. Back 4 Blood is the very first game from Turtle Rock Studios made from the makers of Left 4 Dead.
I was extremely excited to play this game having spent hundreds of hours playing L4D back in the day with my friends at Lan’s. There’s just something about being able to drop into a world filled with zombies and 3 of your friends fighting the dozens of hordes the game throws at you.
Fast forward to 2021. Back 4 Blood keeps the same idea of the game and adds a whole bunch of new features to make the game even better. You are no longer just survivors trying to make it through the game, instead, you are now zombie-killing mercenaries who are extremely good at what they do, killing zombies, rescuing civilians trapped in make-shift safehouses, and collecting resources for your already established settlements filled with survivors.
Combine this with decks of cards meant to make your run easier by giving you boosted effects that range from health bonuses to extra ammunition carrying capacity. This new feature allows you to transform the game in such a way that its tailor-made for how you play.
The game’s main campaign is around 10 hours from start to finish with around 30 levels for you to play. This is divided into acts 1 – 4. With each act being harder than the last, and each act taking you to a new distinct location, be it in forests, or city streets, to a massive ferry. Each level you play in also has a corruption card attached to it that modifies the world or zombie behavior. Ranging from heavy fog on the map to Zombies wearing Swat armor to doors that have alarms that trigger hordes when opened. This ensures that no run will be exactly the same, and I’m all for it.
Back 4 Blood also introduces a brand new PVP mode called swarm. Swarm has the 4 mercs fighting against four other players all in control of their own special-ridden zombie. The end goal for this mode? Survive as long as possible. Once all of the cleaners are dead the game switches sides and the zombies are now in control of the cleaners and need to survive as long as possible to beat the other team’s time.
Final Thoughts:
Back 4 Blood is an incredible game for coop play with friends, however, it not only is incredibly hard to play solo but the solo progression is not supported. It does not track your progress or record any stats. The game is meant to be played with friends and the idea is to prioritize teamwork above all else so that you can effectively manage the undead hordes, rescue each other from danger, equip complimentary upgrades, share your limited resources, and coordinate how you are going to achieve the various objectives.