Developer: Casey Donnellan Games LLC
Publisher: tinyBuild
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Kill It With Fire 2 – Preview
The original Kill It With Fire has been on our wishlist for a while now, and every time we think we have some spare time to delve into the seemingly wacky experience of the original, some additional review titles are thrown our way. First world problems aside, we were quite happy when the second game was announced, giving us the perfect excuse to feature the Early Access release on the site. We didn’t know what to expect from Kill It With Fire 2 when going in blind, but we certainly had a blast playing this one with friends.
Kill It With Fire 2 is the sequel of the immensely popular 2020 game, Kill It With Fire, that was developed by Casey Donnellan Games LLC and published by tinyBuild. The game put you in the shoes of an unnamed exterminator, who took out spiders in a lot of different environments with a lot of silly tools at his disposal. Imagine using throwing stars to hit spiders or simply torching them with hairspray and a lighter. The sequel, which has just released its Early Access build, builds further upon this concept and takes things perhaps a bit further. Now, you’ll find yourself picking up the mantle again as the exterminator, but you’ll have to kill spiders in a multiverse of sorts. The story is a bit shallow, but that’s perfectly fine for a game such as this. It’s all about the gameplay, which is already entertaining enough, especially if you can involve a few friends or family members.
Graphically, the game remains consistent with the style of the first game, using low-poly models and vibrant colors. This style works perfectly for a silly game such as this, and there’s also enough variety in terms of environments to keep things interesting. The stages all have different themes, ensuring chaotic fun ensues. The sound design is decent, albeit nothing really amazing. The SFX provide decent audio feedback when blowing up things and whacking spiders.
The gameplay loop is actually quite simple here. If you play through the campaign mode, you just try to complete as many objectives as possible to unlock new levels, find new gear, and upgrade your existing items. You’ll go from your spaceship to worlds in different dimensions, all providing you with different challenges and hurdles to overcome. You may find yourself in a haunted mansion one moment to go on a kaiju-like rampage the next. You’ll have an expansive arsenal at your disposal to get rid of spiders and solve puzzles while you’re at it. You’ll have to reap the rewards of the challenges you complete, as these will allow you to unlock new challenges and worlds you can travel to. While we did enjoy the game in solo mode, we had the most fun when playing with friends. You can play the game with up to three other players.
You can beat the campaign in roughly eight hours when playing with friends, and you can add a few hours to that if you’re doing everything solo. The current content is fairly diverse, as there are a lot of different objectives to complete, and things never get dull. The game does still have a few noticeable bugs, such as clipping through objects, poor collision detection, and just some general wonky mechanics. Even so, we actually found this build already worth its asking price.
The Spider Hunt mode was also recently added. It allows up to eight players to play a sort of prop hunt mode. There will be one (or more) exterminator(s) who need to find the spiders that are hiding within a certain time frame. They can use the tools they find in the level to hunt the spiders. Exterminators cannot destroy the environment all willy-nilly, however, as they get a money deduction for everything they damage. If their credit goes to zero, the spiders win as well. Those who play as spiders can hide in different spots and can also shoot webs to slow down exterminators. It’s a fun little distraction from the main game, which doesn’t always feel as balanced as it could, but it proved to be highly entertaining nonetheless.
Conclusion
Even in its Early Access state, Kill It With Fire 2 is a lot of fun. While perfectly playable and enjoyable solo, we suggest picking this one up if you’re looking for a great co-op title to play with friends or family. The wacky mechanics, the small puzzles, and the general progression make this a title that you can enjoy for quite a few hours. While we hope content is added in the future, and some smaller kinks are ironed out, we can easily recommend this one already.
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