This review was originally a series of tweets, which is why it is structured as it is.

This review was a part of my “Back Catalog” series in 2020, where I went back and achievement hunted in games that I had previously started, but not completed.

First, @KillerInstinct jumped out at me. I had 1 achievement from when I gave it a quick whirl back near the Xbox One launch

Killer Instinct has a lot of achievements. 94 without any of the dlc, so 1/94 is low

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But I figured there’d be some single player achievements I could pick up!

I went back into Killer Instinct over last weekend with the intention to try to learn something as well as grab some achievements

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Gotta say, I’m amazingly impressed. Killer Instinct’s Dojo mode is the most comprehensive fighting game tutorial I’ve ever seen. It goes through all the craziness that has kept me out of fighting games with good examples and a game mode that really helps you

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It gives you specific goals that all build up an understanding of the underlying systems about how the actual fighting works

It has you repeat techniques a couple of times so you get the timing right, but not so much it drags on

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Combo assist is also hugely helpful. It’s a great way to get into the combo system. I’m starting to see how, when playing against humans, it makes you quite predictable. Which I think makes it a great training tool, because it lets you get off the ground doing all that cool stuff

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And then improve your game over time with manual combos.

Plus it has some great visualizations to show you what your inputs were, track combo breakdowns, all that cool stuff that actually lets you see where the gap is between what you did and what you tried to do

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The game plays buttery smooth, it’s just so instantly responsive

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I actually played some online! Against other people! I got placed in Bronze, exactly as I expected

But you know what else? I won some matches! I was actually able to apply the lessons straight from the tutorial to playing against people

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Even got a “supreme victory” once! And there was an achievement for that (there’s one for each character, so I have 1 of them). Not an achievement I expected to pick up

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I’m not going to be climbing the ladder any time soon, that doesn’t really interest me, but I’m very happy to be able to engage with the game mode at all

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Killer Instinct also has a great sense of style. Those Ultra Combo finishers where each attack connects to the rhythm of the music? chef’s kiss

Whenever you’re on a menu, it plays the theme song one note at a time as you move through options

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Serious style points, across the board

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I got 35 achievements in Killer Instinct on Sunday alone, the highest number of achievements I’ve ever gotten in a single day, which is quite something!

I’ll be playing it a bit more for a while, it’s been really fun!

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And this is one of the reasons I really like achievements. Part of it is making each game a part of a greater whole.

And part is times like this, I wouldn’t have gone back to Killer Instinct if it wasn’t for the achievements. But now that I have I’m finding I really like it

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Another great thing about Killer Instinct. One of the villains is a two-headed cyclops

And his name is Eyedol

Reference links: How my scoring system works