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Killer Instinct
The legendary fighting franchise is back with over-the-top action, a wild cast of combatants, rocking reactive music, and C-C-C-COMBO BREAKERS!!! Choose your ultimate combatants each with fluid animations, unique combat tactics, and enthralling special attacks.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
39 of the 86 reviews raise this.
“8/10 PROS: The combat is unreal, You could play this game for hundreds of hours IF you go through every character and play through every mode through all 6 difficulties, Shadow Lords offers a roguelike, single-player…”
11 of the 86 reviews raise this.
“I played the original back in the day , yup my age is showing again, LOL, this is an improvement by leaps and bounds, while retaining those traits i so loved, and this def tests me more, i like it :)”
“Killer Instinct – Surprisingly Beginner Friendly and Still Awesome As someone who is honestly not very good at fighting games, I didn’t expect much when I first tried Killer Instinct. I saw that the game was free on…”
9 of the 86 reviews raise this.
“I don't think I will ever graduate from being a button masher. Be that as it may, I still think this is the greatest fighting game ever made. The variety, the spectacle, the excecution of its mechanics, the soundtrack.…”
“Amazing all the way around would highly recommend picking this game up and if you can score a bundle to get all the awesome characters for $20 and under even better. Totally worth every penny at runs buttery smooth and…”
“Gameplay is great and so is the music. Graphics are ok, some character models looking kinda ruff even for the era. I'm having fun with it, but I probably won't spend time mastering it.”
4 of the 86 reviews raise this.
4 of the 86 reviews raise this.
“Amazing all the way around would highly recommend picking this game up and if you can score a bundle to get all the awesome characters for $20 and under even better. Totally worth every penny at runs buttery smooth and…”
8 of the 86 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“pay to play.. :(”
“"Hey download Killer Instinct its Ftp, we can try it out and then buy the roster if its good" *downloads just to see only 1 character is playable and its blatantly the most trash character in the game "Ooookay guess we…”
7 of the 86 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Nothing like the old Killer Instinct games.”
“"Hey download Killer Instinct its Ftp, we can try it out and then buy the roster if its good" *downloads just to see only 1 character is playable and its blatantly the most trash character in the game "Ooookay guess we…”
“Hoo boy... the archetypal representation of free-to-play: sub-par, ugly as sin, expensive unless you get it on discount and underwhelming if you don't. I can't imagine an uglier fighting game this as every visual…”
4 of the 86 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Hoo boy... the archetypal representation of free-to-play: sub-par, ugly as sin, expensive unless you get it on discount and underwhelming if you don't. I can't imagine an uglier fighting game this as every visual…”
“Gameplay is great and so is the music. Graphics are ok, some character models looking kinda ruff even for the era. I'm having fun with it, but I probably won't spend time mastering it.”
“Yes. Very good. The only thing is that I wish there was a (Very small as to not distract from gameplay) little gore. Not much, but just something, because if you pierce a guy with plasma claws through his heart, I think…”
3 of the 86 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Multiplayer is kinda dead You can only get 2 characters permanently as a f2p (jago: just beat the tutorial of shadow lord) (orchid: grind for ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hours in shadow lords which took me like a couple hours i guess)…”
“good netcode that still holds up. cool characters, even the free one”
Counted across 86 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 86.6% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“I played the first KI on SNES. I flayed the skin on my thumbs to get the combos right. I literally bled for the game. Was it worth it? Hell yes! This is just as awesome!”
— a player, Steam review · 19 hrs played“Killer Instinct is old, and practically dead but is still fun to those who play alone. The game is "free to play" but you only get access to one character and I don't think it even rotates the free fighter anymore. Although, the game goes on sale now and again and you can get…”
— a player, Steam review · 65 hrs played“The gold standard for fighting games in my opinion. Outside of any niche subcategories, KI has everything I'd expect from a titan in the genre, without bending the knee to any casual or professional demographics. The art style also holds up surprisingly well, and the dynamic…”
— a player, Steam review · 9 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Killer Instinct Anniversary Bundle 60% Off During EVO!
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/43437/ From now through July 22nd, players can pick up the Killer Instinct Anniversary EVO Bundle from the Steam Store. This bundle includes the base game, all An
Quality-of-Life May Update
Migration of services to PlayFab. Read post here: https://www.ultra-combo.com/quality-of-life-may-update/ Fixed an issue where both players would lose points after leaving Ranked mode on Steam.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Action, Free To Play |
| Player tags | Fighting · Action · Multiplayer · 2D Fighter · Great Soundtrack · Arcade · Free to Play · Singleplayer · Competitive · Local Multiplayer · 2.5D · Controller (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · Shared/Split Screen PvP · Shared/Split Screen · Steam Achievements · Full controller support |
| Languages | English * , French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian * |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 463 |
| Official site | https://www.ultra-combo.com/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i5-750 @ 2.67 GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.4 GHz Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 or AMD Radeon HD 5850 DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 48 GB available space