Players have been requesting Left 4 Dead 3 for a long time. While Turtle Rock Studios can’t provide the next instalment in the franchise they created, they’re doing the next best thing. As they explain in a new “Our Vision” video, they want to take what made the zombie co-op shooter experience fun and couple it with modern day graphics and technology. Back 4 Blood gives them the opportunity to redefine the genre, so the game won’t just be a L4D clone.
Left 4 Dead‘s characters were merely trying to survive, but in Back 4 Blood that isn’t enough. The survivors are known as cleaners, and they’re made up of people who are either immune to the infection or have been resilient enough to already survive a year of chaos. Immunity gives bravado and a confidence that normal people don’t have, so they’re pushing back and creating their own safe places. Of course, along the way there’s lots of infected zombies, known as the Ridden, to kill.
Turtle Rock wants the whole game to feel bigger. The cleaners are stronger and carry better weapons. This meant the Ridden needed to be stronger too and they’re quite different to regular zombies. There will still be regular zombies with mutated varieties to mix things up, most of which will be somewhat recognizable. The Boomer-like Retches vomit on you and explode. Hockers crawl up walls for higher positions before pouncing on you, much like Hunters did. There are new enemies, though. The 9ft tall Bruiser has a giant arm he uses for a lumbering overhead attack that will send survivors flying if it hits them.
The main difference is the game’s card system. Corruption cards add gameplay mutations. The world can be darker or foggier for limited visibility, or there can be more mutant zombies. Players then have their own cards with skills they can use to counter these effects. The video showed off a selection of the cards that had boosts like increased health, increased stamina, fire resistance, healing bonuses, better reload speed, better melee damage, and increased gold rewards. You can see the full video below if you want to hear everything the studio had to say.
You’ll be able to get your hands on the game when it releases for PS4 and PS5 on June 22, 2021. The studio will be supporting the game for many years to come, constantly making more content. They’ll also be letting others create content to share with players; there should be plenty to do for a long time to come.
