Killzone Shadow Fall: Campaign Hands-on, New Multiplayer Footage

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Killzone Shadow Fall: Campaign Hands-on, New Multiplayer Footage
Killzone Shadow Fall: Campaign Hands-on, New Multiplayer Footage

Official Killzone Shadow Fall Game Page

It’s been 30-odd years since the events of Killzone 3, and my, how things have changed. The fearsome Helghast are now refugees, their homeworld annihilated in a nuclear firestorm. In a desperate bid for survival, the surviving Helghast emigrate to an idyllic planet controlled by their mortal enemies, the ISA. Unrest simmers, leading to the construction of a vast security wall intended to separate the Vektan haves from the Helghast have-nots. A long, fragile peace is shattered following a terrorist strike (seen in Killzone Shadow Fall‘s February 20th at PS4’s debut conference), prompting the ISA leadership to bring out the big guns. That’d be you, elite Shadow Marshal operative Lucas Kellan. Your mission is simple: Restore order at any cost.

Launch game or no, Killzone Shadow Fall’s campaign is a visual stunner on PS4, rendering a smorgasbord of reflections, dynamic lighting, and billowing smoke at a razor-sharp 1080p native resolution (1920 x 1080). It’s as if developer Guerrilla Games wanted to cast off every technological limitation from the PS3 era all at once. Combined with Shadow Fall’s expanded color palette and sprawling environments, the results are spectacular.

Shadow Fall isn’t set on a traditional battlefield and Lucas Kellan isn’t a traditional army grunt. Kellen packs state-of-the-art military gear such as the OWL, a military done that can provide cover fire, deploy shields, or serve as a zipline for traversing wide expanses via a quick swipe on DualShock 4’s touchpad. Kellen can emit a “tactical echo” ability to highlight nearby enemies, or slow time to get the jump on his enemies.

Shadow Fall’s combat also infuses a stronger sandbox sensibility, giving players far more control of how, where, and when they launch their attacks. White-knuckled firefights can be supplemented with stealthy takedowns and traps, making the game far more nonlinear than its predecessor. And the single-player campaign is no lightweight, weighing in at more than 10 hours.

Killzone Shadow Fall: Campaign Hands-on, New Multiplayer Footage

Then there’s the competitive multiplayer mode which runs at native 1080p* and 60 fps. Supporting up to 24 players across a variety of play modes, Shadow Fall’s multiplayer combat feels more agile and responsive than its predecessor thanks to DualShock 4’s many refinements and, well, dat framerate.

Shadow Fall breaks from the multiplayer pack in several notable ways. For starters, you’ll start with the game’s full arsenal (22 guns) and you’ll complete skill-based challenges (1,500 in all) in order to upgrade your gear and abilities. But perhaps most enticing are the player-created Warzones that will begin popping up once Killzone: Shadow Fall lands on November 15th. We’ll have more Killzone Shadow Fall coverage leading up to PS4’s launch in less than two weeks!

*Update March 5th, 2014: After seeking clarification with developer Guerrilla Games regarding Killzone Shadow Fall’s multiplayer resolution, we learned that the game uses a “reconstruction technique to combine samples from two 960×1080 frames to form a new full 1080p frame.” The developer is scheduled to present a Game Developers Conference technical session that will dive deeper into the technique of rendering multiple lower-resolution buffers in order to create a 1080p image. I’m grateful to those readers who asked questions and sought clarification on this topic, and I apologize for not capturing this detail in the original post.

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54 Comments

2 Author Replies

  • Hey Sid, This game looks amazing, but where is the Playstation Blogcast?

    • It will be live shortly! Sorry, was out sick two days this week and just got out final interview handed over, so I’m editing now.

  • Looking forward to it, although I do wish you guys werent showing off by trying to make everything uncompressed. 1 game at 50gb? I wish you guys would factor that into your decision making. 1 game taking 10% of your hdd and issilly. But Iit does look great.

  • I can’t wait for this! I’ve been playing KZ: Mercenary to keep my blood pumped!

  • Thank you so much for focusing on framerate. That’s been my biggest problem with this last generation of consoles

  • Hooray for the game that makes me want a ps4 at launch!

  • AMAZING!!

  • This may be a stretch, but I’m kind of getting a Half-life 2 vibe from the cinematic trailer. Very impressive.

    • You know, I said the same thing after playing about an hour of the campaign. They’re radically different universes and the gameplay is quite different, but there is something more immersive and interesting about SF’s campaign. It’s much less linear based on what I played.

  • Need to fix Soul Sacrifice save issues, any updates on that? Will we get that update?

  • That’s that WhiteBoy7thSt bringing them G.O.A.T. skills to the PSBlog! Woot! xD

  • Hey Sid, from what you’ve played of the game so far have you been able to or seen any signs that there are vehicles in the SP?

  • Is it possible to create a Warzone that plays like KZ2, with additional weight and guns that recoil? Unless there is an option for guns to actually have some recoil, I don’t have any interest in this game. Granted, being a fan KZ2 I’m in the minority.

  • Man, I cannot wait for the game. I like what I hear and see so far. Isn’t the SP supposed to be at 30fps though? or is it unlocked and fluctuates between 30 and 60?

  • Also, good to see Whitebo7thst in the PS Blog. I love his content and is my favorite youtuber. Hopefully I get to play some KZ: SF with him.

  • Picked up my copy at GamesStop the other day, as well as, my Dual shock 4, and my PS4 camera!!! Game looks amazing and I have played and own all other Killzone games but can’t wait to play Killzone Shadow Fall!!!! OOO the box says 45g minimum is that install or memory need free on the HDD to run the game? Box also says remote play on it, really can’t wait to try that with my vita!!! That is if it works, haven’t seen any video of remote play for Killzone Shadow Fall yet.

  • Have the game already just waiting on my PS4 and then we will let the fun times begin.

  • Sid when are you going to post? about the event that’s going to be in New York on the 14th ?_?

  • I know that the ps4 will bring some superior games to next gen. If things go in the direction Sony anticipates, some exclusive titles will make pc ports look childish. I believe we are in for some treats from this console in the future.

  • Is the playstation network going to be improved on November 15th when the ps4 launches? I can’t imagine people downloading the rumored 50GB digital version of Killzone with how slow psn currently is.

  • Any words on 3d compatible?

  • Game looks great! Can’t wait till PS4 launch

  • @ Ryumoau Don’t blame psn for your slow downloads, blame your internet provider. I downloaded Siren Blood Curse(a 10 gb game) in an hour and a half last week.

  • Does everyone get the Shadow Pack DLC if you preorder the game?

  • I am way too excited for this game! Can’t wait to play it Day One.

  • Never expected Whiteboy7thst to have anything related to his YT channel end up here on PS Blog. I always saw him as a typical CoD commentator but nope, his video of him playing Killzone Shadow Fall is here. Congrats to him.

    Anyways, I can’t wait for Killzone Shadow Fall and Knack :D Im set for November 15. Awaiting Greatness

  • @22 Sony defense force to the rescue i see. You’re an idiot if you don’t notice how much lower psn downloads speeds are compared to XBL, Steam, or any other game downloading service. It has nothing to do with internet providers and is Sony capping the output on their own servers to save money.

    They’ve previously said the ps plus being required for ps4 online multiplayer would give them the revenue to increase their network performance, so i’m just wondering if this is happening day one.

  • i’m confused as to how the create your own game type works. is it dependent on the options the host chooses? like there will be settings to make it so everyone uses rpgs or whatever, and they have unlimited ammo (which would be a lame game type, but just as an example). i really wish the game mode “Liberation” came back from Medal of Honor Spearhead/Breakthrough games. it was originally a mod on Spearhead, that EA made a game type in Breakthrough, and i’d think it’d be perfect for this game. both team have a jail, and when you kill someone on the other team, they respawn in your jail, and the objective is to get all the opposing team in your jail, but near both team’s jail is a release switch that would free the players in that jail.

    Warzone will return in this killzone, correct? that one was exciting. hopefully the multiplayer in this one lasts longer than it did in killzone 3. im sure the free dlc will help out.

  • @ Ryumoaner

    YOU shouldn’t be calling anyone else an idiot… YOU… seriously… YOU! The guy with the most idiotic posts on the blog everyday!

  • It looks sick I am not much of a FPS gamer but it makes me want to jump in and have some fun

  • Looks amazing! It’s my day one game!! Sucks us EU guys have to wait two weeks longer. :( Want it now!!

  • “like the game’s campaign, runs at native 1080p and 60FPS.”

    Doesn’t the campaign run at 30FPS? Might want to reword that.

    Got this preordered, already got my PS Camera, extra DS4 and Knack. Ready for my PS4.

  • My No.1 reason to buy a PS4, this game imo is the best looking next-gen game on both consoles it looks so good i can’t wait to play it

  • @26

    My real world download speeds tend to top out around 3 MB/sec. I’ve never had a problem with PSN downloads being able to hit that, unless there was a problem on my end (other downloads, too many connected devices, someone watching HD Netflix, etc).

    PSN is plenty fast.

  • Shadow Fall refuses to disappoint! I’m eagerly awaiting for my copy to arrive in the mail on D-Day…

    I also want to throw out there that if anyone is looking for a group on Shadow Fall, hit RebelAllianceClan (dot) com . We’re looking for guys (and gals) that are great people in life and great team players!

  • I was able to download Uncharted (30 GB) in 2 hours…..yeah don’t think PSN is that slow for me….but then again I don’t have a garbage ISP.

  • kzsf is awesome and i know that with it running on ps4 it will feel so good and cant wait to remote play on my psvita

  • lmao, Ryumoaner crying about his crappy internet and trying to deflect the blame to PSN, I love it. I think the only idiot here is the one insulting someone because they can’t take responsibility about getting a better internet service and deflecting blame of their poor connection to PSN. You are in your 20’s. Act like it.

    @PrimeroIncongnito,

    I think he had his feelings hurt that someone would tell him he has bad internet lol. I guess to him that’s worthy enough to insult someone over(pathetic, I know) I don’t get it, I easily can download stuff that is like 10 GB in 30-45 mins. People like him must either have crap internet or must be watching Netflix on HD all the time or something.

  • @Ryumoaner, As always Your looking for any little reason to poke fun at sony and the playstation brand.

    (1) IT was already reported that you do not need to download the entire PS4 game to start playing. After downloading a small portion of the PS4 title, you can begin to start playing said game……

    Please for the love of god, come to these blogs with something POSITIVE. as always, Keep on Gaming.

  • The best launch game and the best graphic out of the 2 consoles. ( R.I.P XBONE 2013-2013)

  • Oh, I cant wait … its just around the corner.

    http://www.justwannaplay.me/home

  • Is that a typo as far as the campaign running at 60fps?

  • Can’t wait, getting this on my birthday this month.

  • The level of maturity among regular commenters is becoming borderline appalling as of late. SMH.

  • JROD, you say comments are immature? I mean, is that not immature because you do it?

    Cheers and happy gaming.

  • ONLY 11DAYS 4HRS AND 48MINS!!!!!

  • I would really love move support on this! I suck at FPS games using a controller.

  • Hello, i was just wondering if the people who preordered the ps4 bundle that come with Killzone :Shadowfall will be getting the preorder content that come with the game? Game looks AWESOME BTW

  • Looks amazing! Can’t wait!

  • Looks great.

  • 26

    you are a really bad at try to push false facts.. it does have to do with your isp, package type, router/modem and the docsys models let alone line age. so nest time you try to “rage/troll/lie” you will think first.

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