REVIEW: ‘Killing Floor 2: Infernal Insurrection’ Halloween Is Here! (PS4)

Halloween has arrived in Killing Floor 2 with a new, and most importantly free, event: Infernal Insurrection. Killing Floor 2 is a first-person shooter that leans heavily on horde mode in which players are pitted against wave upon wave of zombie enemies. Developed and published by Tripwire Interactive, the original game was released in 2016 and since then, Tripwire has released free seasonal content, providing new maps, character skins, guns, and zombie bosses. This Halloween content is no different.

Killing Floor 2 is set a month after the first game, in which the Zed (zombie-like mutant clones) outbreak has spread beyond Europe and governments worldwide have fallen. Players will battle against waves of Zeds, with each wave releasing more and more Zeds along with new types of Zeds, each with their own special abilities. Eventually, these waves culminate in a boss battle. Bosses are randomly chosen from a bank of bosses so players will never know just which boss they’ll face in the end. In combination with the fact that bosses each have their own abilities and weak spots, players will need to think on their feet.

After each wave, one random pod on the map will activate and players will be prompted to find it. Here, guns can be bought, ammo purchased, and armor restored, all with the money players earn from killing Zeds. Two new weapons, the Scorcher and the Arc Generator, can be bought here as well, allowing you to burn and electrocute the enemies. Although these aren’t entirely new weapons and instead just alterations to current guns, they’re still a lot of fun and very handy in a pinch. Two other weapons come along with this content, the Minigun and the Mine Reconstructor, but both are part of the paid content for this DLC. However, given that guns can be traded between players if you play with some generous people you’ll likely get to try these guns out too even if you don’t buy them.

As usual, with the content Tripwire creates, there are new seasonal objectives to be met on the new map, Hellmark Station. The gates of hell have opened in King’s Cross Station in London. With a multitude of glowing, hellish portals littering the train station, the new map brings with it some spooky vibes. Nothing across the train station has been left untouched, with a combination of derelict rooms, fiery obelisks, and fleshy growths. There are also some great routes around the map, from the underground sections to the train platforms, precipitating in some easy zombie training.

The main quirk to the map is the large obelisks scattered across the map. Here you can sacrifice some of your health for a boost in damage and speed. This is particularly helpful in the later waves or if you suddenly find yourself stuck in a corner.

With each new map, we get a new narrator that is supposed to “help” you find the pods and prepare for each new wave. However, going with the theme of this content, the narrator is both extremely unhelpful and demonic-sounding. The gravely, deep voice of the narrator will spew insults at you and doubt your skill every step of the way. But this attempted degradation makes for some fun dialogue.

There is a multitude of new cosmetics to collect before this limited-time event ends. Completing seasonal objectives will earn you Vosh, the in-game currency, that can be used to open crates that contain a random item. Playing on the new map also increases the chance of tickets dropping which can then be redeemed for some of the new content items. There are a couple of ways to earn limited-time Halloween items, so players won’t get too tired of the grind. Completing all seasonal objectives will get you a cool Voodoo Backpack skin. As opposed to the summer event’s skins, I’m enjoying the Halloween skins more, but then again that might just be because I like spooky aesthetics in general.

Speaking of skins, there’s a new skin for the Matriarch, one of the random bosses you can fight. Given that we just got a new skin for the Matriarch in the last seasonal event, it’s a bit of a letdown. The skin also isn’t particularly unique, with the Matriarch’s usual large domed helmet replaced by a pumpkin.

Overall, Infernal Insurrection has been a fun and spooky event. Although the event requires a decent amount of gameplay to achieve all of the new seasonal items, there are numerous ways to do this. The map is also one of the more fun ones we’ve had in a while. But even with the small downsides, this content is entirely free so it’s hard to be upset with it at all.

Killing Floor 2’s Infernal Insurrection event is currently on-going and ends November 10th.