Gamers looking for an engaging FPS title don’t have to look far to find something that catches their eye. Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty — there are literally dozens of excellent games to choose from. However, one popular franchise has been missing from the industry for several years and it’s a perfect time for it to make a comeback. Now is the time for another Killzone.
Wait, What Game?
First introduced in 2004 on the Playstation 2, Killzone was touted as a bona fide “Halo-killer.” While that clearly wasn’t the case, the game did do a lot of things right and garnered enough of a following to spawn five more games. The series eventually died on Playstation 4 with Killzone Shadow Fall in 2013, and no new game is officially in development.
Why Should It Come Back?
If there is one thing that set the title apart from its competitors, it was the “heavy” atmosphere the game created. Each installment had a graphically rich world to explore that was full of the nightmarish Helghast stalking across beautifully designed environments. It also featured a mature story and gameplay that matched the overall tone. Each movement had a weight behind it. You weren’t speeding around a map as fast as you could, gunning down thousands of enemies along the way. Each shootout was intense, heightened by the fact that if you made a wrong move you couldn’t just sprint your way to safety.
Killzone 3 also featured an excellent multiplayer mode that allowed players to choose between one of five classes to play. Each class had a unique ability, such as cloaking for the Marksmen class or disguising as the enemy team for the Infiltrator. Many popular games currently feature such a mechanic (just look at Apex Legends or Overwatch), but none of them capture the same “weighty” feeling the way Killzone did. Games today are incredibly fast paced, especially FPS titles. Killzone found a way to add heft to each movement without bogging down the gameplay. Bringing it back now would showcase how different the game really is from the slew of other shooters on the market.
Would It Succeed?
There’s no doubt that a new entry in the Killzone series would sell. Just about every mainstream entry in the franchise has done well for Sony, both critically and commercially. Of course, competition is stiff, but the series does enough to set itself apart from the competition that it shouldn’t have an issue moving copies.
Better yet, now would be a great time for another shot at the Halo franchise. With Halo Infinite in development, watching round two of Killzone Vs. Halo would be an absolute blast. While Killzone will never sell anywhere near as many copies as Halo, pitting the two against each other would be a boon for sales.
Never Say Never
Although there is no official word that Killzone is coming back, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to say that we could see one within the next couple of years. Developer Guerrilla Games is rumored to be bringing back the old SOCOM series — is the Killzone series next?
