After a decade of waiting, Left 4 Dead 3 is finally coming out….in a way. Despite fans of the Left 4 Dead franchise begging for Left 4 Dead 3 from Valve; Valve was dead set on not releasing the third installment of any game. Come on Valve, where is Half-Life 3 or Portal 3? Over the years, concept images have leaked showing what might have been but the dream of a new Left 4 Dead game was but a fantasy. This fantasy wasn’t just in the mind of fans but the original developers as well. Taking what they had learned from Left 4 Dead and Evolve, Turtle Rock Studios looks to show the world what’s in store with the Back 4 Blood Beta preview.
Over the last weekend, select streamers, media, fans, and eventually audience members had the opportunity to try out Back 4 Blood. After its announcement by Turtle Rock Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment during E3 2021 and Summer Games Fest, the world finally had the opportunity to preview Back 4 Blood. The first phase of the beta took place this last weekend between August 6th and 9th. Whether talking to other players, watching streams, or even reading others’ opinions, the Back 4 Blood beta seems to be a success. Other than slight connectivity issues, players seemed to enjoy the B4B beta and we can understand why. Here is our Back 4 Blood beta preview and what you can expect during the open beta later this week.
Beta Preview
When you first start up the Back 4 Blood beta, the player is brought into a military-style survivors camp. In this world hub, the player is able to try out guns (attachments), melee weapons, and equipment at the shooting range. Additionally, players could set up a mission playlist, join PVP, or look at and purchase new cards for character or team enhancements. These can be purchased with the skill points earned at the end of each level. At the start of each match, the player has the opportunity to choose their starting character. Each starting character has its own unique secondary; this secondary can be dropped for an alternate weapon in any mission. So far, 8 cleaners, survivors have been announced; they are Walker, Holly, Hoffman, Evangelo, Karlee, Doc, Jim, and Mom.
After the character is selected, the player’s deck of skill cards is shuffled and the player must choose an enhancement skill for that level. The skill chosen will remain at the start of the next level. At the start of each additional level, the player will choose an additional enhancement card. Throughout each level, the player must search for ammo while trying to survive against the “Ridden”, infected, in a post-apocalyptic world. Like Left 4 Dead, there are special types of “Ridden” that will make the player’s life difficult. Each special ridden has a variety of types that can make survival difficult. As players forage for ammo and to survive, they can find copper out and about. At the start of each level, copper can be exchanged for weapons, attachments, ammo, equipment, or team boosts. Copper-bought team boosts do not carry over into following rounds.
The Gameplay
If you are looking for a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead with a modern twist then you are in luck; Back 4 Blood feels very similar to Left 4 Dead just without the name. The game’s art style and mechanics are similar to the LFD franchise. Fans of their prior work should be able to jump onto the new game with ease. Levels are broken down into stages with intermissions in between. The use of copper to restock did feel a bit frustrating at times when you wanted to purchase an item but made the game more realistic. The player has to scavenge in order to survive and sometimes plan ahead; some rooms or crates can be accessed without a toolkit.
The addition of attachments, deployable weapons, and skills modernize the genre; hopefully, skill cards will be easy to obtain. Most likely when the game launches, loot chests or packs will be available for players to purchase in order to get a tactical edge.
Take-Aways
As someone who used to love Left 4 Dead and play it religiously, it is nice to have Back 4 Blood. When it comes to the game’s difficulty, most players play selfishly. During most of my playthroughs, most teammates would take the ammo they need and leave nothing for others. If a player was downed, they would leave them behind. During the playthrough, there were issues connecting to the server so the game chat was not a viable option. When it was available, players would either be silent or you’d have weird chaotic microphones like the Halo 1 & Halo 2 days.
The easy gameplay felt too easy on most occasions, however, normal would feel a bit challenging at times. Once we got new skill cards the higher difficulties were easier to accomplish. When I was able to play with a premade squad with working mics, the game reminded me of everything I loved about Left 4 Dead. Utilizing teamwork to complete waves and slaughter the undead. With the different types of enemies, the game will play differently each time.
Back 4 Blood releases on October 12th, 2021 for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC; it will be available through Xbox Game Pass.
If you are not sold on Back 4 Blood let us know why. Let us know what you thought about the Back 4 Blood Beta preview.
