By GARRETT BABB
Staff Writer
The beloved Left 4 Dead series was a staple game and a fan favorite after its initial release in November of 2008, serving as a completely original experience in the already densely populated zombie genre. The original game and it’s second installment, Left 4 Dead 2 (which came out a year after the first) are still to this day considered by many to be in a genre of it’s own as it pertains to gameplay with many other games using this fresh new model as a basis for other games. But despite such great success and praise in the gaming industry, there was never a third installment of the fabled Left 4 Dead series. It didn’t come as much of a surprise to many, the developing company Valve that created the series was the head honcho for gaming at the time and was notorious for not making third installments to their many great game series (frustrating many people in the process). This along with the fact that Valve’s last game was released in 2013, it definitely seemed as though we would never receive a new installment of the series.
Years went by with no word of anything new. Until one day, in March of 2019, it was announced that there would be a new game whose inspiration came from the original Left 4 Dead series and would be developed by one of the companies who worked on the first game, Turtle Rock. The game was titled “Back 4 Blood” and although it isn’t technically a canonical sequel to the original series, it’s name and basic gameplay are exactly like the original games with new revitalized mechanics and modern graphics. The game, although only being a spiritual successor to the originals, has exited the long dormant Left 4 Dead community (including myself) with it’s incredible execution and exciting new additions to the series. The game, set to officially release on October 12th 2021, has already had multiple beta releases and has been gameplay tested by various content creators and fans receiving nothing but good remarks and reviews. So now there is nothing to do but wait for the official release of the game so that players can relive the great fun they had playing throughout the game with their friends.