What Sunk Back 4 Blood?

Going Back For More Blood

It was announced a few months ago that Back 4 Blood, the latest cooperative shooter from the makers of Left 4 Dead is ending its live service and that no new content is coming. With one major restructuring patch, the developers are essentially done with the game. Reception on the game has been mixed for some time, with fans of the original L4D feeling that the game was too bloated out, while others liked the increased challenge and new card-based progression.

Friends and I have had a chance to go back to the game with all the expansions in it, and what we found was a very different game that baffles us a bit about the philosophy of it.

Left 4 Blood

For those that missed the original review and talks about it, Back 4 Blood was viewed as the next logical progression of the team-based player vs. the AI content of Left 4 Dead, World War Z, and other titles. You and up to three other friends must complete acts facing down ever-escalating hordes of infected people.

A big aspect that seemed to run throughout the design of B4B was to combat the staleness that happens in these games. Once you and your friends are good at them, these games were pretty much over. My friends and I at our peak in L4D 1 and 2 could play on expert realism without skipping a beat. To…