Back 4 Blood: the Left 4 Dead sequel we all wished for

When we say zombie shooter video game, we often think of the golden all-time favorite that is Left 4 Dead. Who doesn’t remember all those times spent hacking, slashing, and shooting hordes upon hordes of zombies with your friends? Well, we sure do. So, strap in with us and let’s see what Back 4 Blood might have in store for us zombie-shooter fans.

Created by Turtle Rock Studios, the same developers for Left 4 Dead, and published by Warner Bros. Games, Back 4 Blood is an intense four-person zombie shooting game that plunges you into a world filled with parasite-infected monsters known as the Ridden. You play as a Cleaner, a survivor of the apocalypse whose job is to take back whatever is left of the world.

From the get-go, the game doesn’t look too far-fetched from its spiritual predecessor, Left 4 Dead, save for an extremely immersive menu. The Game’s main menu puts you in Fort Hope, also known as the Cleaners’ camp. Inside the fort, you can do a lot of things, including but not limited to: arranging your decks, going out on missions, fighting in a boxing ring, shooting guns at the range, and more.

The game features the same mechanics we all loved from the Left 4 Dead series. Yes, the friendly fire is also present in this game. The game pits you against common Ridden, who are slow-moving and relatively easy to kill, and against the occasional special-ridden, which are similar with the Left 4 Dead franchise’s powerful zombies. The special Ridden are divided into three types with three sub-types:

Tallboys

The Tallboy is reminiscent of L4D’s Charger, who sprints towards the players and dealing high damage while being relatively tanky. Its subspecies include the Bruiser, a more hardened version of the Tallboy, and the Crusher, its lither and more squishy counter-type.

In the PVP mode, Ridden-side players can spend mutation points to upgrade their Ridden, giving them more hitpoints, faster recovery rates, higher damage output, etc. In the short time that I have played in Back 4 Blood’s PVP mode, I built my Tallboy Crusher to be a bit more tanky, given its innate ability to be slightly faster than its other Tall-bros.

Stingers

The Stinger is a mobile special Ridden that has the ability to do long jumps to quickly close in and disengage with the Cleaners. It has two sub-types, the Hocker and the Stalker. These special Ridden, especially the Hocker, can pin down Cleaners and slowly chip away at their health for as long as they remain pinned down. These Ridden bear similarity with the Smokers of the L4D series.

This is one of the Ridden species available in the game’s PVP mode, with its upgrades focused on speed, damage, and survivability. In the right hands, this agile and crowd-control focused Ridden can hold Cleaners in their positions long enough to trampled by common Ridden mobs or be victim to the Tallboy’s crushing attacks.

Reekers

The Reeker is reminiscent of the Boomers from Left 4 Dead, with their bulky, blobby tufts of flesh containing toxic bile that blinds any Cleaners that get caught in the explosion. It has two sub-types that go by the names of the Exploder and the Retch.

In PVP mode, the Reeker’s job is simple. Spawn, seek, and explode. The Reeker focuses on blowing up the Cleaners’ lineup, causing them to break up individually just to dodge its explosive power.

Those three are some of the main Ridden types you meet in the game, but there are others that are unplayable behemoths, like the Ogre, the Snitch, and the Hag.

Unfortunately, I was not able to play the game wholly, as I only accessed the game through its Open Beta during August 12 – 16. But judging from those 2+ hours of B4B gameplay, I could say that this is a game that is definitely worth picking if you love fast-paced zombie shooter games. Especially if you love zombie shooter games. With the same developers as the L4D series, it would be hard to expect anything disappointing for this “new”game.