Back 4 Blood preview: Is this the new Left 4 Dead?
It's easy to forget that when Valve followed up the hit shooter Left 4 Dead with a sequel after just a year, many people were fuming that the first game hadn't been supported and given enough post-release content to justify another full entry in the series.
Well, that was back in 2009 and we've had absolutely nothing from Valve on it since, apart from small updates and cosmetic packs that dried up long ago. Since then the demand for a sequel has amped up over time, and while they might not boast about it too loudly, Turtle Rock Studio is effectively aiming to fill that gap with a spiritual successor, Back 4 Blood.
We've been playing a bunch of it while its open beta runs, one of a few windows where those who've pre-ordered can try the game out and help finetune it before release, and can report that while it might not have that Valve stardust all over it, this looks like a fun and reliable zombie shooter.
Plus ça change
The similarities between Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood are immediately striking, and it's not just the number stuck in the middle of each game's title. Once again the main mode of the game will see you and three teammates trying to make it between safe rooms in a series of levels, fighting off hordes of undead along the way.
Just like Valve's old shooter, there are also special zombies that will spawn every so often to make your life harder. Some will spit at you and pin you in place, others will charge you and still others will explode violently on death - all designed to make sure you stay aware as you fight.
You have a range of options to help you fight back, of course, from pistols to shotguns, assault rifles and submachine guns, all of which can be customised with a range of attachments that you can find around the world and buy. This is one big difference compared to Left 4 Dead that we felt as we played - taking stock of what you've got on your gun, and comparing it to the attachments on a different weapon you find around the world will have you thinking on your feet and totally changing how you play mid-run.
The major patterns of play are the same, though - work your way through and area together, fending off thrusts from zombies as you go, then hit a blockage. Activate something loud or force an explosion to open your way, but get ready to fight a much bigger horde as a result.
It's a tried-and-true system, and the rhythms work nicely. Plus, the gunplay is much improved since we played the game in Alpha form - there's more punch now, but crucially it feels easier to control, with extremely generous aim assist on controller that helps when tracking targets (although occasionally it wrests too much control away from you).
More unique to Back 4 Blood is its modifier system, a card-based roster that lets you choose some conditions for each run you do together, and be subject to some random challenges. You might, for example, draw a card that lets your whole team hold a bit more reserve ammo, or get 10 per cent more stamina. Equally, though, the game might reveal a card that swathes the entire map in a thick mist to make acquiring your targets that bit more challenging.
It's a system that takes some working out, but is a great idea that should help to keep runs fresh and challenging, especially on higher difficulties where you're plenty fragile as a survivor.
Bumps in the road
That said, there are some slight warning signs coming out of the new Beta playtest - the biggest of which centres around the game's Versus mode. Back in the Left 4 Dead days, this let a team of survivors make runs during which the special infected were controlled by rival players, making for complex strategies and ambushes.
In Back 4 Blood, this mode is instead a horde mode, during which players repel waves of attacks from normal zombies and special enemies controlled by the other team of players. It's still good fun, and clearly has more of a competitive edge than the co-op campaigns, but the feeling that you're doing the same thing over and over again rears up fairly quickly.
Turtle Rock Studios has made it clear that balance limitations mean that versus campaigns are not on the table at the moment or likely to be in future, so this isn't something that can be changed, and that's a shame. It sounds like the special zombies would have no chance in a campaign setting, given how many more offensive options are open to the team of survivors.
That's a shame, but you can't criticise Back 4 Blood too heavily for what it isn't - what it is is looking promising, after all. It also looks and sounds great on PS5, where we were playing it, with the DualSense giving some great extra feedback in firefights. Of course, with the game hitting Game Pass on launch day, it'll most likely be a bigger hit on Xbox.
We'll be checking it out, either way, because once the rough edges get polished off and Back 4 Blood is ready for its wider release we think it could be a really great option for co-op nights with friends, taking up a more relaxing slot in the roster compared to stress-fests like Call of Duty: Warzone.
Still, the fact remains that it isn't Left 4 Dead 3, and some people may have to get used to that idea before they can embrace it too closely.
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