How can I play the game?
Since Thrill Kill was canceled, downloading a disk image of it is the only way you can play the game. At least 4 different versions are available online: the Uncensored NTSC version, a Censored NTSC version, and two different prototype builds. The information in this wiki pertains to the most widely available (and most complete) version of the game: the Uncensored NTSC version.
You can visit the Kill Community Discord for links for everything you need to get set up and play the game online with others.
Who's the best character?
This is a tough question to answer currently, as Thrill Kill is still very much in its infancy as a competitive game and opinions fluctuate week to week as players continue to lab and develop each character. If you're curious, you can head on over to the tier list page to check out what the current consensus is.
Why are there so many garbage minus-on-hit moves?
There are two kinds of Kusoges in the world: ones where every move is way too plus, and ones where every move is way too minus. This is the latter of the two for sure.
Each character's blockstun and hitstun are dependent on their two hit animations (for light hits and hard hits) and their block animation instead of move-specific. The big reason stems from there being no pushback on block in Thrill Kill. It's not all bad though; while some moves are indeed complete garbage, a large majority of those -60-on-block moves start combo strings with a lot of high/low mixups to get around said blocks. Thrill Kill is a very combo-string focused game instead of one where you space and poke with normals.
Why don't my combo strings work?!
The way Thrill Kill buffers inputs for combo strings can be a little finicky. Whenever you string into a special move, you have to wait until that special move begins its animation before you start inputting attacks after it. This leads to some linked combos having frustrating, tight timings to properly perform - especially trying to follow a special with another special that requires two or more directional inputs.
Why are certain inputs highlighted in blue or red?
These highlights are to denote when a string switches between high/mid attacks and low attacks. Inputs highlighted in blue can be countered high (
), and inputs highlighted in red can be countered low (
). Take this Cleetus string for example:
Not including the opportunity to high counter the first hit, there are 6 opportunities to counter out of this string. Strings with no way to counter out of them (dubbed "safe" strings) are considered highly desirable, especially those ending with a launcher.
What does "...links to [X]" mean on the combo pages?
Some special moves in Thrill Kill can be strung into out of a specific attack animation. For example, Belladonna's Vegas Vertical (
) can be linked into from Side Kick () whether it is used by itself or the Side Kick animation comes up during a combo string. You can then input any combo strings that would follow that special move, extending combo strings.
This is partially why combo strings involving linkers can be frustrating to input sometimes, as the game won't accept combo string inputs until the special move begins.
What does "*Doesn't string." mean?
Some combo strings perform moves that have too much startup and can be blocked or countered. This sadly makes a lot of otherwise very useful combo strings useless.
Why does the AI cheaply counter out of my combos?
Players are able to counter out of combo strings whenever the combo switches from a mid or high hit into a low attack (and vice versa). For more information, visit the system page.
Where can I find people to play against?
The best place is the Thrill Kill Discord server. Now that Duckstation has NAT Traversal netplay, getting games going is as simple as loading the netplay save state, starting a session, and getting a room code to give to someone to join you!
