• Fixed a bug (I hope nobody found) where the final convergence field could decide to not have a primary node, rendering the game impossible to finish. Not good, I know.
  
  
• Hot spots (possible primary node locations) now have a faint purple glow in the general location to make tracking the primary node less tedious.

1.装备界面新增套装排序 会让套装一样的排到一起

Knights,

It’s hard to believe, but KILL KNIGHT has now been out for a full year. When we first released it, we weren’t sure if it’d find a home. The aggressive art style, unapologetically challenging combat, and strange blend of influences were all risks we took because we loved it… but would you?

Incredibly though, you did. KILL KNIGHT found its target audience, and we’re endlessly proud of the game you’re able to play right now. The speedrunning community, high-score chasers, and fans of dark fantasy and arcade action breathed a life into the game we could only hope for, and pushed it in ways we could never have predicted. Every bit of feedback, bug report, balance note, suggestion, and fan-made video helped us to refine the game, and reminded us why we made it in the first place.

So, this blog is both a thank you, and a small glimpse behind the curtain: a micro making-of that explores how KILL KNIGHT came to be. From the combat philosophy of “freeze-frame decisions”, to the strange contradictions of beauty versus ugliness, demon versus humanity, to the sound and game feel that tie it all together - this is a look at how we built a game that shouldn’t have worked, but somehow did.

To everyone who put on your decaying armor, braved the Abyss, and made KILL KNIGHT part of your world we say thank you! This game has become something greater than we imagined because of you.

From the very beginning, our mission with KILL KNIGHT was deceptively simple - create a genre-defining top-down action game with a monstrously rewarding sense of challenge - within an immersive, deadly otherworld. We sought to push players new and old to the heights of their skill ceiling with gameplay that is hard but fair - while rewarding mastery with every encounter.

Visually and sonically, KILL KNIGHT was designed to transport players to an otherworldly space. Every moment, every sound cue, every beat of the music was crafted to pull players into the Abyssal Keep and trap them there. We drew inspiration from incredible games like Devil Daggers, Hyper Demon, Ruiner, Android Assault Cactus, Boomerang X, Furi, Returnal, and Nex Machina - games that excel at fast, player-driven synesthesia through extremely tight gameplay mechanics and problems to solve.

From day 1, we set out to strip away any fluff or bloat. KILL KNIGHT is all thrill: no filler - no unnecessary downtime. We respect your time as much as ours, and in every way endeavored to make every second in KILL KNIGHT count.

But above all, we aimed to make a game that we genuinely love. A game built by a passionate, ambitious team, eager to push our design, art, and audio capabilities to the absolute limit. KILL KNIGHT was our chance to see what we were truly capable of, and our love letter to gamers that seek a challenge - and to share that excitement with every player who jumps into the Abyss with us.

Digging out the core combat loop of KILL KNIGHT was our immediate and most critical step. We knew the basics - a set of Pistols for default damage, Heavy Weapons for high powered problem solving, and the Sword for utility and defense - but getting them to interact elegantly and coherently was a huge challenge. 

Most important though was our philosophy of “Freeze Frame Decisions”. The idea being that at any moment, if you paused the game, there would be several high value, optimal, yet different things the player could do in the next second. No dominant strategies. A cascading flow chart of genuinely tough decisions happening second after second. This philosophy would ensure that - combined with all the different enemies, levels, and fast paced problems coming at the player - chasing high scores & speedrunning would have near endless depth.

Over the course of prototyping, we explored more than twenty different combat loops, experimenting with mechanics like heat gauges for Heavy Weapons, devil-trigger-like wrath states, tiered cooldown abilities, and alternative fire modes. Each Weapon going through a rigorous array of tests to find unique interactions to make them feel distinct, yet interconnected.

The first major breakthrough came while experimenting with the Blood Gems system. Originally they merely fueled Kill Power as a generic power resource - but our design philosophy of giving players multiple decisions at any given moment prompted drawing Blood Gems into your Heavy Weapon as well - giving rise to the “Wrath Burst”. This mechanic instantly became the heart of the combat loop.

The second - and the moment we knew KILL KNIGHT had serious potential - was landing on the Active Trigger system. We’ve always loved Active Reloads, and felt not enough games have used them - but again, Freeze Frame Decisions put the pressure on us to iterate on the mechanic and give it multiple uses. At first glance it was ridiculous - all the Pistols & Swords need a unique mechanic just for this? But the prototype was undeniable, and the dev team was hooked - there was no backing out, so now you’ve got 3 ways to Reload.

From there, everything else began to click. Heavy Weapons, Swords, and Pistols all found purpose and synergy. Killing with the Sword generated Heavy Ammo, making every Weapon choice meaningful. Pistols featured Active Triggers  to keep players attentive during downtime and widen the range of combat choices. These systems layered together to form a combat loop that was deep, exciting, and, most importantly, fun.

As game makers, what excites us most are interesting problems and strange contrasts. KILL KNIGHT was fueled by our love of all things medieval Dark Fantasy, yet also by the brightly-lit rows of arcade machines blaring to nobody at a midnight gas station. Early inspirations like Berserk, chiaroscuro techniques, and Vermis informed the tone, giving us a foundation of darkness, weight, and intensity. This seemingly impossible combination translated into a creative deconstruction, breaking down each aesthetic into elemental rules.

Abyssal brutalist architecture, crunchy retro pixel textures, grungy noise, non-Euclidean geometry, cryptic minimalism, and liminal spaces were all explored in isolation. The color palette, VFX, lighting, and arena design were carefully considered, then workshopped with the team until they coalesced into a unified, distinct visual style. From centered lighting on arenas to subtle background illumination and fog, every choice became a building block for the rest of the world.

The Abyssal Keep itself was divided into five thematic layers, each taking the player through a subconscious psychological journey reflecting the Kill Knight’s inner state:

• SOLITUDE: Empty, minimal, ominous, cut off from the world, embodying silence and isolation.

• ENTANGLEMENT: Twisted fears and anxieties manifest as overgrown vines and choking arenas, symbolizing the mind in turmoil.

• VISCERA: Organic, fleshy corridors navigating subconscious horrors, drenched in reds and visceral textures.

• ECHELON: Pristine, bright chambers representing lost civilization, covered in spikes and statues, mirroring suppressed memories and inner conflict.

• REFLECTION: A never-ending void, swirling and infinite, a deep psychological chasm reflecting the self in constant rumination.

Another core touchpoint for KILL KNIGHT is the battle between Beauty & Ugliness. Players begin as a seemingly “beautiful” knight, a symbol of humanity and discipline, confronting the malformed, horrifying hordes of the Abyss. The Keep itself mirrors decay: imposing, fractured, and unsettling. As players gain demonic powers and mastery over violence, these boundaries blur. The Kill Knight grows grotesque, embodying the corruption they once opposed, while enemies take on a twisted elegance, almost mesmerizing in their form. Even the environments shift in parallel gardens, cleaner architecture, and surreal, serene spaces emerge - reinforcing that beauty and monstrosity are relative, and that mastery carries a weight of moral and aesthetic transformation.

Designing the Kill Knight character followed a similarly contradictory process. Hundreds of concepts were explored, but the breakthrough came when story and personality were infused into the silhouette. The knight’s faceless, dead-inside demeanor, fractured armor revealing morphed organs, and beetle-like influences drawn from insectoid enemies all conveyed a history of endless death and corruption. Weapons were ideated fast, refined in-engine, and given distinctive identities. Momentum and creativity drove the process, leaving overthinking aside and allowing ideas to evolve naturally.

Once the thematic layers were locked in, enemies evolved to reflect them. Abyssal, demonic, insectoid, and Lovecraftian designs established a clear hierarchy: higher-ranking demons are more sentient, esoteric, and striking, while lower-tier foes embody chaos and merciless brutality. This hierarchy mirrors the psychological and literal descent through the Abyss, reinforcing tension and wonder while keeping every encounter fresh, meaningful, and terrifying.

Finally, this digital world had to be communicated to the real world, which led to trailers and cutscenes being concepted. Initially, we imagined a slower, more looming pace, but once our Video Lead brought the Abyss to life through the lens of the actual fast-paced arcade gameplay - the style evolved into something frenetic, visceral, and explosive. Rapid-fire cuts, chaotic sequences, and pounding energy captured the essence of KILL KNIGHT: glory and mortality coexisting in every heartbeat, yet weaved in melancholic darkness. These trailers became not just marketing, but an extension of the world itself - a window into the Abyss. 

And with that, KILL KNIGHT found its heart.

KILL KNIGHT indulges in its fast, kinetic, and brutal combat by binding sound, music, and game feel into one inseparable system. Every strike, kill, and arena shift is designed to heighten the sensation of power, and amplify the abyssal violence. We wanted KILL KNIGHT to suck you into the Abyss through your subwoofer.

At its core, sound communicates survival. Amidst the sensory overload of enemies, hazards, and environmental chaos, a smart priority-based audio system ensures that crucial cues always cut through the mix. Players can trust their ears to anticipate threats as much as their eyes, thanks to positional audio anchored to the Knight rather than to the detached top-down camera. Reverbs linger in cavernous halls, stretching sound into oppressive echoes that both shape the atmosphere, and remind players of lurking danger.

But sound here isn’t just informational, it’s visceral. Violence in KILL KNIGHT is unapologetically central. From explosive Wrath Bursts to incoming Pulse Attacks, and the melodic seconds of Hyper Drive, the combat leans fully into alien gore and spectacle. The design philosophy was always to make violence sickeningly fun, but not off-putting. Every kill is treated as a satisfying punctuation mark rather than a grotesque indulgence. Hitstop and audio stingers punctuate impacts, exaggerated retro death-effects erupt in showers of blood and sparks, and enemies scream before dissolving into particle splatters. The result is less horror show, more violent choreography: a deadly dance where brutality feels both rewarding and horrific.

Game feel carries this idea across every frame. Damaging an enemy triggers a cascade of layered payoffs - crunchy impacts, near-instant hit-flashes, stepped controller vibrations, crisp particle effects - all hitting in sync. Even menu interactions lean into this chunky arcade energy, rewarding simple navigation with tactile feedback and sonic character. Nothing is throwaway; every sound, every vibration, every micro-hitstop was made to portray the Knight’s weight and dominance.

Music, meanwhile, is the scalpel to sound’s hammer. The increasing intensity of each track as you descend further into an Arena matches the growing difficulty and pace. These shifts in rhythm were meant to land like thunderclaps, transforming gameplay into unforgettable peaks. In our wildest dreams we hoped players would load up the KILL KNIGHT Soundtrack when lifting weights or getting some work done - and we were thrilled with the music that our composers FILMMAKER and Finn Idras delivered.

Our inspirations each taught us something about how intensity and clarity can work together, but KILL KNIGHT pushes in its own direction: fantastical yet tactile, alien yet grounded, oppressive yet vibrant. Mixing such a game was a battle in itself, balancing clarity against chaos, impact against overload. But the result is a sensory philosophy where audio, music, and game feel are indistinguishable - and every kill is both heard and felt.

We hope you enjoyed this blast from the future-past, and we’re looking forward to seeing you suffer it out on the Leaderboards!

Until we descend again…
THE KILL KNIGHT TEAM

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TikTok: @KILLKNIGHTGame
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Facebook: @PlaySideStudios
Find out more about PlaySide Studios on their official website

I fixed the Halloween DLC, mainly the first level which has some issues with lag and also reduced the pick up range of the collectibles.

For those that don't know this, you can access the Halloween DLC in the Select Level (S1) menu, by shooting the Halloween headstone.

Bug Fixes

1. Optimize offline experience.
Offline will provide a global prompt and will no longer frequently report errors.
When an article from an online book fails to upload, it will be saved as a local copy and can continue to be modified locally (but cannot upload multimedia resources such as images).
After entering the local copy, you can click save to upload again, and if successful, synchronize to the server.
2. Optimize bookshelf update display
3. Provide annotation display styles, which users can switch between in the reading menu; Beautify annotations
4. Fix offline secretary reading record bug
5 fixes the bug where bookshelf novels do not have application reading records
6 fixes the bug where withdrawing an article leads to the loss of word count and the beginning and end chapters of a book
7 replies. Add the name of the respondent

Hello agents! This patch includes development changes introduced in August and September.

• Magic Shield ability can now be cast on other players. The first time you hit the ability button, you will enter target selection. Hit the button again to case the ability on the player you are looking at. If you are not looking at another player, you will cast the ability on yourself.

• Crouching now reduces player collision allowing players to go into previously inaccessible areas.

• Healthbars for bosses and larger enemy encounters are now rounded instead of box-shapes

• Fixed some keycard scanners in the desert clifftops level from clipping into their base.

• Fixed an issue in multiplayer that would not cause the heal beacon to show up for players besides the host.

• Fixed a bug that allowed any non-host players from having infinite ammo and the ammo counter going into negative values.

• Fixed a bug that allowed the poison status effect to negate the effect of the heal beacon ability

• Fixed a bug that caused the bunker elevator in the desert clifftops level to teleport to the bottom of the bunker for non-host players instead of gradually moving down.

• Fixed a bug that could cause the scale of enemies to be out of sync between the host and other players.

That's all we have for this update! We've been working a lot more for our next big content wave! We can't wait to share more with everyone. Be sure to join our Discord server if you want to stay up to date on all the new content and catch some sneak peeks!

Attention Employees!

We can't resist having something new to share around Halloween, so we made some new Home Safety Hotline merch to celebrate the witching season!

We now have limited stock HSH Sticker Sheets (only 100) with 6 original designs by the ever-talented http://hmnprsn.org/ - as well as a new Junior Supervisor shirt for those of you who have descended below the soil!

You can grab these as well as all of our other merch here:

https://robaroba.gg/collections/night-signal-entertainment

Meanwhile, if you are hungry for a new horror game from us - fear not! We have not one, but TWO new games in development! Be sure to add them to your wishlist so you'll be the first to know when they launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/Forbidden_Solitaire/https://store.steampowered.com/app/2855360/Please_Insert_Disc/

Additionally, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some awesome stuff from our community.

If you didn't know - a fellow by the name of "Gasterbuzzer" created an HSH Modding Tool and many members of our Discord have been running wild with it!

"ICY" shared this look at one of their mod's creatures - a Sewer Gnome:

While "Normaliv" shared this enigmatic screenshot with the caption: 'yeah this is where life peaks'

Meanwhile, "Neo-Shinryu" has apparently been working on a Halloween-themed campaign for some time, having apparently finished dozens of entries - and recently showed off their modded desktop here, seemingly titled "Night Shift"

Changes:
- Added rebound weapon modifier to the lobby.
- Added a notice in the graphics quality settings to avoid turning graphics settings lower for now, if possible. It's interactions with the lighting of the map are a work-in-progress, and lights will be very dark at low-medium settings.
- Slowed the speed of the sword swing slightly so the sword is more visible while slashing.

Bug Fixes:
- Made server browser properly reflect the current player count of found matches, and fixed instances where you could still join full matches.

Known issues:
- There can be difficulties finding a game that you’ve left, if you want to rejoin it.

Also, with this, the playtest build is ready to go live in the next few minutes!

-Korean translations of the game have been improved

-Fixed a bug in Versus where both Flashers wouldn't stop highlighting their target survivor on death

-UV Flasher and Grabber have increased melee range in Versus

-End Credits now reflect Community Update contributions

-Ultrabrute's time dilation now normal in Versus, but has increased charge speed

-Sanitation Grenade has a new model

-Sanitation Grenade's max capacity increased from 1/2/4 to 2/4/6

next up

Versus balancing and improved player bots for single player versus mode!