‘Killer Instinct’ Survey Hints At Joanna Dark, Halo Brute, Crackdown Agent Additions

The Killer Instinct guest appearances from characters outside the game have worked well for the Xbox One fighting game thus far. Iron Galaxy Studios will continue the trend, per a survey posted to the game’s official website Saturday and will bring some back some old favorites from the series too.

The survey is available for fans to give feedback on existing and future characters, existing and future features, plus any other items that need to be mentioned. Killer Instinct kicked off its Season 3 line-up of characters at the end of March with guest characters such as General RAAM from Gears of War, Arbiter from Halo, and Rash from Battletoads, along with returning characters like Kim Wu and Gargos.

This is the second season of Killer Instinct under developer Iron Galaxy Studios and they clearly have a Season 4 planned. The survey reveals the Halo Brute, Crackdown Agent, and Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark as possible additions. Eyedol, the two-headed cyclops boss from the first Killer Instinct, is also listed as a possibility.

Season 4 of Killer Instinct will give Iron Galaxy an opportunity to stretch the lore of the game out a little more. Some characters listed as potential new additions have only been seen in the extended universe of comics for the fighter. This includes Eagle, Thunder’s younger brother, whose story is tied to both Thunder and Fulgore in the current reboot.

Other potential new characters listed include Djinn, Wendigo, Magic Archer, and Lovecraftian. Most have some tie to the Killer Instinct universe.

It won’t just be new characters coming with Season 4 of Killer Insinct. Iron Galaxy’s survey points to re-imaginings of some existing characters, as well. A Sharkman variant is listed for TJ Combo, while Shadow Orchid may stand in for Black Orchid. A pre-transformation Cinder has potential, along with a Rushdown Glacius alternate called Kelvin. Finally, Aganos could go completely vegetarian with an Ent variant that Iron Galaxy dubs “Broccoli Man.”

As for future features, the survey doesn’t hint at anything new. Instead, there is an expansion of existing features. This includes more character taunts, more costumes, more Shadow Lab slots, more character icons, and more accessories. Additional Ultimates/No Mercys are listed as well along with more color options.

Response to the survey has been positive from the Killer Instinct community thus far. Creative Director Kraig Kujawa revealed, via Twitter, that 1,300 votes were entered in just three hours, surpassing the amount of votes for the Season 2 survey. He revealed four hours later the number grew quickly to 2,100 votes. The latest response at the time of this article came from an Iron Galaxy Studios Community Manager in the Ultra Combo forums where the total number of votes has passed 2,500.

It will be interesting to see the direction Iron Galaxy could go with characters like the Halo Brute and Crackdown Agent. Both are nebulous enough to allow for multiple costumes similar to when the Arbiter from Halo was added. It wasn’t a singular Arbiter that was added, but a blending of different Arbiter characters from the Halo universe.

There have been several Brute leaders over the course of the Halo franchise that could be used, such as Tartarus from Halo 2 and Atriox from the upcoming Halo Wars 2.

The Crackdown Agent has always been more of a player creation than a single definitive character. Still, the abilities have always been mostly the same.

Meanwhile, Joanna Dark has gone through various iterations from the original Perfect Dark release in 2000 to her last adventure in 2005 with Perfect Dark Zero.

Which characters would you like to see in Killer Instinct? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via Rare]