Killer Instinct, a fighting game that was released on Xbox One in 2013 but later brought to the Xbox Series X/S in 2023, has launched a major 2024 update, adding a new stage, features, and many more.
The new balance changes will most likely shake up the game's meta alongside improved matchmaking. The game's developer, Iron Galaxy, revealed earlier this year that the final update for Killer Instinct: Anniversary Edition, will be launching on Apr. 2, 2024.
Killer Instinct's Final Update
(Photo : Iron Galaxy Studios / Screenshot taken from official website)
Ahead of the official launch, the developer released the patch notes for the new update, which gave fans and players a better look at what they can expect to come in the game's final update. The big addition would be ranked cross-platform play between Xbox consoles and PC.
Furthermore, players will see that the developer has implemented a new blocking feature that can be used to keep their online playspace safe through a mute function and several other options. There will also be new cosmetics for all players and the level cap has been increased to 65 for both characters and players, according to ComicBook.
Iron Galaxy also dropped one last set of balance changes that tweak how characters, such as Thunder, Maya, and Hisako, play. The final update also includes adjustments to Shadow Lords that make the game mode more rewarding for players. The developer said that due to the reorganization of some game files, players on all platforms can expect the update to have a 6GB file size.
The developer has also unlocked access to previously exclusive Ultimate SourceTM Figures colors for players on all platforms. While Iron Galaxy had planned to unlock them all in one go, there was an issue that unlocked them early, but only on Steam, forcing them to issue a fix.
In celebration of KI's anniversary, the developers have added three additional unlockable remix colors for every character. This means that there players will have a total of 87 new color options that can all be unlocked at character levels 55, 60, and 65.
New Content, Changes, and Improvements
With regards to level, there will be two new unlockables, which are the Training Room at level 60 and the Debug Void at level 65. These stages will not be appearing in Random Stage Selection and the latter cannot be used in Ranked mode for accessibility considerations, said PureXbox.
The new update also fixes the Steam hot-mic issue and includes a new voice chat option in the audio settings that will turn off all voice chat, including the player's own. There is also a new option to adjust the amount of camera shake that is seen during combat.
In Shadow Lords, the final update adjusts Boss Gargos' resurrection to fill slower with reduced health regeneration given to Normal and Challenging difficulties. His modifiers have also been tuned to have less damage, less Potential Damage, slower health regeneration, and less Instinct and Shadow Meter Drain.
Shadow Lord Artifacts have been adjusted and themed with new names to make the tiers stand out. Iron Galaxy also refactored scoring and rewards for the game mode to make speed running it on subsequent playthroughs much more rewarding for players willing to take on the challenge, according to GamingBolt.
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