Turtle Rock Studios' Back 4 Blood is the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead and a follow-up to failed asymmetrical experiment Evolve, with its latest co-op zombie shooter's execution landing much closer to the former than the latter. As an always-online game with a handful of technical issues and multiplayer miscalculations, it shares some of Evolve's flaws, but its greater level of polish and completeness is worth the asking price.
Similar to Left 4 Dead, teams of playable human survivors in Back 4 Blood must reach the end of levels infested by standard Ridden (zombies) and Mutations (special infected), with progress gated by special objectives and set piece events. The launch Acts and their respective levels, which include familiar visits to cemeteries, an abandoned farm, and a noisy bar showdown, don't exactly break the mold, and their pacing and layouts are occasionally as inconsistent and meandering as Turtle Rock's previous work. Thankfully, though, they're generally well-designed and recognizable, and some assets which reappear in later Acts are used effectively. While act finales play out anticlimactically in Back 4 Blood, the overall journey is propped up by a serviceable arsenal, character-specific ives, and the signature card system.
Unlocked through a progression system called Back 4 Blood decks to be customized in a player lobby ahead of starting a new campaign.
Player cards aren't the only ones activated during rounds, as Back 4 Blood plays a number of Corruption Cards before each level's start. These can make it more likely a Ridden horde will be alerted by hazards like door alarm systems, skittish flocks of crows, and classic Witch-like Snitch Mutations, or they transform levels more persistently by cutting the electricity or blanketing them in thick fog. Some of the weakest provide optional objectives that don't come with penalties for failure, but better cards buff Back 4 Blood Mutations' traits and combine with the rest of the Corruption deck to make surviving all the more challenging.
Even without an assortment of Corruption Cards in play, completing stages on the higher Survival and Nightmare difficulty modes without exhausting continues is daunting when missing a full party of experienced friends and strong decks. At times, Mutations will spawn in waves at seemingly uneventful or unfitting places, potentially decimating a team outside of major horde segments. Whether or not this is the genius of Back 4 Blood's AI at work, this steep difficulty curve is bound to lock some players to the easier Survivor difficulty at launch, which is a shame because there's little middle ground between it and Veteran.
Beyond versus campaign's absence in Back 4 Blood, there are more identifiable issues in the title. PvP mode Swarm, wherein survivors and infected take turns facing off in a shrinking play space, is conceptually interesting and makes effective use of the item and card sandbox. However, it lacks the strategic zombie ambushes and improvised survivor teamplay of versus campaign, and its snappy rounds come across more as an ill-fitting response to other multiplayer experiences than a way to leverage survivors' defensive capabilities.
Although Turtle Rock confirmed it will be addressed post-launch, Back 4 Blood solo play is always-online currently, meaning rounds cannot be paused. The game uses a ping system to great effect elsewhere, but AI bot players can't be communicated with via pinging and are over-aggressive in their own use of the mechanic, sometimes lessening the mystery of exploration. The game generally performs well enough to the naked eye, but there are some mild stability concerns, including semi-frequent crashes and rarer visual glitches.
Back 4 Blood is a multiplayer game that feels quite complete at launch, a rarity in the current games market. It misses the mark with Swarm and needs an offline mode, but its core shooter mechanics and card-driven gameplay combine for an excellent evolution of the co-op formula. The depth of post-launch it receives will rely on the success of Back 4 Blood's multiplayer offerings and that can't be presently assured, but this latest attempt easily escapes the shadow of Evolve's flop and builds on what made Left 4 Dead a classic.
Back 4 Blood will be available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 12. Screen Rant was provided with digital Microsoft Store codes for the purpose of this review.
