One of the more prominent ones is a new stage called Debug Void, which isn’t available in Random Stage Selection, and only becomes available once you hit level cap. The developer says players in the map will “sometimes see things in it that you ordinarily are not supposed to.” Hitting level 60, meanwhile, will unlock the Training Room.

Speaking of level cap, character and player level cap has been raised from 50 to 65, while the update has also added 3 additional unlockable remix colours per character, for a total of 87 additional colour options, which will be unlocked at levels 55, 60, and 65 for each character.

Other additions include ranked cross-play (which has been in testing for a few weeks) now being fully live, a new blocking system that will let you “restrict interactions with other players you select”, various adjustments to Shadow Lords to “reduce friction and make it more rewarding”, and tweaks and balancing adjustments for a handful of fighters.

You can view the full patch notes below.

Killer Instinct is available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.

PATCH 3.11.55 NOTES :

General 

• Ranked Crossplay is fully live! You can now enjoy ranked matches between Steam and the Xbox/Windows ecosystems. Please note that both versions still have their own Ranked Leaderboards.
• We want to keep Killer Instinct a safe place for all players. To this end, we’ve implemented a new Blocking system to restrict interactions with other players you select. Blocking works differently depending on the mode you’re in.
  • In Exhibition, blocking a player means you will not be able to find a player who you have blocked, or has blocked you.
  • In Ranked, blocking only restricts communication between players by muting their voice chat.
  • In the Lobby, you won’t join a lobby hosted by someone who you’ve blocked, nor will you admit someone into the lobby whom you have blocked. However, you may find yourself in a lobby with someone you’ve blocked, given they’re not the host.
  • For more information on our community guidelines, keep an eye out for a new code of conduct we’ll be sharing soon.
• We’ve unlocked access to previously exclusive Ultimate Source™ Figures colors for all players on all platforms! We wanted to unlock these all at the same time, but an issue unlocked them early on Steam only, which forced us to fix that issue so we could roll this out properly.
• We’ve increased the character level cap from 50 to 65!
  • We’ve added 3 additional unlockable remix colors per character to celebrate KI’s anniversary. That makes 87 additional color options! You can unlock these at character levels 55, 60, and 65!  
• We’ve increased the player level cap from 50 to 65!
  • We’ve added two stage unlocks tied to your player level. At level 60, you’ll unlock the Training Room. At level 65, you’ll unlock the Debug Void. 
    • These stages will not appear in Random Stage Selection.
    • Debug Void cannot be used in Ranked mode for accessibility considerations. 
    • Debug Void is called Debug for a reason… you can sometimes see things in it that you ordinarily are not supposed to. Have fun with it!
• The Steam hot-mic issue is resolved! We added a voice chat option in the audio settings that will allow you to turn off all voice chat, which includes your own microphone.
• We’ve added an option to adjust the amount of camera shake played during combat. This option will not affect camera shake during cinematics but will affect all other types of camera shake used for impacts in normal combat.
• Improved overall game stability.
• Fixed some very rare instances of players losing save data.

Shadow Lords 

• We’ve made a number of adjustments to Shadow Lords in order to reduce friction and make it more rewarding. 
  • Boss Gargos’ resurrection has been adjusted to fill slower with reduced health regeneration given to Normal and Challenging difficulties. 
  • Boss Gargos’ modifiers have been tuned to have less damage, less Potential Damage, slower health regeneration, and less Instinct and Shadow Meter Drain.
  • Shadow Lord Artifacts have been tuned and themed with new names to make the tiers stand out: 
    • Shadow Lord Heart (Normal): Significant Health and Defensive increase to help with survivability. 
    • Shadow Lord Bloody Lungs (Challenging): Increased Shadow Meter Drain on hit and during a Shadow Move, and Instinct Meter Drain during a Shadow Move.
    • Shadow Lord Fanged Wings (Godlike): Huge damage boost and small increase to Potential Damage. 
• Increased rewards for completing Shadow Lords.
• Refactored scoring and rewards for Shadow Lords to make speed running it on subsequent playthroughs much more rewarding. This should also make it easier to unlock Mimic skins.

 Gameplay 

• The fail safe we tried last time to prevent characters from mirroring incorrectly was causing much bigger problems than just leaving it the way it was, so unfortunately, we’ve reverted that change. Thank you to everyone who tested around this and reported the new issues.

Thunder 

• When landing from a Sammamish that has hit the opponent, you can now move or take actions 5 frames earlier. This prevents an issue where Thunder could be negative on hit after using his Surprise Knee. If your Sammamish does not land a hit, you will still suffer the full recovery time, even if the Surprise Knee or Dropkick lands a hit.

Maya 

• Fixed an issue causing her Crouching Heavy Punch to do less hitstun on counterhit than on a normal hit.

Hisako 

• Hisako has been on our radar for a while as a potential candidate for strongest in the game. With many of her other challenging match ups getting a little easier, we wanted to make a small adjustment to one of Hisako’s scariest moves in the hopes that things stay nice and balanced for many years to come.
• Reduced damage on Influence special moves.
  • Light now deals 27 damage (was 40)
  • Medium now deals 33 damage (was 48)
  • Heavy now deals 39 damage (was 60)
  • Shadow now deals 50 damage (was 60)
• Added additional recovery time when whiffing an Influence special move.
  • Light now recovers in 40 frames (was 34)
  • Medium now recovers in 44 frames (was 38)
  • Heavy now recovers in 48 frames (was 42)
  • Shadow now recovers in 52 frames (was 45)
• These two changes mean that there is a higher risk when missing Influence, and a lower reward for landing one. Because it can start combos at full wrath, which it often does, we feel that the lower reward up front makes a lot of sense for this move.

Gargos 

• Fixed an issue causing his Standing Heavy Kick to deal less damage on counter hit than on a normal hit.

The Ranked Crossplay Test will begin on February 9th at noon PST and conclude on February 12th. Some things worth noting include the separation of leaderboards for both platforms, described as a “necessary compromise” to allow Ranked Crossplay.

“If a Steam player gets a win over an Xbox player, the Steam player will gain points for the Steam Leaderboard, while the Xbox player will lose points for the Xbox Leaderboard,” says the developer. The function to block cross-network play in Ranked will also be bypassed during the test, though it won’t affect other modes. Players must also pass a performance test for 60 FPS before online matches.

As for when the feature will go live, Iron Galaxy noted that the Ranked Crossplay Test will determine “if we will add this feature in a future update, pending evaluation of results and the community’s feedback.” Players are thus encouraged to share their thoughts, “and we’ll do everything we can to make it the best experience.”

Stay tuned for more updates on Ranked Crossplay in the coming months. Killer Instinct is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Halo 3: ODST

The Halo games have continued to be system sellers for Microsoft for generations at this point, but Halo 3: ODST always ends up being one of the more under-appreciated games in the franchise. And that’s a shame really, because ODST had some really interesting ideas that were executed reasonably well – including but not limited to large open environments and a setting that didn’t rely on Master Chief or Cortana. It’s a unique game that has a lot to say, and fans should definitely give it a try.

Quantum Break

Quantum Break was an ambitious project from Remedy Entertainment, and it sought to combine elements of a TV show with a game. Sure, some of its concepts didn’t really stick the landing – but Quantum Break is an extremely fast and frenetic shooter that features some interesting time-based abilities and a story that’s about as weird as one would expect from the developer. It’s easily one of the more underrated Microsoft exclusives, but one worth trying out nevertheless.

Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive comes from the now Sony-owned Insomniac Games. It’s a post-apocalyptic adventure game where you grind on rails, jump on bouncy surfaces, and use a vast array of weapons to gun down waves upon waves of enemies. It features a colorful open world with likable characters and quality writing, but the game wasn’t really able to make an impact in the end. Sunset Overdrive is emblematic of the developer’s biggest strengths, which makes it a really underrated game that deserves a lot more love and credit than it gets.

Mafia 1

The original Mafia was a game that was well ahead of its time. In a market where every developer was trying to copy Rockstar’s formula of an open world, Mafia provided its own take with a more realistic world that operated on brutal rules and a story that was a complex tale with plenty of loyalties and conspiracies. It was a special game that unfortunately never got the audience it deserved, most likely due to its demanding gameplay – which is honestly a shame.

The Saboteur

Developed by Pandemic Studios, The Saboteur thrusts players into a beautifully realized rendition of 1940s Paris. You play as a racer-turned-rebel who embarks on a quest to prevent evil schemes from happening, and that story remains engaging from start to finish. But what’s more impressive is the set of mechanics that beautifully combines social stealth elements with action gameplay in an open-world setting, and it’s honestly a surprise as to why such a special game went unnoticed by the masses.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is developer Ninja Theory’s take on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, and it tells the story of two people who must work together to ensure each other’s survival. The game uses a simple but fun combat loop for its gameplay, but what makes it special is the interesting scenarios it keeps on creating at every turn – which makes it such an engaging experience.

Vampyr

Vampyr is all about a doctor juggling his personal life at a hospital and his struggles with turning into a bloodthirsty vampire. The combat is all about balancing stamina and dishing out damage to your opponents, and the game does a great job of creating a well-knit set of systems that beautifully interact with one another to create a fully realized world. There are a few rough edges here and there, but it is a game that’s worth trying out.

As Dusk Falls

As Dusk Falls is a narrative adventure that starts out simply with a family embarking on a road trip, but that soon evolves into something greater. The art style here is fantastic, and the story is pretty engaging from start to finish. It’s a simple game that does just enough to keep you entertained for its runtime, and sometimes that’s all you need.

Gears of War Judgment

The Gears of War series has continued to be one of the most valuable first-party games for the Xbox platform, and almost every mainline entry has been showered with great critical and commercial reception. Gears of War Judgment stands out as an exception, not because it suffered from bad reviews – but that not many people actually played it. And this is a shame because this prequel provides a ton of context to the events of later entries – and that information will be highly appreciated by fans of the franchise.

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct attempted a shot at revival in 2014, which ended up receiving a rather tepid reception from fans. While it wasn’t on par with contemporaries like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, Killer Instinct was certainly a quality first-party game from Microsoft that never really got the love and attention it deserves.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is widely considered to be one of the best games in the long-running series, and a lot of that praise can be attributed to the game’s excellently crafted story. Crimes and Punishments never fails to keep you guessing, and the writing is also quality stuff. The gameplay revolves around carefully assessing clues and deducting solutions to these cases, and that provides a very distinct fantasy of being a great detective.

Gears Tactics

Gears Tactics does a great job of translating the series’ signature third-person shooting to a top-down tactical game without losing the game’s identity in that transition. The resulting product is a game that shouldn’t work but somehow feels like a natural evolution of the franchise. It constantly ramps things up with new kinds of obstacles and more complex levels, and that keeps you engaged for a long time.

Wanted: Dead

Wanted: Dead takes inspiration from multiple action adventure classics like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, and crafts an experience that feels equal parts a glorious homage and a fresh experience. Wanted: Dead features a solid combat loop where you can effortlessly switch between slashing your foes with a sword and gunning them down with weapons – and that foundation of ideas rarely gets stale.

State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition

State of Decay 2 didn’t launch in the best of states, but over the course of multiple major updates – the developers were able to not only fix the game’s technical issues but also realize its potential with new content changes and mechanic overhaul. But for many fans, the boat had already sailed by then – and State of Decay 2 became an underrated game only appreciated by a small group of people. If you are one of those who gave up on the game, give it another try – and you might be surprised.

Metro 2033

The Metro series came into the limelight with Metro: Last Light and recent entries such as Exodus are widely praised for their brand of survival gameplay. As a result, Metro 2033 ends up being a rather underrated game in the series – which is a shame because many of the ideas that we have come to associate so dearly with the series were actually founded in Metro 2033. It’s a really well-made game, and more people should give it a shot.

The base version of the game is now free-to-play and includes Single-Player, Local and Ranked Modes. You also get one free weekly rotating fighter to play with. The Anniversary Edition replaces all other paid versions and features every piece of Premium content (current owners get a free upgrade). It also comes with a Permanent VIP Double XP Booster and special colors for Gargos on Steam.

As for the 10th Anniversary update, it makes extensive changes to 19 fighters, which is over half the roster. Matchmaking is also fully migrated to PlayFab, while the graphics on Xbox Series X/S now utilize DirectX 12. Series X can output up to 4K at 60 FPS, while Series S can hit resolutions up to 1440p at 60 FPS.

Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition will launch tomorrow, November 28, and will unlock at 12 PM Pacific Time. One might wonder why the release date wasn’t announced when the Anniversary Edition itself was just a couple of days ago, but hey- we’re not complaining. At least it wasn’t a long wait.

Meanwhile, as previously announced, the Anniversary Edition launch will also be accompanied by a major new balancing update for the game, which will be the first it’s receiving in several years. Read more on that through here.

Exciting news, Combo Breakers: Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition will be available TOMORROW, November 28, at 12PM Pacific!

Check out our latest blog post for a reminder on all the great things coming your way in this update: https://t.co/scmR9rAJ3B pic.twitter.com/SA1ewYdybs

— Killer Instinct (@KillerInstinct) November 27, 2023

The patch has been created with the help of the game’s “strongest and smartest players” and includes several buffs to Jago, who gets faster backward and forward move speed. Jumping Heavy Punch’s hitbox and active time have also decreased, while Tiger’s Fury has seen several adjustments. Glacius has received several nerfs, including reduced pushback on block from Light, Medium and Heavy versions of Cold Shoulder.

There’s also a fix for a bug causing projectiles to not receive the first-hit double damage bonus. Check out some of the patch notes below and full notes here. Characters like Sabrewulf, TJ Combo Kan-Ra, Hisako, Shadow Jago and more remain unchanged, so keep that in mind. It was to avoid making “risky changes just for the sake of making changes” since the developer believes they’re still “capable and strong” without them.

Killer Instinct is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Stay tuned for more details on the 10th Anniversary Update and its release date in the coming weeks.

Patch Notes 3.10 (UPCOMING)

System

• Fixed a game wide bug that could sometimes cause projectiles to not get the first-hit 2x damage bonus.

Jago

• [+] Increased Jago’s forward and backward walk speeds by 10%.
• This small improvement will help Jago maintain favorable screen position.
• [+] Drastically improved the hitbox and active time of Jago’s jumping Heavy Punch.
• This move has that ‘pizza cutter’ quality to its animation, but the hitbox on it was very conservative compared to other similar jumping attacks. These improvements should make it feel as good as it looks.
• [+] Tiger’s Fury adjustments
• Jack-of-all-trades protagonist characters often find themselves in an undesirable spot late in a game’s life cycle. Jago is a very complete character, but he does not stand out and isn’t scary in the way much of the rest of the cast is. We wanted to figure out how to add some threat to Jago’s tool kit and decided to lean into our mantra of “high risk, high reward”. To do this, we’ve decided to center Jago’s identity around the idea of “high damage Tiger’s Fury”.
  – Light Tiger’s Fury damage is now 26 (was 18)
  – Counterhit damage is now 32 (was 24)
  – Medium Tiger’s Fury damage is now 30 (was 22)
  – Counterhit damage is now 40 (was 28)
   – Heavy Tiger’s Fury damage is now 34 (was 26)
  – Counterhit damage is now 50 (was 32)
• A very significant amount of extra hitstop has been added on counterhit to help express the dramatic damage these now deal when counterhitting.
• While Jago’s other tools may still feel ‘middle of the road’, this change forces the opponent to respect him a lot more often for fear of the juicy counter damage. This, in turn, should allow Jago player’s a lot more chances to use the rest of their kit and give them more opportunities.
• The Shadow Version did not get a damage increase, as we did not want to increase Jago’s damage when cashing out juggles.
• [+] Made the first active frame of Shadow Wind Kick reach lower. Also made the pushbox taller for the first 4 frames.
• This is mainly because his Shadow Counter and normal version of Shadow Wind Kick are the same move, and he had a few situations where his Shadow Counter would whiff over top of low profiling enemies. This should alleviate that situation, but also slightly buffs the normal version of the move.
  Moves that pass through opponents on block, like Omen’s Slide, will still cause Jago’s Shadow Counter to whiff.

Glacius

• [-] Reduced frame advantage after a successful Combo Breaker to 0 (was +4).
• Previously, Glacius had the most advantageous Breaker in the game, and it also put his opponent at a range that usually benefit him more than his opponents. This change should make the situation feel a bit more manageable after Glacius breaks your combo.
• [-] Reduced pushback on block from the Light, Medium, and Heavy Cold Shoulder attacks, so that their frame data actually matters. These are (-3, -5, and -8) on block, which remain unchanged.
• Previously, Glacius could be so far out of range after this attack was Blocked that most characters could not punish him even if he was very negative.  Glacius players will now need to use this move more thoughtfully, or use Hail to cover themselves on block.
• [-] Added 4 frames of recovery time on whiff and block to Instinct Teleport Puddle Punch (both versions).
  – It is now -16 on block (was -12)
  – All combos from it on hit are the same, as the manual cancel window has not changed.
• This should make this powerful move a bit easier to punish on whiff or block for characters that previously struggled to do so.

Thunder

• [-] Limited the time window in which a followup must be chosen after all versions of Sammamish.
• Visually, once Thunder’s feet start to drop below Jago’s head (using Jago as a measuring stick), followups will no longer be possible. 
• Previously, Thunder could choose a Sammamish Followup up until the frame before he landed.
  This change should give players more time to react to Thunder’s followup choice, and force Thunder players to make that choice sooner.
• [-] Added 5 additional frames of recovery time to landing after a Sammamish, Surprise Knee, or Dropkick. 
• No extra recovery time was added to landing after a Skyfall.
• [+] Increased forward and backward walk speeds by 20% to compensate for the longer landing recovery on Sammamish, and to help him play a more grounded game with his strong set of normal and special attacks.
• [+] Shortened the recovery time of Call of Sky by 5 frames. This should help him establish the Crows buff in matches against characters that can send themselves across the screen very quickly.

Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition is for those who want all the other content. It will retail for $29.99 and include all the fighters, premium content, a VIP Double XP Booster, holiday-themed accessories and more. All current versions are being upgraded to the Anniversary Edition for free, and the Definitive Edition retired.

Xbox and Windows PC players can’t access the Definitive Edition App with its concept art and interviews or Killer Instinct 1/2 Classic from the Anniversary Edition. However, these can be downloaded separately. Meanwhile, Steam players will get access to the Gargos’ Golden God and Argent Shroud colors for the first time with the Anniversary Edition.

While previously purchased content will remain in players’ libraries, individual Fighters won’t be available to purchase separately. Stay tuned for more details, including a release date for the 10th Anniversary Update, in the meantime.

It will likely provide a release date for the next free update, which adds 4K support on Xbox Series X/S. Previously announced for Fall 2023, it will also improve matchmaking and tournaments while implementing balance changes for the roster.

Of course, given the timing of the stream, Microsoft could the next game in the series, rumored to be in “active development.” Stay tuned for more details next week.

Killer Instinct is available for PC and Xbox One. It launched in 2013 to average reviews, but subsequent Seasons would add new characters and garner more acclaim. You can check out our review of the base game here.

Join us for a developer stream with @IronGalaxy on Wednesday, November 22 at 1PM Pacific — Killer Instinct's 10th Anniversary! — where we'll be sharing the latest news on the upcoming changes to KI.https://t.co/PCQft1w49E pic.twitter.com/TYaBxJMB2L

— Killer Instinct (@KillerInstinct) November 16, 2023

Red Dead Redemption 2

It’s incredible to revisit Red Dead Redemption 2, especially in light of the greedy re-release of the first game. The attention to detail, visuals, presentation, pacing and characterization are still on another level after all these years. The Van der Linde gang’s agonizing fall was a compelling story, told from the perspective of Arthur Morgan, an incredible protagonist. That’s without experiencing all of the activities and stories the world offered when you weren’t skipping baths for several days or committing dishonorable acts.

James Goddard, head of Killer Instinct at Microsoft, recently took the stage at EVO and announced that the fighter will be receiving a major new update this year. The update will add support for 4K resolution on Xbox Series X/S, make improvements to matchmaking and tournaments, and add balance changes for the game’s roster. It’s also been confirmed that Iron Galaxy Studios – which developed Killer Instinct’s seasons 2 and 3 – is returning to work on the update.

Currently, a specific release date is unknown for the update, though more information will be coming “soon”, according to Microsoft, so stay tuned for that.

As for what the future holds for the Killer Instinct franchise as a whole, though there’s no official word on a sequel, there’s reason to be optimistic. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has expressed interest in keeping the franchise active, while over the last couple of years, leaks have also claimed that a new Killer Instinct game is in active development, possibly with Bandai Namco developing.

"You guys made this happen!"

We are honored to share the stage with the head of Killer Instinct, James Goddard, to bring the news about the massive update coming to KI!https://t.co/pRm0CRum2y | #Evo2023 pic.twitter.com/lXlLfYIaan

— Evo (@Evo) August 5, 2023

Our friends @IronGalaxy are back! And together, we’re bringing you Killer Instinct's free 10th Anniversary Update later this year – including a balance update, improved matchmaking, and 4K support for Series X|S.

More info coming soon!

— Killer Instinct (@KillerInstinct) August 5, 2023