Back4Blood (B4B) was my hail mary successor to Left 4 Dead 2, one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time. The game was my great hope after Dead by Daylight, Hunt, GTFO, Last Year, F13 and other titles like it stumbled and failed. It's painfully evident, however, that all the reddit complaints were spot on and that the existing Turtle Rock team is missing key developers/designers that contributed to the wonderful success of the predecessors. B4B is *not* L4D 2. If anyone tells you that it is, walk away and don't bother arguing with them because they are actively lying to you and trying to convince you of a falsehood. B4B is missing most of the components that made L4D 2 a great title. The game is a functional, yet soulless and content-dearth shadow of its spiritual successor.

B4B does have some excellent elements. The game is reasonably attractive, reasonably optimized and I was able to run it at 4K High at 60 fps. FSR implementation is mediocre with significant jutter or tearing at times (didn't use it). The game has decent sound effects, music is competent if uninspired (tired of that country/cajun zombie musical undertones already!) and environments vary from absolutely gorgeous to merely functional to laughably underdeveloped. Character models are competent but only seem to be better textured versions of L4D 2's. The absolute star of this show is the gunplay which feels great with good precision, fluid responsiveness and excellent weapon communication.

Weapon variety is reasonable. A myriad of weapon upgrades exist and the weapons feel punchy and sound good. The bonuses end there however. Despite a bombardment of complaints on steam and reddit, mods are still impossible to remove off of weapons. You can't collect upgraded weapons and bring them into games with you, resulting in RNG controlling what kind of tools you employ. In fact, RNG is probably one of the biggest scourges of the game, relegating skill to the back seat during gameplay. In L4D 2, leveling a charger, crowning a witch, deadstopping a hunter all relied on personal control, reflexes and skill. Tactics determine how successful your team handles a precarious situation. Physics matter as charges, smokes and environmental effects could push you off of a map.

In B4B, cards abstract all these abilities within tiny, individually irrelevant selections that make "builds" dependent less on skill and more on meta choices before the game even begins. Moreover, like all card gamers can attest, the cards and builds themselves are not even remotely balanced with speed builds, melee builds and medic builds being king and all other builds (grenade, crouch/LMG, et al.) being substantially less useful or effective. Worse is that cards are unlocked through progressively harder and harder bouts of gameplay, relegating players to poor builds/decks unless they pour dozens upon dozens of hours of rote, repetitive game time replaying areas over and over. The carrot for replaying these maps again and again? You get gaudy, childish weapon skins and shirt-color swap character skins for replaying a map 100 times. The entire reward/grind mechanic is an absolute joke.

Some might argue that L4D 2 didn't have a carrot at all but that isn't true. L4D 2 had multiplayer against human adversaries that served as a natural sweetener and motivation to play your best. L4D 2 was also ridiculously moddable, resulting in a plethora campaigns, game modes and additions. B4B is mod-unfriendly and the game's mod community, consequently is stillborn on release, requiring players to be wholly dependent on the minimal game content and a developer-admitted slow drip of future maps/content. The maps/campaigns themselves are a mixed bag, with ACT 1 feeling most like L4D 2, with the riverboat climax feeling very reminiscent of prior titles. Some other maps/campaigns, like "ACT 4" which consists of one protracted fight against a giant, monstrous target is boring at best after the first playthrough.

Most unforgiving, Turtle Rock made the game absurdly unfair and difficult. I've amassed over 6000 hours in L4D 2, vanquished some of the most skilled personalities, beaten every conceivable campaign, modded or otherwise, on the highest difficulties, and even blasted through maps with self-imposed limitations or restrictions. B4B isn't "difficult". The game is unfair. The game is wholly dependent on RNG. If you spawn few or insipid corruption cards, veteran mode can be relatively easy. On the other hand, if you pop 8-10 corruption cards with large combinations of armored, caustic or one-hit enemies (Hag) and you get hit at the wrong time time with half a dozen mutations, you simply lose. Rushing helps with Nightmare mode but the game is painfully boring at that point and becomes a slot machine.

I had beaten the beta on Nightmare and Turtle Rock decided to increase the game's difficulty on release and then, again, via an update less than a month ago. Despite complaints about game unfairness, Turtle Rock's tone deaf reply demonstrates that they're interested in stretching out their anorexic content by inducing players to play the same map over and over 100 plus times. That's not good gameplay, nor a substitute for actual content. Let's be clear, I don't think B4B is impossible to beat. Not even close. But I have way too many good games on my steam list to spend 200 hours replaying the same map in B4B, hoping to pop the right corruption card payload to get an achievement. This absurd difficulty in the second half of veteran and nightmare modes can be forgiven if B4B actually had a campaign multiplayer mode. Despite a legion of cries on steam and reddit, Turtle Rock defiantly stuck to their guns and declined *ever* releasing a campaign versus update. Instead we're stuck with an uninspired, underplayed horde versus mode that took off like a lead balloon.

Back 4 Blood can be fun in recruit and, in short bursts, in veteran. The game can be successful with friends. This game isn't a keeper however and has almost no legs. I'm sure the likely suspect fanboys will crawl out from under their rocks to defend this game to the death but anyone with a clue can see that Back 4 Blood has almost slid out of the top 100 steam games in a scant month of release.

This game is deader than its ridden. Provisional recommendation if you can pick it up at half price and play it with friends, otherwise, avoid it.

Worth a look.

7/10.

Back4Blood (B4B) was my hail mary successor to Left 4 Dead 2, one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time. The game was my great hope after Dead by Daylight, Hunt, GTFO, Last Year, F13 and other titles like it stumbled and failed. It's painfully evident, however, that all the reddit complaints were spot on and that the existing Turtle Rock team is missing key developers/designers that contributed to the wonderful success of the predecessors. B4B is *not* L4D 2. If anyone tells you that it is, walk away and don't bother arguing with them because they are actively lying to you and trying to convince you of a falsehood. B4B is missing most of the components that made L4D 2 a great title. The game is a functional, yet soulless and content-dearth shadow of its spiritual successor. B4B does have some excellent elements. The game is reasonably attractive, reasonably optimized and I was able to run it at 4K High at 60 fps. FSR implementation is mediocre with significant jutter or tearing at times (didn't use it). The game has decent sound effects, music is competent if uninspired (tired of that country/cajun zombie musical undertones already!) and environments vary from absolutely gorgeous to merely functional to laughably underdeveloped. Character models are competent but only seem to be better textured versions of L4D 2's. The absolute star of this show is the gunplay which feels great with good precision, fluid responsiveness and excellent weapon communication. Weapon variety is reasonable. A myriad of weapon upgrades exist and the weapons feel punchy and sound good. The bonuses end there however. Despite a bombardment of complaints on steam and reddit, mods are still impossible to remove off of weapons. You can't collect upgraded weapons and bring them into games with you, resulting in RNG controlling what kind of tools you employ. In fact, RNG is probably one of the biggest scourges of the game, relegating skill to the back seat during gameplay. In L4D 2, leveling a charger, crowning a witch, deadstopping a hunter all relied on personal control, reflexes and skill. Tactics determine how successful your team handles a precarious situation. Physics matter as charges, smokes and environmental effects could push you off of a map. In B4B, cards abstract all these abilities within tiny, individually irrelevant selections that make "builds" dependent less on skill and more on meta choices before the game even begins. Moreover, like all card gamers can attest, the cards and builds themselves are not even remotely balanced with speed builds, melee builds and medic builds being king and all other builds (grenade, crouch/LMG, et al.) being substantially less useful or effective. Worse is that cards are unlocked through progressively harder and harder bouts of gameplay, relegating players to poor builds/decks unless they pour dozens upon dozens of hours of rote, repetitive game time replaying areas over and over. The carrot for replaying these maps again and again? You get gaudy, childish weapon skins and shirt-color swap character skins for replaying a map 100 times. The entire reward/grind mechanic is an absolute joke. Some might argue that L4D 2 didn't have a carrot at all but that isn't true. L4D 2 had multiplayer against human adversaries that served as a natural sweetener and motivation to play your best. L4D 2 was also ridiculously moddable, resulting in a plethora campaigns, game modes and additions. B4B is mod-unfriendly and the game's mod community, consequently is stillborn on release, requiring players to be wholly dependent on the minimal game content and a developer-admitted slow drip of future maps/content. The maps/campaigns themselves are a mixed bag, with ACT 1 feeling most like L4D 2, with the riverboat climax feeling very reminiscent of prior titles. Some other maps/campaigns, like "ACT 4" which consists of one protracted fight against a giant, monstrous target is boring at best after the first playthrough. Most unforgiving, Turtle Rock made the game absurdly unfair and difficult. I've amassed over 6000 hours in L4D 2, vanquished some of the most skilled personalities, beaten every conceivable campaign, modded or otherwise, on the highest difficulties, and even blasted through maps with self-imposed limitations or restrictions. B4B isn't "difficult". The game is unfair. The game is wholly dependent on RNG. If you spawn few or insipid corruption cards, veteran mode can be relatively easy. On the other hand, if you pop 8-10 corruption cards with large combinations of armored, caustic or one-hit enemies (Hag) and you get hit at the wrong time time with half a dozen mutations, you simply lose. Rushing helps with Nightmare mode but the game is painfully boring at that point and becomes a slot machine. I had beaten the beta on Nightmare and Turtle Rock decided to increase the game's difficulty on release and then, again, via an update less than a month ago. Despite complaints about game unfairness, Turtle Rock's tone deaf reply demonstrates that they're interested in stretching out their anorexic content by inducing players to play the same map over and over 100 plus times. That's not good gameplay, nor a substitute for actual content. Let's be clear, I don't think B4B is impossible to beat. Not even close. But I have way too many good games on my steam list to spend 200 hours replaying the same map in B4B, hoping to pop the right corruption card payload to get an achievement. This absurd difficulty in the second half of veteran and nightmare modes can be forgiven if B4B actually had a campaign multiplayer mode. Despite a legion of cries on steam and reddit, Turtle Rock defiantly stuck to their guns and declined *ever* releasing a campaign versus update. Instead we're stuck with an uninspired, underplayed horde versus mode that took off like a lead balloon. Back 4 Blood can be fun in recruit and, in short bursts, in veteran. The game can be successful with friends. This game isn't a keeper however and has almost no legs. I'm sure the likely suspect fanboys will crawl out from under their rocks to defend this game to the death but anyone with a clue can see that Back 4 Blood has almost slid out of the top 100 steam games in a scant month of release. This game is deader than its ridden. Provisional recommendation if you can pick it up at half price and play it with friends, otherwise, avoid it. Worth a look. 7/10.