Back 4 Blood, Turtle Rock Studios' follow-up to the iconic Left 4 Dead series of co-operative zombie shooters, is receiving a new DLC this month featuring a new character, a new campaign, and cosmetics to run after. If you're looking forward to the DLC and want to spend the time, or if you've yet to jump onboard and would like a look back at the classics, here's five mods to keep you busy!
Suicide Blitz 2
Left 4 Dead 2 campaign set in the fictional Fort Harris County. Four survivors must make their way through the zombie infested city to escape the zombie apocalypse. With the help from a local train driver, Crazy Ron, the survivors must eventually make their way to the stadium before its inevitable destruction and ultimate demise as a possible evacuation outpost. Once again, winning isn't everything - surviving is! This campaign spans three different times of day and features different environments in which to perfect your zombie slaying prowess!
One 4 Nine
By keved
'One 4 Nine' is a five-level campaign for Valve Software's Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. The setting is the Nevada Desert. The U.S. Army have built a Military base around an ancient 'alien tomb', and after years of trying have finally managed to open it. The four survivors - Francis, Bill, Zoey and Louis - have heard rumors of a fortified safe zone located in the U.S Army's base, but have no knowledge of the tomb, nor what will await them upon arrival...
Crash Bandicoot: The Return of Dr. Cortex
Crash Bandicoot: The Return of Dr. Cortex, is a campaign for Left 4 Dead 2. The campaign features 5 levels with a Crash Bandicoot theme. There are some pretty epic survival maps as well as an amazing scavenge map with working warp room. Gameplay are rare in L4D2 die to the code not being accessible and new features only being possible with map logic or scripting, but the community is plenty able to put together some great assets to transport zombie killing fun into any franchise of the past.
Last Night
Left 4 Dead had a significant modding scene before Left 4 Dead 2, and even now, some enjoy getting back to classics and taking a crack at the first entry in the series. Last Night was a campaign that was first released in 2010, aiming to provide a set of maps and experiences that were high-quality, with an emphasis on environmental storytelling (something Left 4 Dead is known well for). Though only a demo is available, it's a great showing for its size and something worth a look for even hardcore L4D fans.
Fatal Freight: Remastered
By TamariTM
In this new edition of the campaign, drastic improvements have been made to the campaign on almost all fronts. You can expect crisper visuals powered by AI-enhanced textures and revamped/improved lighting, shadowing, and color palettes designed to give the campaign its own unique feel. Functionally, things have been even more polished, with plenty of improvements on bot navigation, collision optimization, and rebalancing. There have been a plethora of bug fixes shipped with this update, including the ever-famous "stringtable" crash present on Dedicated Servers.
Lukewarm-Blooded
Back 4 Blood is Turtle Rock's spiritual successor to their Valve-affiliated Left 4 Dead titles, released back in October 2021. Hyped up at the time, it launched to mixed reception from fans, with some feeling it channelled its own personality on top of the L4D formula whilst others hoped for something a bit more faithful to the original games. Over the last year, the game has received a number of updates aimed at addressing player feedback and now, this August, a new DLC is on the way, bringing a new character, new weapons, and new cosmetics.
Back 4 Blood launched a bit rocky, but has received
reasonably well-received updates since launch
Not Dead Yet
Back 4 Blood is now rated at "Mostly positive" in recent reviews on Steam, up from the "Mixed" it had at launch, but some still feel the game has a ways to go in matching the pedigree of its predecessors. The new DLC will be the second released for the game, though the first was not well received by players. If Back 4 Blood's recent performance is any indication, however, the new expansion might be the content drop players have been looking for.
Would have garnered a greater audience if B4B had Mod Support. It's stunning just how much content the community has assembled for a 13 year old game like L4D2 that initially had a very negative reception for the simple audacity of Valve making a new game so quickly.
We really had no idea how good we had it.
Regardless, it's fantastic to see these campaigns getting extra recognition!
I agree, the lack of mod support was quite unfortunate for me. I don't mind L4D's general gameplay loop (though I don't love it), but what REALLY opened up the game for me and got me into playing it now and then was the modding support. It was so successful for them before, I think I hoped they'd see the value in it even when away from Valve.
Thank you for featuring my campaign here. I have set up a new page for the upcoming definitive edition. Check it out :)
Moddb.com