And for as combo-centric as it can be, KI's neutral game is remarkably sound. It’s a non-stop cycle of mind games that keeps both players dialed into the match, regardless of who’s hitting who. But then, a still-smarter attacker might drop out of the combo intentionally before any of that happens and go for a reset, starting a brand new combo with the built-up potential damage from the original one. Of course, a smarter defender could sniff the trap out, refrain from breaking, and punish the whiffed counter breaker.

The new counter-breaker adds another layer of tactics, giving smart attackers a way to bait out and punish predictable break attempts for big damage. This makes choosing whether or not to break a meaningful decision while giving the attacker further reason to switch up their combos instead of using the same bread and butter every time. Choosing the wrong input, or even mistiming the right one temporarily “locks” you out from any further attempts, giving your attacker time to go nuts. Learning what every character’s linkers and auto-doubles (KI’s combo building blocks) look like is essential since you have to match them with the appropriate combo breaker input. It starts with the ever-familiar combo breaker, which has been modified to reward both good reads and sharp reactions. Killer Instinct employs an intelligent system of interlocking mechanics to instead make combos a natural extension of the neutral game. Double Helix has done a great job of staying true to KI’s roots while also solving the problem of long-form combos being one-way interactions where one person plays while the other watches. Killer Instinct's combat is fluid, deep, and well informed by the mistakes of its predecessors.

Killer instinct wiki 2013