Last night, I caught up with a dear old friend the classic way: over a round of Left 4 Dead 2. Valve's cooperative FPS is still a great hangout game after 13 years but while waiting for my pal to log on, I did think I might refresh it by browsing the Steam Workshop and installing some popular mods. Turns out, modders have made lots of anime girls and VTuber avatars to replace friends, enemies, and even guns. What an experience! It is startling to discover that the blue-haired anime approaching you is not a teammate but, in fact, a vomit-filled Boomer.
]]>A bit later than planned, but we're back once again for another edition of The RPS Time Capsule, in which the RPS Treehouse undergoes a collective mind-melting experiment to pick their favourite, bestest best games from a specific year to be preserved and saved until the end of time. This month, we've shifted our game preservation gaze to 2009, so read on below to find out which games made the cut, and which have been cast off into the eternal games bin.
]]>Valve are working to upgrade a number of their more popular games for the Steam Deck, optimising controls and interfaces to play better on their upcoming portable powerhouse, the Steam Deck. The Half-Life series, Dota 2, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, either already have or will receive upgrades designed to make them "better experiences".
]]>It may not be Halloween for a while, but there's no reason you can't celebrate horror as a genre all year round. In fact, it's one of our favourite genre of games, so we've put together our list of the 25 best horror games to play on PC right now. It really showcases the breadth of horror on PC right now, from visual novels to shooters to survival to weirdo demon games and text adventures, so it's a real joy to peruse.
]]>FPS games are a classic PC gaming staple, and whether you've been playing them since the 90s or started your journey more recently with the boom in battle royales, there are plenty to choose from when it comes to the all-time greats. To help you narrow down what to play next, we've created this list of the best FPS games to play right now, from single-player epics to team-based shooters you can play with mates. Heck, some don't even necessarily have guns in them at all, and you may find the odd boomerang or bow in here too.
]]>There was a moment over the E3 weekend where Alice0 pointed out that a lot of people are remaking Left 4 Dead - apart from Valve. I have mentioned this before, but playing L4D2 accounted for about 60% of my time at university. I have a tattoo of the safe house symbol on my ribs (it is terrible).
The Left 4 Dead formula is simple on paper - small team of co-op players vs monster horde, getting from point A to point B with potential incidental side objectives on the way - but is tough to nail. You need to get the mix right. And this year's E3 has revealed a lot of people are rolling up their sleeves to have a go. Let's have a look.
]]>Though Left 4 Dead 2 still exists, and has a reasonably healthy if sodium-infused community, it’s still stuck in its 2009 ways. It's exciting, but it lacks proper personalisation. Back 4 Blood, the spiritual successor from the original-ish developers of L4D, is fully embracing 2021 by letting players and the AI game director throw down some game-changing cards before each battle.
]]>It is done. Gnome Chompski has shot off to where gnome man has gone before. The little red-hatted fella started life as a bit of a joke in Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Players who carried the garden gnome all the way to the end of the game would be awarded with the achievement "Little Rocket Man" - a title old Chompski truly lived up to last night.
Gabe Newell partnered up with Weta Workshop and Rocket Lab to send a real-life Chompski into space, raising money for charity and even inspiring a couple of new Steam achievements in the process.
]]>While next year's Awesome Games Done Quick won't be held in-person, the charity speedrunning event is still going ahead, and it looks like it has some brilliant runs in store. AGDQ 2021's game list was revealed over the weekend, and oooh January can't come soon enough. From the new mythological roguelike Hades and charmingly difficult platformer Celeste, to old favourites like Half-Life and Left 4 Dead 2; there are some absolute belters in the lineup.
]]>Eight years after its last major content update, Left 4 Dead 2 has mutated all sorts of newness with The Last Stand. Made by fans but released officially by Valve, the huge free update has added a new mini-campaign based on the first game's lighthouse Survival mode map, dozens of new maps for Survival and Scavenge modes, new weapons, and loads of wee tweaks and touches. With Valve saying as recently as this year that they're not making L4D3, The Last Stand may be the co-op shooter's last stand for quite some time.
]]>If you're aching for some new things to do in Left 4 Dead 2, then I have some wonderful news. The game's first official content update in eight years drops on September 24th bringing with it The Last Stand, a campaign based on the first game's lighthouse Survival mode map.
Now, that would be pretty cool in itself, but this update is adding not one, but 20 new Survival arenas, four Scavenge arenas, 30 new achievements, loads of previously-unused voice lines, new melee weapons, animations and hundreds of bug fixes to top it all off.
]]>Left 4 Dead 2 will soon get a content update bringing an old favourite Left 4 Dead map to Valve's co-op zombiethon. The Last Stand is a community-made update that's being officially published by Valve, and fans of the original L4D might recognise its location from Survival Mode.
Catch the teaser trailer below for a short, sweeping view of a creepy lighthouse overlooking a cliffside.
]]>Playing games with other people is one of the beloved traditions of liking video games at all, and if you're the friendly type like us at RPS, then you'll enjoy games where you work with others, rather than against them. That's why we've put together our list of the best co-op games on PC for you to find common ground with your besties. Whether you want to shoot monsters together, shoot robots together, or get a divorcing couple to work together as they run around their own home as tiny doll versions of themselves, then you can find something to enjoy on this list of co-op games.
]]>Like a pesky head cold that never quite clears, Left 4 Dead 3 rumours returned to clog the internet airways again this week. After all, Valve are making games again. Between the surprise announcement of Half-Life: Alyx and another wave of leaked concept art for an infectious Left 4 Dead threequel, there was fleeting hope that the fantastic co-op shooter was, perhaps, ready to make its return.
But Valve's gone and nipped down to the pharmacy for some quick pain relief. They've confirmed that Left 4 Dead 3 isn't in the cards right now - and hasn't been for some time.
]]>Valve are joining all those great internet thought-leaders and telling you to clean your room, or at the very least to play the games that you've bought on Steam. Running this weekend until May 28th, 6pm GMT, the Steam Spring Cleaning Event provides a front-page checklist of games to try or return to, and rewarding the diligent with goodies to decorate their account page with.
All fluff, really, but as good an excuse as any to dust off something you might have picked up a few sales back. Of course, undermining this push, there's also a bunch of free weekend trials open on discounted games which also count towards your total. The list includes action RPG Grim Dawn, four-on-one competitive horror game Dead By Daylight and stylish 4X sci-fi strategy game Endless Space 2.
]]>Chet Faliszek, the former Valve fella best known for his work on Left 4 Dead and writing other good words for games, has joined forces with former Riot Games principal technical designer and AI bod Kimberly Voll to found a new studio. Stray Bombay Company is its name (as in Bombay cat), and drawing people closer through play is its game. They haven't announced any specific game yet but do mutter about wanting to make games we can play over and over, where we get on as teams, and where AI shapes the whole thing. They basically described Left 4 Dead, though I wouldn't assume that's exactly what they're making.
]]>Turtle Rock Studios, the mob who created Left 4 Dead, are revisiting their cooperative zombie-shooting days in Back 4 Blood, a name which seems a clear a statement of intent. Expect to shoot a load of zombies together with your pals, though Turtle Rock are keen to stress that they want Back 4 Blood to be more than just Left 4 Dead with a new name. Today's announcement is mighty vague, without even a logo to show for it, but they do hint that it's got some new tricks. No, it's not a battle royale game.
]]>I'm not sure if Valve's latest promotional wotsit on Steam knows whether it's coming or going. On one hand, it's nice that the Spring Cleaning Event (running until Monday, 28th May) is nudging players into trying out games they may have bought in sales and never touched, but pairing that with nine simultaneous free weekend events does somewhat undermine the message.
Ah well, it's an excuse to play videogames all weekend. Can't grumble about that. Plus, there's an actual free game giveaway running - take a peek within. Oh, and yesterday's big Steam giveaway is still live until tomorrow, so try that too. Oh dear, there's just too many games.
]]>I’d wager most folk around these parts devoured Left 4 Dead back in the day, just as I did. Valve’s “28 Days Later with your friends” infected my life for a good year, and a bigger, better sequel one year later only strengthened the disease. But as Valve haven’t really been in the business of making games for a good few years - hopefully, that’s about to change - and while it felt like Left 4 Dead was going to change the world back in (oh no) 2008, for a long time nothing filled the rotten hole where my heart used to be.
That is, until Fatshark’s rowdy rat-smash, Vermintide. The four vs the world setup and the UI were highly reminiscent of Left 4 Dead, and what are Gutter Runners and Pack Masters if not reskinned Hunters and Smokers? But there was much more to that game than swapping out zombies for skaven. With both series now/still on their second games, let’s look at how Vermintide ran with the legacy of Left 4 Dead, while managing to forge its own identity.
]]>They lurk, they creep, they skulk and weep. Monsters in videogames can be as simple as a big spiky cyclops ball, or as unsettling as a sobbing woman in a rainy alleyway. This week on the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, the team is talking about their favourites, from flaming skulls to digitally possessed diving suits, and the clever ways in which game monsters inspire heebies, jeebies, creeps and sometimes even willies.
]]>Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.
Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.
]]>The Steam summer sale is in full blaze. For a while it even blazed so hot that the servers went on fire and all the price stickers peeled off the games. Either that or the store just got swamped with cheapskates looking for the best bargains. Cheapskates like you! Well, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some recommendations - both general tips and some newly added staff choices.
Here are the things you should consider owning in your endless consumeristic lust for a happiness which always seems beyond reach. You're welcome.
]]>Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. So its disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. It must be a creature of the night, black, terrible... it's only the weekly Steam charts! These are the ten games with the most cumulative sales over the past week.
This week: DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER.
]]>Louis, Francis, Bill, and Zoey, and Ellis, Rochelle, Coach, and Nick have returned, though probably not in the way you'd hope for. The Left 4 Dead survivors have found themselves transported back to Nazi Germany to tackle those dreadful Nazi zombies in Zombie Army Trilogy. A free update last night added the eight survivors to Zombie Army's character lineup for your undead-redeading enjoyment.
To celebrate this merging of zombworlds, the game's on sale on Steam this weekend.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Of all games, Left 4 Dead and its sequel might well be the ones I miss the most. Sure, I could still play them today if I wanted to, but who would play them with me? They're two of the smartest and most atmospheric cooperative games I've ever played, but I tend to tip my hat at a slightly more approving angle in the direction of the second because it has a wonderful sense of place. It also has improved zombie gore.
]]>2014 would seem to be the year in which the games industry has another crack at making primarily multiplayer shooting games work all over again. There've been a few false starts in the past, but Destiny and Titanfall are some super-big, super-fat attempts at achieveing enormous mass market success from shooters where narrative takes a backseat. Now Evolve joins the ranks of big games looking for a piece of glossy, next-generation COD-seasoned pie, and it comes from Turtle Rock Studios, those former Valve chums who did the heavy lifting on the original Left 4 Dead.
]]>Making Left 4 Dead campaigns is an interesting challenge. You're building levels for a game that decides when and where to attack the player, and you have almost no control over those moments. It means your focus is in creating the world and in making it an interesting space for the players to exist in. You can't guarantee that the cleverly designed chokepoint you made will ever be used as one, but you can make it the prettiest damn corridor the player will ever see. The setting is one of the biggest considerations you have, and then you have to have the talent to pull it off. It's why I think most L4D campaigns take such a long time coming. Dniepr's a Left 4 Dead (1 and 2) campaign that's set in the Ukraine, including Pripyat, and has been three years in development. There's a quite startling pair of trailers below.
]]>Pretend that you didn't read anything on the internet last week so that I can tell you about a keerrraazy new crossover that you won't believe. Left 4 Dead 2 and Resident Evil 6. I know, right? When you've gathered the pieces of your mind, now blown into giblets, indulge me for a moment longer and act like you didn't know that the survivors from Valve's co-op sequel will be selectable in Capcom's lurching horror. Mini-tanks and witches will also appear in the No Mercy game mode, which is part of the 'Mercenaries' minigame. Some Resident Evil monsters will also appear in Left 4 Dead 2. They're called the Lepotitsa, Napad and Ogroman, and I can't work out which has the silliest name. There's a video below.
]]>My absolute favorite thing in the world is when games existences somehow mirror their names. Seriously. I have very few other interests. I'm an incredibly boring person. But anyway, just as Duke Nukem Forever took forever to come out, Call of Duty is nothing if not dutiful in its adherence to a yearly release schedule, and Toilet Tycoon was awful, Left 4 Dead 2 has not, in fact, been left for dead. Sure, Valve hasn't lavished it with quite as much attention as, say, Team Fortress 2, but it's certainly attempted to empower the community's efforts - first with Cold Stream, and then with full Workshop support. But those mods? They're about to get seventy five point blue banana apple sauce percent modderier, because Valve's put its Extended Mutation System into beta.
]]>I have a proposal. We all have things on our PC the world shouldn't know about. When the inevitable happens and Death beckons, we all have the our power to help each other out. What I need is someone to sneak into my Steam account (password: abetterpasswordthangaben), load up the Left 4 Dead 2 Workshop, and delete all my subscriptions. If anyone found out what I've been doing to Valve's zombie shooter, why I'd die all over again. I'm happy to do the same for you. Just email me your Steam passwords and I'll make sure whatever needs doing is done.
]]>I preemptively think I'm gonna be sick. Don't get me wrong: there are few things in this world I want more than Oculus Rift virtual reality for my mad dash through Mirror's Edge's theme park of parkour, but now that it's probably going to happen, I realize that I should probably bid farewell to any lunches I've had in the past couple months. And who will I have to thank for my sudden bouts of violent nausea? Interestingly, it won't be EA. Instead, a third-party toolset called Vireio Perception is primed to add Rift support to Mirror's Edge and other older titles.
]]>To celebrate Halloween, say Valve, they're making Left 4 Dead 2 free this weekend. And by weekend, they mean from today (Thursday) until Monday. And by Halloween, they mean stopping days short of Halloween. Ladies and gentlemen: Valve Time.
]]>'Twas more than a year ago that Left 4 Dead 2's Cold Stream DLC first stirred beneath the grave of Valve's nearly immortal undead sequel, and then - as though cast in the world's most anticlimatic horror movie - it just kind of sat there. "I'll rise and kick off the end of all human civilization tomorrow," it thought to itself. But tomorrow never came. Until now! After gobs of testing and fine-tuning, Valve's finally deemed Cold Stream fit for public consumption.
]]>Left 4 Dead 2's Cold Stream DLC has been through more tests than a guinea pig that just survived a nuclear blast. As well as the new map, the DLC contains Blood Harvest, Crash Course, Dead Air and Death Toll from the first game, but that's not new news. The fresh meat on this data morsel is the availability of all mutations at all times and Valve promise "other surprises and details" soon. July 24th is the release date. That's the release date for the DLC, by the way, not the guinea pig. The guinea pig is too uncanny to release into the wild so top scientists have sealed it in a lead box which is currently being dropped into a furnace.
]]>Well, this is odd. We've known about an upcoming Payday: The Heist-Left 4 Dead crossover for about a month now, and - as is often the case with these things - it materialized earlier today via YouTube's eyebeaming ethers. ""Have you ever wondered how the Left 4 Dead series began?" the video's description asked, forcing me to realize that I've never actually wondered that. "It started with a heist!" Intrigued, the Internet looked on as Payday's band of mask-loving hooligans shot its way through a very un-zombified version of Left 4 Dead's Mercy Hospital. And then the trailer disappeared.
]]>Seems a trifle odd to be saying this given 2009's foremost angry internet man-generator was the perceived too-soon release of a sequel to Left 4 Dead, but Valve's zombathons seem to me to have been left a little fallow of late. Team Fortress 2's ongoing transformation into QVC, Portal 2's awards-hogging and fever-pitch speculation about Half Life has been the order of the day for the last couple of years. You could - aheh- say that Left 4 Dead has been - aheh - left for dead. Aheh-heh-heh. Just my little joke, there.
Something is suddenly stirring, however (editor's note - I really need more elegant alternatives to 'however' and 'though', which I know full well are often seen to be cludgy writing. Suggestions?), and it comes not from Valve, but from Payday: The Heist devs and recent Starbreeze acquisition Overkill.
]]>Over the last few years, Valve have been quietly honing the fine art of viral marketing in an online age, and comics have been a big part of that. A cartel of in-house writers and the excellent pencils of Michael Avon Oeming (and others) have created some rather splendid words'n'pictures. Of course, they were merely digital. HOW DARE YOU INSULT OUR EYEBALLS WITH YOUR CRUMMY JPEGS? Why, that's for philistines and people too damned lazy to turn paper pages. This horrendous oversight and offence to everything that some angry guy somewhere probably holds dear is about to be corrected, thanks to a hardback compilation of Valve's various Portal, Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 comics due from august comic publisher Dark Horse later this year.
]]>You know what always goes well? When Valve offers to release something early if only customers do something for them. That's something with a solid history. Leaping onto this unwaveringly endorsed theme once more, Valve have announced plans on the Left 4 Dead blog to release Dead Air from community-co-created Cold Stream DLC pack early if enough people bug test the new campaign for them.
]]>If you were to restart your Steam account, you'd notice that your copy of Left 4 Dead 2 would start updating. This is to add in the beta for a new campaign, Cold Stream. It has a few bugs, but that's why God gave us betas. Wow, that's such a succinct news story I need to add another.
]]>Curious. Following The Sacrifice and The Passing, Eurogamer's got word that Valve will be releasing a third piece of downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2 with a new Cold Stream campaign. Cold Stream is actually a work in progress fan campaign by Matthew Lourdelet, creator of the acclaimed 2 Evil Eyes campaign. According a post on Valve's official Left 4 Dead 2 blog, Valve have seen Lourdelet's work so far and decided to release it in a non-story driven pack containing the other three Left 4 Dead 1 campaigns not currently in L4D2.
]]>Valve send word that The Sacrifice, the DLC for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, is now available on Steam.
]]>Welcome to October, via more zombie drama for Friday morning. The Sacrifice, the latest DLC for both Left 4 Dead and its sequel, is arriving on PC on 5th October. Rather looking forward to this one, I have to say.
]]>But which safehouseman? Or safehousewoman? That's your problem, bucko. Your problem to solve as you play the latest DLC for Left 4 Dead on October 5. Or! As you play the latest DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 on October 5. Yes, yes, they're doing that. All is fair in love and released-slightly-too-soon-zombie-sequels.
]]>The first part of the previously announced Left 4 Dead comic is out. It's coming out in four weekly parts, leading up to the release of the actual The Sacrifice pack. It's also a hefty creature. The first part is over forty-pages, so the whole thing should be getting on for 160 and actually includes details to the background of the plague itself. It's also drawn my Michael Avon Oeming, who's a fantastic visual storyteller and worth looking at generally. I especially like the BLAM! apocalypse. If you want to investigate further, I'll suggest the first Powers trade. Anyway, you can read the first part of The Sacrifice here. Go! do so!
]]>...who lives and who dies, apparently. As it stands Bill dies in The Passing, and there's going to be comic that explains how and why that happens. But it turns out that in The Sacrifice, you can - in keeping with the game's own moment-to-moment decision-making - choose who dies for yourselves. This comes via Kotaku, who point out that in this GameTrailers' chat with Valve, Mr Faliszek reveals that this next bit of free DLC for Left 4 Dead (and also Left 4 Dead 2, it'll work with either) enables us to experience what happened in the events of The Passing from the perspective of the original cast. The events of this new expansion will, therefore, allow you to choose which of that original cast winds up dead. The Sacrifice also gives Left 4 Dead 2 owners a version of No Mercy, which seems like a splendid little bonus.
]]>L4D2's ongoing Mutation event-of-the-week giggles continue, this time pushing the legendary Gnome Chomsky to the forefront of the game. I hand you over the official description:
]]>Where were we? Sorry about the delay. I’ve been in France, making awful jokes about floating skulls to Chris Avellone. He didn’t punch me, miraculously, but I remain mortified. The Passing, then. I’m going to keep away from spoiler stuff in this post, bar stating the pretty-much-obvious that you don’t get to control the L41 survivors in any way.
]]>This should be one long piece, but I've been distracted by going to France and arguing with Kieron about routing in fascinating but incredibly complicated boardgames. Figured I should deal with the spoileriffic stuff while it's fresh, though. Conclusion tomorrow, chums.
The Passing: the long-awaited conflluence between Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. There's only one way to describe it.
Uh-oh.
]]>Free L4D2 expansion The Passing is out right now on Steam. Free for you guys, anyway. Xbox 360 gamers actually have to shell out 145,500 Microsoft Points for it (about £5), probably because they smell. Exciting new features include a new uncommon 'Fallen Survivor' infected and a brand new three level campaign featuring the survivors from the original Left 4 Dead. Less exciting new features include a new gun, footlockers, and an achievement for decapitating 15 zombies with the new golf club melee weapon.
]]>The Left 4 Dead blog has some info on the "mutations" (ie game mode variants) that are being introduced with The Passing:
Our first Mutation is Realism Versus.
For this Mutation, Survivors have all the Realism changes working against them, no glows on items or survivors, tougher zombies, instant kill witches, etc. The Infected have all those changes working for them. This makes the Jockey one of the most powerful Specials for his ability to steer a Survivor out of view. You will want to make sure you have a working microphone so your teammates can hear your screams for help. This Mutation is only available in Versus.
Trailer posted below. Francis hates stuff, obv. Reckon I might be re-deading some zombies later...
]]>Free Left 4 Dead 2 DLC The Passing is out tomorrow. It's got lashings of content, including new infected and new weapons. But here's the really interesting bit:
]]>With news of worlds colliding over at the L4D blog, we learn that The Passing is out "next week". Time for those mysteries to give themselves us. And time to dust off those zombie-whacking skills. Thwotch!
]]>A sales update on the Left 4 Dead blog actually reveals some stuff. The Fallen Survivor?
]]>Whoops, we missed this last week - frenziedly frenetic footage of the upcoming L4D2-meets-L4D1 DLC The Passing. Alas, team L4D don't show up in these videos, Valve's Chet Faliszek claiming they still want to keep a lid on exactly how that's going to work, but at least it's a chance to eyeball some of the new uncommon Common Infected (including one that tries to run away but drops health packs when you kill it - sounds like Golden Axe's imp thingies) and the shape and mood of one of the levels. The finale of the second video looks appropriately claustrophobic and OH GOD GET IT OFF ME, so no doubt L4D2 believers will not be left unhappy on the obscene violence front. What of the non-believers, still licking their wounds about the sequel-too-soon outrage? Well, right at the end of the second video, Chet lets slip that we're due a comic that explains the current fate of the first game's survivors, and, and! new DLC for L4D1. Too little too late, some will cry, but hey- it's still something, sometime.
]]>Crivens - and here were we all thinking the first L4D2 DLC would involve fictional hoary old rockers the Midnight Riders. In fact, Valve are doing something gosh-wow-what? different.
First DLC The Passing arrives in Spring. It features four very familiar faces. Clue: it's not Zippy, George, Bungle and Geoffrey.
There will be much rejoicing. Except by people who don't do that sort of thing.
]]>Here's a capstone for one of the year's biggest stories. Kyle Orland at Crispy Gamer looks at the turbulent history of the L4D2 boycott. "Did Valve change its plans to gain the approval of the masses, or did it effectively pacify the Internet throngs with nothing more than a couple of plane tickets and a hotel reservation? In other words, was the boycott successful? Well, it depends on what you mean by "successful."" Well, obv. Luckily Kyle follows on to do the heavy lifting with a well-balanced piece. It's a little revisionist about their early days - not touching on the initial frenzied nature of the group which lead to the initial press being so negative, rather picking up at the slightly-more-reasonable manifesto stage (Though the "L4D424FREE" point remains - to be polite - somewhat naive). I suspect what the boycott achieved will remain a controversial point. Personally, there was only one question which was never answered satisfactorily. Whole new campaigns was never realistic, ever (As in a standard MP level is a hugely different thing from a Co-op level in terms of resources). Why did Valve, even in an interview setting, imply it was.
]]>Oooh, interestinkosity. Let's go with Destructoid breaking the story. Those who have played Left 4 Dead's Dark Carnival level (i.e. Everyone but me, as I've been Modern Warfare-ing, a week behind the zeitgeist) will have been enamored with its stage-based conclusion. Well, the band who owns the stage in question - The Midnight Riders - have a website. And apparently - from the mouth of hive-mind out-brain Phill Cameron - there's an achievement for completing all six campaigns. But there's only five shipped with the game. Is there maths to be done? If so, do the maths. Since there's no footage currently available of whatever this is - and, Crikey, can you imagine the cry from the forums if it's paid-for-DLC - here's the video to Smart Dressed Man by ZZ Top...
]]>There's been some confusion regarding the UK digital release of Left 4 Dead 2. It seems that those Brits who pre-ordered the game found it unlocked at 5am Tuesday (Valve time) as expected. However, anyone who's bought it from Steam since has discovered it won't unlock for them until Friday. Which seemed strange, since the game was announced for a worldwide digital release, the retail dates separate. We contacted Valve to find out why this happening, and it seems to be about the UK being at the back of the queue for retail copies.
]]>While wandering the long, barren corridors of Valve HQ I stumbled upon Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw, the two men who a few years ago made up the members of Old Man Murray. Bundling both of them into a big sack I carried them into a room packed with buzzing PCs and forced them to join in on a podcast to discuss the release of Left 4 Dead 2. You can listen to the results below.
]]>Having had a chance to sit down with L4D2 on PC for a couple of days, playing all five campaigns, the new Realism and Scavenge modes, and a good chunk of Versus, I think it's about time I told you wot I think.
]]>You'll be seeing it all for yourself soon enough, but here's a selection of some favourite moments during my review. Click on each pic for full size.
]]>John B noticed this little quote-span-into-article over at C&VG where Chet opines that the British are "notorious non-talkers" in online games. Basically, while Americans yabber constantly, the Brits take a more taciturn approach. This will, apparently, cause some major problems when playing L4D2's realism mode. Talk or die. TALK OR DIE. What do you make of it. Is this true? Or is it that Americans think that because Brits just don't like speaking to you. And understandably. Give us our tea, you bastards. You don't even drink the stuff.
]]>In case you hadn't spotted, the Left 4 Dead 2 demo is now open to all, whether you've pre-ordered the game or not. Which you could well argue is the point of a demo. It's the first two levels of one campaign, so while not offering a big finish, will give you a taste for the new special infected, the melee weapons, and of course what it's like to play L4D in the sunshine. They say to go to the official site for more details, but I can't find any there. So instead open Steam. (Oh, and in exceedingly stupid news, if you pre-ordered L4D2 you will now also have a new hat in TF2. I feel like I'm writing news about a Barbie game.)
]]>The Left 4 Dead 2 demo is go. If you pre-loaded it on Steam, it should have unlocked now. (If it isn't showing up for you, quit out of Steam and restart.) If not, get downloading. And then let us know what you think below.
]]>EA appear to be releasing some UK localised viral marketing for Left 4 Dead 2, which seems to be aiming for the Shaun of the Dead fanbase. Two guys in a shed, explaining how to survive the zombie apocalypse caused by the "L4D2 virus". But this one's a misfire.
]]>A Left 4 Dead 2 cinematic trailer has leaked upon the internets, spotted by Evil Avatar and Shacknews. And you'll maybe not fall out of your chair in shock to learn: it's a bit good. It's below.
]]>Walking_Target and Agent Of Chaos, architects of the much discussed Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott have decided to close the group, considering their mission was basically complete. Both make personal statements. Their opening statements sum up the situation as they see it...
Agent of Chaos: We have accomplished everything we can on our manifesto.
]]>Not as in "Whatever happened to those Left 4 Dead 2 chaps?" but "Where else will they be offing people?". As reported by Kotaku reported by EvilAvatar reported by the Steam Forums as reported by a Taiwanese website who stuck up five L4D2 posters. Which seems to have revealed the last two. Or it could be a hoax. Oh, they look credible enough to me. See them below...
]]>Valve have sent word of a fourth game mode to be included in Left 4 Dead 2, called Scavenger Mode. It's like this: "Scavenge mode challenges players to compete in round-based games of up to 8 players (Survivors vs. Infected). The Survivors must battle both the Infected and the clock as they collect gas cans to refuel a generator located in each map. Every can the Survivors pour into the generator scores their team a point and adds time to the clock." Needless to say, the infected have to stop them. Just as interesting, perhaps, is the confirmation of previously discussed Ai Director 2.0, who will have "the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players' performance."
Video below.
]]>It's official - Gabe Newell is heading for Australia. If you missed the story of how 19 year old L4D modder Joe W-A ended up raising $3000 (US) to fly Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson out to see his L4D map in order to convince Newell to stop boycotting it... Er, you need to go read this and this. Now Valve have confirmed that they'll be heading to Oz next week, and less official sources are stating that of course they're paying their own way so the money goes straight to charity.
]]>You know you've hit a raw nerve when a goverment classification board decides to join a boycott of your game. So when Australia's Classification board refuses a certification for Left 4 Dead 2 because Valve are RIPPING OFF THE KIDS you know you've... actually, no, I've misread this again. They've banned it because it's a violent videogame and Australia has some of the most agreeably loopy censorship in the democratic world. Man!
]]>The Boycott Left 4 Dead 2 campaign has taken some very strange turns in the last few days. You may well have heard the remarkable story of Valve flying two of the campaign's figureheads to visit their Seattle HQ last week. Walking_Target and Agent of Chaos were flown to the developers and shown the game running, as well as given behind-the-scenes access to the continuing development of the original L4D. And it seems to have made a difference. You can read their reaction to the trip here (and of course the furious reaction of others). Then the story gets more strange.
]]>Via PAX, there's some Dark Carnival footage below. And man, is that jockey infected looking a bit nasty. Personally I've always preferred playing infected in L4D, so I'll enjoy making the worst out of that fella. For the survivors there's some skull-splattering melee action. Eugh, zombies are icky.
]]>Valve plans to reveal the latest globules of Left 4 Dead 2 information at this weekends PAX festivities. Having previously shown off New Orleans' Parish level, and mucky antics in Swamp Fever, Penny Arcade's gathering will show the world the extra creepy-sounding Dark Carnival.
]]>Here's a first look at another new Left 4 Dead 2 campaign, this one set at a spooky abandoned fairground known as Whipsering Oaks. Also confirmed is the welcome presence of a Katana. Chop! You'll have to wade through the constant noise and artificially-inflated enthusiasm of a Gametrailers TV episode to see it, but at least it also includes Gabe Newell responding to the whole boycott thinger and dropping an enormo-hint about one of Valve's next games. Also: Chet Faliszek talking about how they're approaching story this time, and the appeal of merry-go-rounds in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The video's below.
]]>The GameTrailers Flame-ringed Eye of Record-on was in attendance at San Diegeo Comic Con, and it happened to capture the soul of Valve's Chet Faliszek, while also hoovering up tonnes of Left 4 Dead 2 in-game footage, which you can see below. Faliszek does the talky, while there's also a load of shooty. And it rather reminds me why we love this game so much: violence, violence, quips and violence. The Charger is in there too. Beautiful stuff. I think you're going to want to take a look...
]]>This week's Comic Con sees Valve revealing new sections of Left 4 Dead 2 to the public. We've already seen the daytime levels set in New Orleans for The Parish campaign. Now comes Swamp Fever, with its misty, boggy setting, putting at ease those who were afraid the game wouldn't be dark enough. This will reveal the new Boss Infected, The Spitter. We're told, "The female Spitter has an area attack that can split up Survivors or flush them out of their hiding spots." They'll also show the new uncommon Infected, the Mudman (seen below), along with the cricket bat, AK47, and grenade launcher. So if you're there, go play it! New images of the game are below.
]]>Just a tiny snippet of almost-news before bed. Valve have slipped out the information (via IGN) that joining Left 4 Dead 2's arsenal of melee weapons is a cricket bat. The awfully British sports-stick will be yet another way to brutally smash zombies out of your path. Having previously played with both the axe and the frying pan, I can assure you that the melee combat is something pretty special. With the freshly regioned bodies of the Horde, taking aim before lashing out brings gruesome rewards. While no one's seen the cricket racquet in action, it seems safe to assume that aiming at legs is going to produce something dreadful. As for faces - there's a hint in the pic above. Click on it to see the full version available on IGN's site, with a fat IGN logo on it to ruin your desktop. (In case you're wondering about the lack of cricket puns here, Orlando Parfitt used them all up in IGN's story, leaving a global drought for all other sites.) Read all our Left 4 Dead 2 coverage here.
]]>There has been, it seems, something of a fuss over the announcement from Valve that they're releasing a sequel to Left 4 Dead this November. The main point of contention has been that many were expecting more new content to be added to the original game, rather than appearing in the form of a full price sequel. This was underlined when an article on VideoGamer was rediscovered in which Valve boss Gabe Newell stated, "So we'll do the same thing with Left 4 Dead where we'll have the initial release and then we'll release more movies, more characters, more weapons, unlockables, achievements, because that's the way you continue to grow a community over time."
We spoke to Valve's VP of marketing, Doug Lombardi, to ask him about the player response. He talks to us about the reasons why L4D2 is a full sequel, why gamers should wait to find out more about the game before making up their minds, and how there are definitely still plans for the original Left 4 Dead.
]]>The Left 4 Dead trailer doesn't pull many punches. Fighter planes, chainsaws, dudes with holes for faces, and a whole lot of prayin'. Yeah. That's what I call a trailer.
]]>New game, new locations, new characters, new weapons, new monsters: John has been to Valve and dragged back the news. [Click on images for full size]
Left 4 Dead who now? No one was expecting Valve's next game to be a sequel to 2008's awesome co-op zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead. To answer your immediate question: Yes, this is a completely new game, with new characters, in a new location, with new zombies, new weapons, new twists, and an improved Director, in five completely new campaigns set in the Southern United States. This isn't more maps for the previous game, it's a brand new game, and it's due this November. We snuck into Valve HQ ahead of Monday's announcement and played a full campaign, and at first glance much appears to have evolved.
]]>In a world exclusive audio interview, Rock, Paper, Shotgun sat down with Valve's project lead, Chet Faliszek, to discuss the freshly revealed Left 4 Dead 2.
Within is comprehensive coverage of the new game, the new ideas, the new weapons and campaigns and characters and Infected. You'll find this nowhere else on the internet. It's still a Rock, Paper, Shotgun podcast, of course, so there's also plenty of discussion about our mums, swine flu, and Chet's horror at John's foul language. Chet talks not only about the new elements to the game, but also gives us some background as to why Valve chose to make a whole new game, rather than expanding upon the original. There's also information on how this doesn't mean L4D is forgotten.
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