Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition announced for PC

As re-release nomenclature goes, "Nightmare Edition" is pretty good. Not nearly as memorable as Dark Souls' unquestionably accurate "Prepare to Die Edition", or even indie roguelike Teleglitch's "Die More Edition", but the name still effectively sets the tone for this PC release of Suda 51's Killer Is Dead. In keeping with the name, it will come with a new, harder difficulty mode. In keeping with the tone of the cel-shaded action game, it also comes with a bizarre new trailer.

Top fonts!

The game created a pre-release furore for its "Gigolo Mode" missions, which centred around ogling a woman while she wasn't looking in order to raise the protagonists blood pressure. In addition, the game failed to impress many critics when the console version was released. Edge , for instance, called Gigolo Mode "a marketable hook when otherwise its publisher might struggle to find one," suggesting Suda 51's celebrated unpredictability was becoming, well, predictable.

For PC, Nightmare mode will retool the game so that enemies can only be defeated through Adrenaline Burst, Dodge Burst, or Headshot attacks. Additionally, the QTE finishers will be disabled. Having not played the game, those last two sentences mean very little to me.

Slightly easier to parse is the information that the Smooth Operator DLC will come bundled with the game, and be unlocked to all Nightmare Edition owners after completion of Episode 3.

Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition will be available May 9th, for £20 / $20.

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.