Back 4 Blood Release Date

The Back 4 Blood release date is sooner than you think. I can already imagine myself gathering with my friends, eating snacks, and slaughtering zombies like how I did back when we religiously played Left 4 Dead 2. It took 11 years, but all is good in the world again… Almost.

Back 4 Blood

One of the biggest worries that I had with the game was them straying too far away from the style of the previous Left 4 Dead games. I wanted the game to have new features and content but still have that Left 4 Dead foundation. From the comments I see from other Left 4 Dead fans, I’m not alone in that desire.

Back 4 Blood looks like it’s going in that direction and has so for the most part, but is not quite there yet. They used Left 4 Dead as the foundation and built new gameplay elements on top of that to give the game its own identity, however, some of those new gameplay elements I feel need to be tweaked or toned down.

With that said, Back 4 Blood should allow us to re-live that Left 4 Dead vibe with a modern touch if they take feedback from the community and make adjustments before release.

At the time of writing this post, the game is still in the alpha stage and things are subject to change from the gameplay they released. The Back 4 Blood release date is June 22, 2021. In this post, I want to go over a few aspects of the game and give my feedback on some of them.

Card System

One of the first new features you will notice is the card system. This allows players to build a deck of cards to apply to their character. Each card will have stats that will benefit and/or alter your gameplay.

For example, some cards give you 30 percent accuracy. Others, 15 percent healing efficiency. You will be able to build a deck of 15 cards, which the first one will be already in your inventory. The rest will be picked from a random set of 3 at the start of each act or continue.

This will add randomness to your gameplay. Kinda makes me feel like I’m playing Yugioh.

There is also the Corruption card system. These are cards that are chosen at random and tell the players what type of Ridden will be in the mission.

“Copper” Currency System

Copper is the new currency system. You will find copper throughout your missions. You can use it to buy weapons and supplies at the vendor in the safe room.

I will say that one of the fun parts about the L4D games was exploring the buildings and area and finding stuff laying around. In Back 4 Blood, you still will find stuff but it’s more scarce and you’ll mostly find copper. They may want to consider toning down the copper system and adding more things to find out in the world.

Continues?

Continues work like this; you have a limited amount per campaign. Unlike in the previous games, if you die you just restart the chapter. In Back 4 Blood, if you run out of continues you restart the whole campaign. They want to put more emphasis on teamwork and needing your teammates.

On one hand, it forces you and your squad to really work together. You’ll take the mission more seriously and won’t do reckless things like wander off by yourself.

On the other hand, there may be a few issues for solo people joining someone’s campaign. Also, some people may feel a certain way about having to start from the beginning over and over again. Especially if they can’t get past a certain part.

Final Thoughts

This will be a new experience. I think we shouldn’t get too caught up in wanting this to be more of a duplicate of Left 4 Dead 1 or Left 4 Dead 2. At the same time, Turtle Rock shouldn’t ignore the things that made those games amazing.

From what I saw, Back 4 Blood still has some things it can take from Left 4 Dead. Like more suspenseful sounds, audio cues for the special infected, audio cues for if you get stuck in webbing or are stepping in acid, flashlight toggle, etc.

Character interaction and dialog can be better too (“Every lady’s crazy when her daddy’s not around nah nah nah… nah… nah nah nah nah”). Maybe it’s too early to tell from the alpha but the characters don’t seem to have as much personality as before.

I’m sure people who played the alpha will let their voices be known. Besides what issues the game may have, I believe that the game is on a good foundation and off to a good start. Again, it’s still in alpha, and players have had a chance to play and provide feedback.

I plan to do more posts on Back 4 Blood in the future. Check out the Back for Blood category for more of the related post. Follow me on Twitter to get updated!