Back 4 Blood has recently found its way across multiple stages from E3 to Summerfest press and fan events. This should come as little surprise: the game is a spiritual successor to the wildly popular Left 4 Dead series. The newest entry in the franchise is only a few months away, arriving on October 12th, 2021. The game’s developer Turtle Rock Studios took advantage of this opportunity and shared more info in a dedicated showcase. Let’s breakdown what Back 4 Blood is all about and what new exciting features are coming this fall.
What is Back 4 Blood All About?
For the uninitiated to the series, it is all about surviving a zombie-like apocalypse. The forces you are battling aren’t necessarily undead but infected with a mysterious alien parasite.
You fight back against the treated in a group of survivors, or “cleaners” against the ridden (infected) horde. The FPS experience ratchets up the immersion putting you in the shoes of a battle hardened cleaner. The game is a cooperative multiplayer experience at its core allowing for up to 4 players to combine forces online. PvP modes brings the player tally up to 8 players in the new and exciting Swarm Mode.
New PvP Experience: Swarm Mode
This new mode pits cleaners against player controlled ridden in resource limited rounds of play. This new mode looks to mix up the Back 4 Blood formula, finally letting players join the ranks of the ridden.
For the first time ever, you’ll get to choose from different enemy classes and play as “the bad guys.” There are quite a few choices, you can play as a reeker, retch, exploder, stinger, hocker, stalker, tallboy, crusher, and bruiser. Each comes with different offensive advantages like being able to explode on impact, use powerful melee attacks or overwhelm with super-human speed. You can also power up and enhance all of these abilities as you progress in each round.
No matter which side you choose, teamwork is key against the variety of opponents that will pile in. Each round is timed and dependant on a strong performance as upgrades are awarded based on kills. Once a round ends the sides switch, you will get to play as both human cleaners and the infected ridden in a match.
The action in the gameplay trailer looks chaotic, frantic and fun!
Pre-order Back 4 Blood with Best Buy Canada
Back 4 Blood explodes onto the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on October 12th, 2021. If you are an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, it will be accessible day one from the catalog on launch day. Keep an eye out for more details as an open beta starts on August 5.
PlayStation 4
Reserve Back 4 Blood (PS4)
Back 4 Blood Ultimate Edition (PS4)
PlayStation 5
Pre-order Back 4 Blood (PS5)
Back 4 Blood Ultimate Edition (PS5)
Xbox
Pre-purchase Back 4 Blood (Xbox Series X / Xbox One)
Back 4 Blood Ultimate Edition (Xbox Series X / Xbox One)
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It is sort of strange to me that Valve has not made a Left 4 Dead 3 yet. I guess it really shows how little interest they have in making new games that a bunch of the original developers had to leave and start up their own studio just to make that happen. I guess it just makes more sense for Valve to focus on Steam as they must be making money hand over fist and they do not have to worry about dev time and disappointing fans if the game does not live up to their expectations.
The fact that this launches day one on Game Pass is a pretty big deal too. I wonder how Microsoft structures these deals with companies to get them to do this; guaranteed money, a certain percentage of Game Pass income based on how long people play their game, etc.
I’m lukewarm on this one. I really like co-op games… and zombie games in general, but I feel like the left 4 dead type of formula for these games is getting a bit stale.
As long as they introduce some new things into the genre, I wouldn’t mind trying it out, though.
I had some fun times playing the Left 4 Dead games with my friends, I am definitely intrigued by this game. I look forward to seeing more if it as we get closer to release.
Thanks Matthew!
Games and movies really have a zombie obsession. Why not make a flying spaghetti Monster game? (Does one exist?)
This was one of the top games I was excited for. I was not expecting it to come to gamepass.
Also excited for 12 minutes
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