The Last of Us

The Last of Us stands tall as one of the defining experiences of the PS3 era, known for expertly blending survival horror gameplay with deeply humane storytelling. Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic adventure follows Joel and Ellie across a ruined post-apocalyptic America, and the gameplay balances tense stealth encounters with quiet, character-driven moments that keep you glued to the edge of the screen at all times. Combat feels desperate and grounded, emphasizing judicial use of resources and quick thinking. What truly elevates the game, however, is its writing and performances, which help it be relevant to this date.

de Man spoke about how much the Killzone franchise has meant to its fans, and how many have wanted the series to return at least in the form of a remaster, if not an outright remake or new game.

“I know that there have been petitions for it,” said de Man. “I think it’s risky because, I can’t speak for Guerrilla or anything… I don’t know if it will ever happen. I hope it will because I think it is quite an iconic franchise, but also I think it kind of has to take into account kind of the sensitivities and the shift in, I guess, what people want because it is quite bleak in some ways.”

He does go on to say that he believes a remastered release of the original Killzone trilogy would see a fair bit of success, especially thanks to the franchise’s fans. A new title, however, isn’t something de Man believes would see much success.

“I think it remastered one would be successful I don’t know if a new game would be as much,” de Man said. “I don’t know if people have moved on from it and want something. I don’t know sometimes I get the sense that people want something a bit more casual a bit more quick.”

While fans of Killzone have been looking for some sign of life from the franchise, developer Guerrilla Games revealed back in October 2024 that the whole reason it created the Horizon franchise with the release of Horizon Zero Dawn was because it was done with Killzone.

“We were done with it as a team,” said art director Roy Postma in an interview. “As a studio, we needed to refresh the palette. It was, by choice, the opposite of Killzone. I think the themes that this story and the characters represent are relatable for all ages and people, like having a found family of friends and finding your place in the world.”

This was a sentiment echoed a few years after the official website for Killzone was shut down. The studio, along with Sony, referred to it being “retired”. This, however, did not affect the multiplayer components of Killzone: Shadow Fall.

The last time we got to see anything related to Killzone franchise was thanks to a crossover event in Helldivers 2. As part of the event, Helldivers 2 players could get their hands on cosmetics and weapons inspired by classic shooter Killzone 2.

While the original Killzone was poorly-received, it did kickstart a franchise that would be one of the core franchises for Sony during the PS3 years. Killzone: Shadow Fall, one of the first titles released for the PS4, has seemingly spelled death for the franchise, however.

The Carcano – Sniper Elite 4

Sniper Elite 4 – as evident from the title itself, has a great assortment of sniper rifles that players can utilize in the game’s many missions. The Carcano however, stands out from the rest particularly due to its ability to deal some crazy amounts of damage along with a decent magazine size, which makes it a great choice for those wanting more stopping power. It can be hard to master though, particularly because of its high recoil – but those who do will undoubtedly have a great time sniping heads from afar.

METAL GEAR SOLID 5

It’s heartbreaking that a Metal Gear Solid game has to be the one that kicks off a list about disappointing stories, but that’s just the way it is- The Phantom Pain is a masterclass in emergent, system-based gameplay, with stealth mechanics that stand as the very best even to this day. But it’s a game that sheds the story-heavy focus that the series was always known for. Cutscenes are few and far between, while some of the most important storytelling bits are relegated to optional cassette tapes and missable events- don’t even get us started on the ending.

Though it never quite lived up to its “Halo-killing” ambitions, Killzone was a franchise that rode a pretty strong high for a good number of years, and seemed to have firmly cemented itself as a series that Sony was prepared to invest in heavily. By now, however, it has been over five years since we last saw a Killzone game, and both Guerrilla Games and Sony have been largely silent about the franchise and what the future might hold for it. Sony has comfortably and confidently settled into the groove of the kind of games it wants to make – cinematic, story-driven single player games – and Killzone, it seems, doesn’t fit into that framework. But why exactly does that seem to be the case? After overcoming initial hurdles and managing to carve out an identity for itself as one of the most refined shooters on the market, why is it that Guerrilla Games’ series suddenly went silent? What the hell happened to Killzone?

Though Killzone was one of Sony’s most important franchises in the seventh generation of console gaming, we all know that things didn’t start out well for the franchise. Back when the series was first greenlit, Microsoft and Bungie were taking the world by storm with Halo. Combat Evolved stunned the entire industry by showing that not only could first person shooters work on consoles, but that they could even be some of the best games ever created. Its follow up, Halo 2, took things even further, by implementing an ambitious and wildly popular online component that would go on to set the standard that the entire industry follows to this day. Sony were not the first who would look to chase that trend, and nor would they be the last- but chase it they did. 

Killzone was supposed to be their Halo. Of course, they never publicly said as much, but the hype and marketing surrounding the game made it abundantly clear that Sony and the PS2 were banking on its success, and banking on it hard- and of course, given the new and fierce rivalry between Sony and Microsoft that the industry had become caught in the grips of, it didn’t take long for everyone to slap the “Halo-killer” tag onto Killzone. Expectations, then, were ridiculously high- but we all know how that turned out. Killzone launched on the PS2 in November of 2004 (just a few days before Halo 2 came out, in fact)- and the general consensus was that Guerrilla Games’ shooter was a sour disappointment. 

Some aspects of the first Killzone were praised quite a lot, such as its stunning visuals to its gritty, hard sci-fi war setting. But when it came to the things that really mattered, Killzone came up short. A poorly written and poorly told story, uninteresting characters, stupid AI that made the shooting half as good as it could have been otherwise, and a spate of technical issues and bugs were just a few of the game’s most commonly cited problems. A Halo-killer it was not – not even close, in fact – and the disappointing nature of the game was only propounded manifold in light of the ridiculous levels of hype and excitement surrounding it before its release. 

In spite of that, however, Sony clearly saw some potential in it. Killzone may have been poorly received by critics and fans alike, but Sony had clearly seen enough from its sales and seen enough potential in the game itself that it was willing to turn it into a franchise, and let Guerrilla learn from its mistakes. The next Killzone game we saw was Killzone Liberation on the PSP, an isometric shooter that demanded a certain level of tactical thinking from players- its blend of strategy and shooting, relatively more challenging nature, and a solid campaign were praised by critics when it came out in 2006, and even though there were some flaws that some people pointed out, such as its short length and the lack of proper online multiplayer options, the general consensus was that it was a marked improvement over the series’ debut.

But of course, Liberation was always meant to be a side chapter, and the next FPS Killzone was what everyone was really waiting for- that would be the true test of how much Guerrilla had learned from their mistakes, and whether the potential of the flawed PS2 title would ever be realized. From the very moment it was revealed with its infamous CG trailer that Sony initially claimed was all in-engine, Killzone 2 looked like it would be special. Even after it came to light that its reveal trailer had actually been a target render, Guerrilla and Sony continued to impress people with all subsequent showings, especially when actual gameplay footage of the game showed that it truly was going to be a visual showcase. In spite of the way people had been burned with its predecessor, Killzone 2 was generating incredible amounts of excitement from PlayStation fans. Unlike its predecessor, however, when it launched, it delivered on those expectations spectacularly. 

To this day, Killzone 2 is regarded as one of the best games in the PS3’s library- it came out at a time when Microsoft was ruling the roost, and Sony was in desperate need of a win, and a win it was indeed. It was a technical marvel, first and foremost, displaying the powers and capabilities of the difficult yet impressive PS3 hardware better than any other game had at that point. Shooting was heavier and felt more deliberate, gunplay felt satisfying and weighty, and though criticisms surrounding its uninteresting narrative and characters were still thrown around quite commonly, it was with its multiplayer that Killzone 2 really won the hearts of millions. The competitive online component of Guerrilla’s latest was played and loved by millions. The gulf in quality between the first and second Killzone games was almost unbelievable, and Killzone 2 is commonly cited as one of the best and most improved sequels ever made- and rightly so.

Killzone 2 didn’t do Halo numbers, of course, and though it was still, at the end of the day, a generic first person shooter, it was an extremely polished and very well made first person shooter. So of course, the Killzone train was going to keep on chugging along. Now that Sony and Guerrilla were beginning to find the kind of success with Killzone that they had always hoped they would, they weren’t going to let that momentum die down. Killzone 3 launched almost exactly two years later in February of 2011, and was also pretty well received.

While it didn’t cross the 90 mark on Metacritic like its predecessor had, it settled into a respectable mid-80s range. Things such as its visuals, its exciting shootouts, and its addictive online component were praised once again, while criticisms surrounding storytelling and characters also continued to persist. It was, essentially, more of the same in almost every way possible. It did do some new things- both the PlayStation Move and the PS3’s stereoscopic 3D capabilities were things that Sony had been pushing hard around the time of Killzone 3’s release, mostly thanks to the success that others had seen in the same area. Options for both were included in the game by Guerrilla Games, and for the most part, they were very well done. Killzone 3 looked spectacular in 3D, while playing with the motion-based Move controllers was also a surprisingly intuitive experience. Stereoscopic 3D in games ultimately proved to be a fad, while motion controls never really became more than an ancillary way of playing games, so Killzone 3’s achievements in those areas aren’t remembered the way Sony and Guerrilla might have hoped at the time that they would- but they were impressive achievements nonetheless.

Going into the next generation, then, with Sony primed to release the PS Vita and the PS4, everyone looked at Killzone as one of Sony’s most important franchises, maybe even right below Uncharted in terms of significance and popularity. Its competitive online-centric nature was something that seemed like it fit the trends of the market perfectly, while it also filled that huge first person shooter-shaped hole in Sony’s first party lineup quite well (alongside the somewhat less successful Resistance– which is another story entirely).

The next we saw of Killzone was on the PS Vita, Sony’s new handheld, with Killzone Mercenary, which was the first game in the series to not be developed by Guerrilla Games. Instead, the now defunct Guerrilla Cambridge took the reins. Unlike the previous handheld Killzone title, Mercenary was a full fledged first person shooter, and it would go on to be very well received by critics and larger audiences alike. The level of visual fidelity it achieved on the PS Vita was praised widely, while those who played it were also enamoured by how well it translated the Killzone experience to a handheld device. There was some criticism for the game for its shorter campaign, but Killzone Mercenary was – and still is – one of the best first person shooters on a handheld gaming device. Sadly, due to the poor sales of the PS Vita itself, Mercenary also didn’t do as well commercially as Sony would have hoped it would, and nor did it drive hardware sales.

Just as it had been with the previous handheld Killzone title though, while people were impressed with Mercenary and generally liked it for what it was, what they were really waiting for was the next mainline entry. And the anticipation surrounding it was even higher, because it was what Sony was going to enter into the next generation with. Killzone Shadow Fall was the PS4’s big, headlining launch title, and after what had been a fairly consistent few years for both, the franchise and developers Guerrilla Games, many were hoping that Shadow Fall would be a worthy successor, and an early must-have title on the PS4. 

As it turned out, it wasn’t. It actually turned out to be a pretty disappointing game- its single player campaign was generally considered to be a step down from its predecessors, while the ever-present criticisms surrounding story, storytelling, and characters were stronger than they ever had been. Shadow Fall certainly got several things right- for one, it was an absolutely gorgeous game, and proved to be an excellent early advert for the capabilities of the PS4 and the next generation of consoles in general. It was, in fact, also the first game to use Guerrilla’s Decima engine, which would go on to be used in Horizon: Zero Dawn, and is also the engine that Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions are using for Death Stranding. 

Shadow Fall was also a change in direction for the series- visually, it had a lot more variety than its predecessors; from a level design perspective, it opened things up considerably, and no longer funnelled players down a series of corridors; stealth became a lot more central to gameplay, and made encounters quite different from what Killzone fans had become used to; even the story felt like a new chapter, with a different setting, new tonal direction, and new characters. And though many of those things didn’t land perfectly, it definitely felt like the beginning of chapter 2 for Killzone. And many felt that the next game in the series would only be better and more polished, just as Killzone 2 had realized the potential of its predecessor while ironing out its most glaring flaws. 

As it turns out, though, there was no “next game”. Killzone Shadow Fall came out on November 15, 2013, and now, in the early days of 2019, with more than five years having passed since then, that is the last we saw of Killzone. It wasn’t like Shadow Fall was a commercial failure either- the game had crossed 2 million units in sales by January of 2014, so clearly, it was doing well enough to warrant a sequel. Both Guerrilla Games and Sony, however, have gone in a very different direction. While working on Killzone Shadow Fall, Guerrilla had also begun developing a completely new IP- we now know that IP was Horizon: Zero Dawn, a game that was absolutely stunning, and also completely unlike anything Guerrilla Games had ever done with Killzone (the fact that Horizon’s story, storytelling, world building, open world design, and characters were some of its biggest strengths should tell you as much). 

Even on a more macro level, over the last seven to eight years, Sony’s focus has also clearly shifted, with them now preferring to make single player, cinematic, narrative-driven games like Uncharted, The Last of Us and, yes, Horizon: Zero Dawn. It’s also worth noting that Sony has clearly found a lot more success with these kinds of games than it ever had with its exclusives in the past. Since 2015, its first party titles have been on a roll, with games that follow this philosophy receiving unprecedented praise and selling surprisingly high numbers. The success that Sony has found just within the last couple of years with the likes of Horizon and Spider-Man – to say nothing of what Naughty Dog has accomplished with its games – is indicative that there’s potential for long-term, consistent success if PlayStation keeps heading in this direction. And clearly, looking at the games still bound for the PS4, it’s a direction that they will keep heading in.

Looking at this direction, then, it’s really no surprise that Killzone just doesn’t figure into Sony’s plans. The real question, though, is this- has Sony just dropped Killzone altogether? Do they want Guerrilla Games to focus entirely on Horizon, and Horizon alone? That is a question that isn’t easy to answer, because we haven’t really received an indication as to what the future might hold for Killzone one way or another. While Guerrilla Games have expressed that they still love the franchise, both themselves and Sony have been largely non-committal and vague about the possibilities of a sequel- and really, looking at the impressive first party lineup Sony has amassed, and the level of success they have been consistently finding as a result, that’s not all that surprising. For the first time in many years, Sony doesn’t need to make a Killzone sequel. It’s a franchise they can afford to let rest- maybe even permanently. 

That said, that doesn’t mean that that is what will definitely happen. Armed with a stronger sense of what makes their games tick, coupled with the cache and popularity that the IP has inherently, there’s a chance that Guerrilla and Sony might come back to Killzone eventually. Guerrilla Games, as we know, have recently been expanding aggressively, almost doubling in size, and with such an expansion, it’s natural to assume that the studio would like to not only churn out games at a faster rate, but maybe even work on multiple projects at the same time. There’s nothing to say that they wouldn’t want all hands on deck for Horizon 2 (and we know there’s going to be a Horizon 2), or that even if they do work on two projects at once, that the second one wouldn’t be a new IP. But Killzone is an established and successful franchise, so it’s logical to assume (or at least hope) that Sony might want to return to it. Alternatively, they might even hand it off to another studio while Guerrilla Games works on other projects.

That might all be speculation- but sadly, speculate is all we can do for now. Unlike with franchises like, say, Deus Ex and Mass Effect, where the publishers have been very clear about what the future holds for those properties, or Metal Gear, where circumstances have made its future abundantly clear even in the absence of any concrete work from Konami, Sony has said next to nothing about where Killzone is headed. The door isn’t completely shut on the series, but given the direction Sony is headed in, the future doesn’t look as assured as it once did either. Maybe Sony will find a way to bring back Killzone in a way where it can not only fit in with its current slate of first party exclusives, but also stand toe to toe with them- but then again, maybe it won’t. While Guerrilla Games have confidently transitioned from shooter to RPG, the fate of Killzone is uncertain, and all we can do for now is hope that the next couple of years bring some clarity. 

Killzone 2 had originally released back in 2009 with Killzone 3 following 2 years later in 2011. Both games then have had a long lifespan, but now developer Guerrilla Games has officially announced in a blog post that multiplayer servers for both games will be shutting down on March 29th, 2018.

This also means that certain trophoes related to online play can no longer be achieved before the given date, so if you’re looking to get all those achievements, you’ll have to do so soon. (Of course, the singe player campaign will remain accessible to players even after this date.) Guerrilla Games expressed their gratitude for their games’ community and stated that it is the players’ enthusiasm that helped them grow as a studio.

Both games are PlayStation 3 exclusives and while it’s a little sad that online support is ending, it must be an exciting year for Guerrilla Games with the success of Horizon Zero Dawn. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Half Life 2: Episode 2

We might as well get the big one out of the way. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 saw the resistance creating a rocket that ultimately closed the Combine portal, thus limiting the aliens from calling reinforcements. As Gordon and Alyx are setting out for the Borealis, two Advisors suddenly arrive and kill Eli Vance. Though our heroes are ultimately saved by D0g, the episode ends with a cliff-hanger. All these years and some artwork teasing the Borealis but still no Episode 3, forget Half-Life 3.

Killzone Shadow Fall’s on disc file size is a mammoth 39 GB. In a recent interview, Guerilla Games technical director Michael Van Der Leeuw explained why.

“I think we’re probably a lot larger than the other cross-generation games, because we have no assets that have been made to a lower spec.” He also spoke to the larger in game environment relative to other Killzone games. “The surface area, I’m just guessing here, must be five to 10 times bigger than Killzone 3 was.”

He also confirmed that at one point the disc image was around 180GBs and if they would have went ahead and put all the levels it was coming around to a jaw dropping 290GB.

“I think at some point the disc image that we were generating was around 180 gigs,” said van der Leeuw. “And if we would have put all the levels in, which we didn’t, because then the disc image generator broke, it would have been around 290 gigs of data.

“So we had to completely re-architect how we deal with data. And we did a lot of work – this is actually something I’m extremely proud of – to optimise our disc access pattern. Sony made special libraries for us because we were the first ones hitting these sort of problems. I think it’s something that a lot of people will need to be doing in future.”

However the game will be using Sony’s new PlayGo system, which will allow players to get into the game once they have downloaded 7.5GB.

“Realistically, I think a lot of people can do this… It’s just that the initial chunk of 7.5GB is quite big. I think if we would have known exactly how everything would work… I think next time around we’ll try to see if we can design something that doesn’t jeopardise the game which will make it even friendlier. But I think all things considered, this being launch and we’ve got like 2 minutes 44 from disc to the first level and no installs, I think it’s already a massive improvement over previous generations.”

Killzone Shadow Fall will launch alongside the PlayStation 4 this November.

Source: Eurogamer

“I can be true about it, yes. That’s definitely what’s happening right now. I can’t tell you what we’re thinking of but yes,” he said. “As a studio we do want to branch out, and we have started work on a new IP, something completely different to Killzone. I don’t want to say anything about it right now, but as a studio we do want to keep it fresh.”

Boltjes went on to describe the usual process the company goes through after completing a game:

“Usually what happens is at the end of a game people start to roll off,” Boltjes explained. “The artists and the coders work the longest, and then QA. But the designers, at some point their work is done. They’re not allowed to touch the game because that changes everything for all other departments.

“So about three to four months before you ship, the designers sit down and think, what can we do for the next one. That happened then [with Killzone 3 to Shadow Fall] as well. So, about three years ago we went into that phase. The really tricky part about that phase is not trying to do too much. You have a room full of people and they all have a different idea of what they want to change about the game. They can’t do everything, especially if you only have two-and-a-half years to build it.

“So it’s streamlining that process of what we want to do to this is what we’re actually going to do. That’s the tricky part.”

Killzone: Shadow Fall will be out on November 15th in North America and November 29th in Europe when the PS4 launches.

“It’s probably a tossup between Killzone 3 and Fallout 3,” Sgt. Mull said when asked by VentureBeat which game he thinks has the most realistic combat. “Killzone has the right, gritty feel for things. the crosstalk is right, and you feel like you are in a real infantry platoon.”

“Some of the weapon features make a helluva lot of sense, too,” he continued. “For example, the main rifle sounds a tone for the last five or so rounds in each magazine, and the grenades feature an LED bargraph to aid in cooking.”

He then went on to talk about Fallout 3, which he thinks “is special because you don’t have any health regeneration.”

“You need to eat,” he said. “Weapons and equipment degrade over time and with use, so you need to salvage similar items and rebuild them, and you can largely go “off script” whenever you want. I can’t tell you how many times I got tired of hearing some whiny NPC’s sob story and went on the rampage instead of helping them.”

Then, when asked if he believes the games that try being macho actually try too hard, he said he does. “Black Ops 2 goes overboard with it,” he said. “Trying much too hard. I think they got the dude from Days of Thunderin there — sounds like him anyway. You really don’t have to say “Tough shit” all the time. Drop some mom jokes or something.”

He went on to say that most of the times, real-life conversations usually compromise of “dick and fart jokes” a lot.

“The Killzone 2 trailer/opening drop was just about perfect,” he said when the interviewer suggested the developers these days need to “sex things up.”

“Clueless privates are screwing around,” Mull continued, “Sarge is chewing new assholes and generally being angry.”

That is indeed a refreshing perspective. Read the entire interview through the link above, it’s an interesting read.

What do you guys think? Tell us in the comments section below.

[BeefJack]