these events have been free.

The new map, Desolation, is a community-made map and features a Horzine facility with a few sublevels to explore. Most of the map is indoors, but the outdoors have made their way inside via a few hallways filled with vines. There are four possible spawn points on the map, making sure players never know exactly where they’ll start each match. There are also a few mini-games to try out along with collectibles to find across the map. Although I personally didn’t find the map interesting because it didn’t feel unique enough from the other maps available, I did enjoy the extra objectives to complete and mini-games to mess around with.

Overall, the new summer event, Perilous Plunder, is a fun one. If you’ve participated in Killing Floor 2’s other limited-time events, you’ll understand how this one works. Most everything in the event is free, and, although it requires plenty of gameplay, the ways to achieve summer items are plentiful and easy. And who can say no to something that’s free?

Killing Floor 2’s Perilous Plunder event is currently on-going and ends July 9^th.