Back 4 Blood (from the creators of L4D)

Mr Crispy

Whatever I said
Whatever I did, I didn't mean it
I just want you back for blood
(Want you back... Want you back... Want you back for blood)

Official Site

Release Date - 22/6/2021

PS4/PS5/XB1/XSX/Steam/Epic

Blurb - "Back 4 Blood is a thrilling cooperative first-person shooter from the creators of the critically acclaimed Left 4 Dead franchise. You are at the center of a war against the Ridden. These once-human hosts of a deadly parasite have turned into terrifying creatures bent on devouring what remains of civilization. With humanity’s extinction on the line, it’s up to you and your friends to take the fight to the enemy, eradicate the Ridden, and reclaim the world."

So this was revealed a while back, but we just had a couple of trailers drop at the Game Awards. And given that the alpha starts in a few days (17th), we might as well have a thread for it now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rok9-g8E0PE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RCgT-XOPr4

It's from Turtle Rock Studios who made L4D, so yeah, it's pretty much L4D3 in all but name. I put hundreds of hours into the originals, but that was 10ish years ago now. I'm not sure if the exact same template will cut it these days, but it looks like this will have a few tricks up its sleeve to add depth and replayability. From the website;

• Cooperative Story Campaign – Fight your way through a dynamic, perilous world in a four-player co-op story campaign where you must work together to survive increasingly challenging missions. Play with up to 3 of your friends online or go solo and lead your team in battle.
• Competitive Multiplayer – Play with or against friends in PVP. Become a Cleaner, one of the immune survivors, with special perks or switch sides and play as the horrific Ridden. Both sides come with unique weapons, abilities, and specialties.
• Extreme Replayability – A new “roguelike” card system creates different experiences each and every time, putting you in control to craft custom decks, roll different builds and undertake more demanding fights. The Game Director is constantly adjusting to player actions, ensuring exciting fights, extreme gameplay diversity, and tougher legions of Ridden – including mutated boss types up to 20 feet tall.

They tried something different with Evolve, and gameplay-wise it was okay, but was ruined initially by shitty monetisation models, and ultimately by balance issues they never fixed. I wouldn't rule out more shitty monetisation seeing as this is being published by Warner Bros, but hopefully this gets the balancing act right. If they do, I'll be on board. I may even be able to tempt some friends out of gaming semi-retirement!

Although seriously, that douchey bro-type Jersey Shore-esque character will get on my nerves QUICK. Bring back Francis.

[Deleted User]

They key for these games is content.

World War Z was good but only having 3/4 locations meant it got stale quick.

L4D thrived on PC with the free map content made by the community.

Mr Crispy

gilberto_eire wrote: »

They key for these games is content.

World War Z was good but only having 3/4 locations meant it got stale quick.

L4D thrived on PC with the free map content made by the community.

True, and there'll be stiffer competition this time around with Darktide and Rainbow 6 Quarantine on the horizon as well.

Homelander

Looks amazing - basically Left4Dead 3, right down to the safe rooms, special infected and weapons.

Why Valve never commissioned an offical L4D3 is kinda bizarre.

Mr Crispy

Homelander wrote: »

Looks amazing - basically Left4Dead 3, right down to the safe rooms, special infected and weapons.

Why Valve never commissioned an offical L4D3 is kinda bizarre.

They were working on it apparently, but abandoned it.

I liked the little references to L4D in the trailer for this - the church at the end, the Algheny National Forest t-shirt etc. I was nearly expecting to see Chicago Ted referenced in the safe room's graffiti!

Zero-Cool

The first was one of my favourite multiplayer games of all time, had the best laughs with 3 friends in every night. Never carried over to the 2nd one and i doubt I'll get sessions like those back but super interested in this. Hopefully it will be cross platform or at least be good enough to get a good few on here playing.

dreamers75

Same lads who made Evolve, just saying like Evolve.

wes

I skipped Evolve due to the nonsense monetization they tried to pull.

I don't mind paying for DLC, but what they did with Evolve was taking the pi**.

The game looks good, and as long as they don't pull what they did with Evolve I might pick it up.

Mr Crispy

dreamers75 wrote: »

Same lads who made Evolve, just saying like Evolve.

Yep, as mentioned in the OP.

Mr Crispy

More info on the alpha, and the game in general;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDSn3VY6wQU

The good news then is that with 8 "cleaners" to choose from, no game need ever feature Evangelo. The bad news is that the deck building mechanic is ripe for monetisation.

wes

Mr Crispy wrote: »

The bad news is that the deck building mechanic is ripe for monetisation.

One would hope they learned from the last time.

Mr Crispy

wes wrote: »

One would hope they learned from the last time.

Fingers crossed.

Mr Crispy

So the alpha started this evening. Haven't had time to read through everything yet, but here are a few of the choice headlines from my news feed;

Back 4 Blood is everything I'd want from a new Left 4 Dead - Eurogamer

I can't stress enough that Back 4 Blood is Left 4 Dead 3 - PC Gamer

Back 4 Blood adds new complexity, bravado to the Left 4 Dead formula (Original Left 4 Dead developer Turtle Rock evolves the zombie shooter) - Polygon

Independent players on forums have been giving feedback too, and there's a lot of footage on YT for those interested. The jury is still out regarding the card dynamic, and in-game currency bollocks, but watch this space I suppose.

Mr Crispy

Ugh, and the pricing has been released - it'll be a full priced game (€60 on Steam), with an annual pass costing 50% more again (€90 for the deluxe edition). The pass will include "Three upcoming downloadable content drops with New Story, Playable Characters, Special Mutated Ridden, and more".

So the player base will be split early doors.

Dcully

gilberto_eire wrote: »

They key for these games is content.

World War Z was good but only having 3/4 locations meant it got stale quick.

L4D thrived on PC with the free map content made by the community.

WWZ game has tonnnes of content now, very decent sized community playing it too on PC.

dreamers75

WWZ is very good, I still look in awe at the sheer amount of Zombies on screen coming at you. Impressive game design.

fixXxer

Was there a PS5 update for WWZ?

Mr Crispy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2IjkyTmRNY

Looks like you'll be playing as the infected ridden in third person.

dreamers75

Mr Crispy wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2IjkyTmRNY

Looks like you'll be playing as the infected ridden in third person.

ahh jaysis they still after that symmetrical PVP/E

Honestly still shocked noone has nailed it by now.

Zero-Cool

dreamers75 wrote: »

ahh jaysis they still after that symmetrical PVP/E

Honestly still shocked noone has nailed it by now.

I loved it in the original L4D, felt like they nailed it but weird we don't see it more.

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/back4blood/status/1375115260282073093?s=19

Mr Crispy

Newest trailer, highlighting the card system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NT7zrkQjmM

pixelburp

Anyone got any non-age gated versions? There's no way I'm giving a CC or my ID

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muddypuppy

pixelburp wrote: »

Anyone got any non-age gated versions? There's no way I'm giving a CC or my ID

https://ytprivate.com/watch?v=_NT7zrkQjmM

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riSgUcg-n_Y

Mr Crispy

There's still the nagging doubts over microtransactions and season passes etc, but I'm still onboard thus far.

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/summergamefest/status/1400649050098225161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1400649050098225161%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=

Mr Crispy

Tweet unavailable. Was it to do with the E3 showcase, and a look at PvP? The official B4B twitter feed had something like that, but it disappeared too...

EoinMcLovin

Mr Crispy wrote: »

Tweet unavailable. Was it to do with the E3 showcase, and a look at PvP? The official B4B twitter feed had something like that, but it disappeared too...

Yeah it was related to PVP reveal

Mr Crispy

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Yeah it was related to PVP reveal

Wonder why it was deleted. If they just spilled the beans too early, you'd imagine they'd have just left it up?

Mr Crispy

New teaser trailer, including the date for the open beta (August 5th). Looking forward to the PvP showcase now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HE6Rh5eXqQ