No imitator has replicated the same scratching-at-your-heels thrill of The Parish’s unique beeline finale, but Back 4 Blood manages to do it. So many games have given us the quippy characters, the varied monsters, the filmic campaigns, but none to date have really captured the feeling of watching your friends all drop down a ledge just before you’re caught up by a horde and there’s no way back for them to save you. Nothing beats the original, and because of Back 4 Blood‘s wisely delivered pace, it seems what this genre needed was its progenitor back. But this familiarity breeds comfort, like recalling a song you haven’t listened to since high school, even if plenty of other bands tried the same sound in the interim. The Retch plays like a Spitter-Boomer combo, while the game’s best new monster, the Ogre, is essentially a massive, multi-stage boss battle with something the size of, I don’t know, 10 Tanks or so. Though flashlights seem to be missing right now, I’m hoping that’s just an in-progress feature, as otherwise Back 4 Blood captures a very similar feeling of the games that inspired it - one of tension, with crows cawing tauntingly and nearby unseen zombies gurgling, but not without some campiness, as evidenced by an NPC hiding behind a fort of tables and chairs, begging not to go outside with you.Įven the new special infected, or “ridden,” as the zeds are called in this new universe, don’t stray far from their predecessors. With levels taking players through blown-up neighborhoods, blue-collar factories, and an eventual pulse-pounding bridge finale, Back 4 Blood‘s first revealed campaign feels like lost DLC in a way. New heroes like Evangelo and Hoffman deliver enough one-liners to help you understand who they are without the game ever slowing down for even a single cutscene. The mostly rural setting, twangy music, and quippy characters all felt like they’d fit right in alongside campaigns like Blood Harvest and The Parish as well as darkly comical characters like Louis and Ellis.
I’m excited to see what other settings the game’s multiple campaigns will take players to, just like Left 4 Dead did so many years ago. Though my time with the game’s alpha offered just one four-chapter campaign for players to test this past weekend, Back 4 Blood already feels like the proper reunion tour for the development team. The results are a game bursting with nostalgia, but also unafraid to reinvent itself in some ways. The AI Director allowed each game to play differently, so players rushing through a level might get hit with a hulking Tank zombie to steer them backwards, or those dragging their feet might alert hordes more commonly to keep them moving through the movie-like campaigns.ĭespite some aforementioned games attempting similar technology, only Back 4 Blood seems to have properly tuned that intelligent machine learning system to deliver optimal drama to players. But it’s remained an all-time classic because of its strong focus on teamwork in the face of an unpredictable, unseen enemy. One could argue its gameplay loop was even a bit lacking, though post-launch support for Left 4 Dead 2 would eventually shut down such talks. Left 4 Dead was a good shooter, but not exceptional. Plenty of others, like Zombie Army and World War Z, haven’t shied from the direct comparisons and delivered their own undead hordes.Įach effort has its fans, but they all arguably lacked one signature element: nail-biting pacing, and in Back 4 Blood, Turtle Rock’s spiritual sequel to Left 4 Dead, it’s clear the studio that popularized this genre so many years ago is still able to conjure up that mojo. Earthfall reskinned the familiar gameplay with aliens, and Vermintide settled on giant bipedal rats. During the drought of over a decade, countless imitators have risen to the challenge of trying to deliver the Left 4 Dead 3 Valve never got around to making. However, these are counterbalanced by Corruption Cards, which increase the challenge of a level.It’s been 11 years since Turtle Rock Studios and Valve released Left 4 Dead 2, though passionate fans surely don’t need to be refreshed on the time apart. These cards give beneficial buffs to a character. Players can create decks of cards that can be drawn from at the beginning of a level. The most significant gameplay change is the card system. The “Infected” are now the “Ridden,” and though there are familiar enemies, they’re referred to as something else:Īdditionally, this isn’t a sequel, so the cast of eight player characters is different from the ones that starred in Left 4 Dead. The most obvious difference between the two games is that Turtle Rock changed the names of everything.
Along the way, the survivors have to fight off hordes of undead and scavenge for supplies. A team of four survivors must make their way from a start of a level to a safe room.
The core gameplay of Back 4 Blood is very similar to that found in Left 4 Dead.
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