Left 4 Dead (series)

Video game serial
Video game series
Left 4 Dead is a serial of concerted first-person gunman survival horror video games published by Valve. Set in the days after a pandemic outbreak of a viral strain transforming people into zombi -like feral creatures, the games follow the adventures of four survivors attempting to reach safe houses and military rescue while fending off the attacking hordes.

Reading: Left 4 Dead (series)

The games encourage cooperative fun between up to four players, each taking the function of one of the survivor characters and the computer controlling any unassigned characters. Players use a combination of melee weapons, firearms, and throw objects to fend off attacks from the bulge of the septic creatures, while using an assortment of healing items to keep their group alive. Certain unique infected creatures pose a more difficult challenge, typically requiring teamwork to take down efficaciously. The games are oversee by an “ AI Director ”, designed to give the players a more dramatic have based on their operation, penalizing players for stalling while rewarding players with especial weapons by taking longer or riskier paths. The Director besides makes gameplay active, meaning that no two playthroughs are quite the same .

Video games [edit ]

Release timeline2008Left 4 Dead2009Crash Course DLCLeft 4 Dead 22010The Passing DLCThe Sacrifice DLC20112012Cold Stream DLC20132014201520162017201820192020The Last Stand DLC

Left 4 Dead was released in November 2008. The game’s development was started by Turtle Rock Studios, who were bought by Valve during the game’s creation, with continued development occurring at Valve’s studios.
Left 4 Dead 2 was released a year later in November 2009. Valve attributed the short turnaround between the titles as a result of having many ideas to expand on the first game, but more than could be reasonably done through software patching or downloadable content. The fast turnaround of the sequel was initially criticized by many players of the first game, leading to a temporary effort to boycott the second game. Valve helped to placate matters, demonstrating that it was still developing content for the first game, including a crossover campaign, “The Passing”, between the characters of both games.

Downloadable contentedness [edit ]

Crash Course is the first downloadable content (DLC) campaign for Left 4 Dead. It is free on PC, but not for Xbox 360. It was released on September 29, 2009. According to Valve it is meant to bridge the gap between No Mercy and Death Toll.
The Passing is the first DLC crossover campaign of Left 4 Dead 2, which includes a new campaign and “new co-operative challenge modes of play” and introduces a new firearm, the M60; the Golf Club, and a new Uncommon Infected called the Fallen Survivor. It was released April 22, 2010.
The Sacrifice is a three-chapter DLC for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 and was released on October 5, 2010. Taking place after Blood Harvest and is considered to be the prologue to The Passing, as both campaigns are connected to each other.
Cold Stream is the third DLC for Left 4 Dead 2. It was announced in a blog post on February 16, 2011. Cold Stream was released on March 22, 2011 in beta form on Steam, and it was officially released in its final form on Steam on July 24, 2012. Cold Stream was released on the Xbox Marketplace August 3, 2012 for 560MSP. It was created by map making community member Matthew Lourdelet and features various wall graffiti featuring the author’s friends.
The Last Stand is a community-made scenario for Left 4 Dead 2, and was released on September 24, 2020 with Valve’s blessing as an official update to the game. The update includes over twenty new maps for survival mode, a new campaign, and additional updates to the game.

Spin-offs and crossovers [edit ]

The Mercenaries: No Mercy makes a return on the PC version of Resident Evil 6. As an exclusive to No Mercy, Capcom and game developer Valve had teamed up to allow Left 4 Dead 2 content for No Mercy. The content includes the main cast from Left 4 Dead 2 being playable characters with their own loadouts alongside the Witch and the Tank replacing the Bloodshot and the Napad as enemies.
Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead is a downloadable indie game where the game is played as if it were released for NES.
Left 4 Dead: Survivors (
Left 4 Dead: 生存者たち

, (Seizonshatachi) ) is a version of Left 4 Dead 2 released on December 10, 2014 for Japanese arcades by Taito.[1] The game features the same scenarios and locations as L4D2, but features a different cast of survivors unique to this edition.
The No Mercy level of Left 4 Dead appeared as DLC for the cooperative-shooter Payday: The Heist and its sequel Payday 2.[2]
On August 20, 2015, a free update was released for the PC version of the game Zombie Army Trilogy which imported the eight survivor characters from the Left 4 Dead games.[3]
In March 2017, asymmetric horror game Dead by Daylight released the “Left Behind” DLC for PC, which unlocked Bill as a playable character. It also unlocked Zoey, Ellis, Francis and Rochelle costumes for Meg, Dwight, Jake and Claudette respectively.[4]

Comics [edit ]

Tied to the exhaust of “ The Sacrifice ” downloadable content, a four-part world wide web comic draw by Michael Avon Oeming was released to describe the events of the beginning bent of survivors, Bill, Louis, Zoey, and Francis, that led them to meet the second group, Coach, Ellis, Rochelle, and Nick. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Each of the parts provides a backstory for each of the beginning survivor characters at the attack of the pandemic, and besides follows directly up on the final campaign from the beginning crippled, “ blood Harvest ”, where the survivors, identified as carriers, are taken to a secure military facility. The use of the comedian medium to expand the game ‘s story outside of the game ‘s bounds has been used by Valve before in promoting Team Fortress 2. [ 7 ]

Merchandise and other products [edit ]

Within Left 4 Dead 2, a fabricated southern rock band called the Midnight Riders was introduced. several songs have been produced for the game and link promotions. Two of them, “ Midnight Ride ” and “ One Bad man ”, have appeared as downloadable capacity for the Rock Band series via the Rock Band Network. [ 8 ] Valve released a series of vacation cards themed after the survivors, created by Alexandria Neonakis. [ 9 ] Three lavish toys have been released based on the Left 4 Dead serial ‘ infected ; beginning with the Boomer, and later with the Hunter and the Tank. They are to be followed by two more lavish toys so far to be released. They were besides created by Alexandria Neonakis. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] In June 2011, it was confirmed that Valve had signed a share with NECA, to produce action figures, which includes Left 4 Dead and early Valve serial. There are two figures produced so far, Left 4 Dead ‘s Boomer ( which was released in June ), and Left 4 Dead 2 ‘s Smoker ( which was released in November ). [ 12 ]

Cancelled sequel [edit ]

Valve has not yet made any direct argument related to future games in the serial, though Chet Faliszek said in 2012 that like Valve ‘s early games, a sequel had not been ruled out. [ 13 ] Rumors from 2013 through 2016 led players to believe that Valve was developing Left 4 Dead 3, with a target dismissal date in 2017. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] [ 17 ] however, by this point, Turtle Rock was no longer working with Valve but alternatively had been developing the asymmetrical multiplayer game Evolve. In April 2019, Tyler McVicker of Valve News Network reported that while Left 4 Dead 3 had been in development at some steer at Valve, it had been subsequently cancelled a few years early. Assets that McVicker had obtained showed a horizontal surface comparable to assets used in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and indicated that very little other workplace appeared to have been done on the claim. [ 18 ] In July 2020, multimedia storybook The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx, which focused on the 2010s at Valve, gave information about the cancel Left 4 Dead 3 project that was developed around 2013, describing it as an open-world game set in Morocco where the player fights hundreds of zombies. The undertaking was shelved due to the slow development of the Source 2 engine. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] At The Game Awards 2020, Turtle Rock announced Back 4 Blood, their religious successor to Left 4 Dead 2, released on 12 October 2021 .

Setting [edit ]

The Left 4 Dead games take locate in the days following a pandemic outbreak of an infection that transforms humans into feral, zombie-like creatures, seeking to kill those yet to be infected. Within the United States, the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency ( CEDA ) orders the creation of condom zones with the help of the military, and evacuates adenine many people as potential to these areas, aiming to transfer them to islands and ocean-going ships, as the infected are ineffective to cross bodies of water. A count of people are discovered to be immune to the infection, though they can carry and unintentionally spread it to others. In both games, four of these “ Carriers ” or otherwise just immune humans, meet and become the game ‘s “ Survivor ” characters, making their way to safe houses and extraction points .

Characters [edit ]

The first game follows four survivors as they travel from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The game’s four Survivors are:
- Bill: an old chain smoking Vietnam War veteran.
- Louis: a frazzled IT analyst. The most optimistic of the four.
- Francis: an outlaw biker who hates everything, except for vests.
- Zoey: a college student who loves horror movies.
The second game follows another group as they travel from Savannah, Georgia to New Orleans, Louisiana, and features four new Survivors:
- Coach: a portly high school football coach.
- Ellis: a talkative mechanic. Optimistic, a little naive, and a “good ol’ boy” who finds the zombie apocalypse fun and exciting.
- Nick: a pessimistic gambler and con artist.
- Rochelle: a low-level TV reporter.
The Japanese arcade version of the second game follows the same route and story, but features four Survivors exclusive to the Arcade edition:
- Yusuke: a Japanese college student visiting America on vacation.
- Haruka: a Japanese schoolgirl visiting America on a school trip.
- Sara: a Japanese-American tour guide.
- Blake: an American bartender and army veteran.

Purple Francis [edit ]

Left 4 Dead community wiki article on Purple Francis Screenshot ofcommunity wiki article on Purple Francis On February 12, 2021, two editors vandalized the Left 4 Dead community wiki with a serial of fraud edits describing “ purple Francis ”, a nonexistent playable character who is visually identical to the fictional character Francis with the exception of a “ purple imbue ”. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] The edits provided detail nonexistent lore, and cross-references to over a twelve edited pages, [ 23 ] where Purple Francis was discussed in detail alongside other existing characters. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Purple Francis was described as having been born in a candle factory, and turned purple through an iron-rich diet, which made him “ incredibly attractive to women ”. [ 26 ] The edits besides claimed that Purple Francis ‘s daughter had an affair with Ronald Reagan, that ten players passed out after hearing his voice in the game for the first time, [ 27 ] and that he was late removed from retail copies of the game by Valve, “ ascribable to negative feedback. ” [ 28 ] “ Screenshots ” of Purple Francis were besides supplied, depicting the character photoshopped into existing artwork throughout the wiki. [ 29 ] While the edits were finally reverted a few days after universe, Purple Francis received a cult following within the Left 4 Dead fan community, [ 30 ] and a mod on Steam Workshop was released on February 14 by a developer who ‘d worked on official Left 4 Dead content in the past, claiming to restore the “ cut content ” depicting Purple Francis. [ 31 ] The master creators of Purple Francis were by and by identified as “ Lucy ” and “ Unknowntrope, ” two teenagers who had originally come up with the concept as an at heart joke. [ 32 ]

Gameplay [edit ]

The Left 4 Dead games are first-person shooters incorporating survival repugnance elements. A player controls one of the four Survivor characters, and has the ability to move, jump, and use weapons in their possession. Players are limited to two weapons : a main firearm with restrict ammunition taken from ammunition caches, and either one ( or two pistols ) sidearm with inexhaustible ammunition or a melee weapon. Players besides have three extra inventory slots. The third base slot gives the musician a hurl weapon, including a Molotov cocktail, a organ pipe fail that can be used to lure a horde towards it before it explodes, or a bile jar that can be used to lure a horde to a particular area. The fourthly slot provides for either a health kit which they can use on themselves or the other survivors, a defibrillator to revive a dead Survivor, or a special ammunition deployment kit providing singular ammo such as explosive bullets. The one-fifth stock slot is used for pain pills, giving the actor a impermanent health hike, or an epinephrine shoot, temporarily increasing the musician ‘s speed. Some environmental objects like propane tanks or gasoline cans can be carried and thrown at hordes, upon which they can be fired upon as a improvised explosive, but can not be stored in the player ‘s inventory. In Left 4 Dead 2, limited-use weapons such as the chain saw or the machine grease-gun can besides be carried in a similar manner. The actor can use whatever object they are holding to temporarily push back any Infected surrounding them. A health prevention is used to track each quality ‘s health ; players are aware of the state of each early ‘s health and special items, and each quality is shown to other players through an delineate silhouette on the game ‘s HUD, regardless of walls that separate the characters, and colored based on their health state. A fictional character ‘s health suffers from attacks from any Infected, environmental effects such as fires, and from friendly-fire incidents. When a quality ‘s health falls below a certain horizontal surface, the character will not be able to move as fast until they can restore their health. If the player ‘s health drops to zero, they become disable, and a new impermanent health bar appears, representing a bleed out time period. Should this banish neglect to zero, the character dies, and can only be restored either through a defibrillator, appearing later in a level in a “ rescue closet ” from which they must be freed, or when the remaining players reach the safe family. Otherwise, an disable character can be revived with the aid of any other character. however, if a character become incapacitated three times in a row without using a first-aid kit, they will immediately die the third meter. similarly, if a character falls over an edge, they will hang precariously for a limited fourth dimension, falling to their death if they are not assisted in time. In the main campaign mood, each campaign is divided into two to five sections. For all but the last section, the goal of the players is to reach the safehouse at the end of the level, where fresh supplies of weapons, ammunition, and health items are typically found. In the final section, the campaign comes to a climax and requires the players to either make a stall against waves of Infected as they wait for a rescue fomite, fill up an elude vehicle ‘s gasoline tank while fending off the drove, or race through a gauntlet of Infected to make their way to the rescue point.

AI Director [edit ]

The Left 4 Dead series uses a collection of artificial intelligence routines, jointly the “ AI Director ”, to monitor and alter the gameplay feel in response to the players. Valve ‘s primary finish with the AI Director was to promote replayability of the games ‘ campaigns, as their previous multiplayer games with this feature, such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 have shown boom communities of players that continue to play the games despite the limited total of maps available ascribable to the unpredictable nature of on-line act. [ 33 ] In considering this for Left 4 Dead, Valve identified that many games use static events that constantly occur at pay back points in a degree, or limited active events where one of several events could occur at cook points. Valve themselves had used this idea in some key battles in Half-Life 2: Episode Two where the engender of Combine forces would be based on the player ‘s placement. [ 34 ] They recognized that such systems do not promote replayability or cooperation : players could easily memorize where events would occur, and those that had so far to experience the events would slow other players down. [ 33 ] With the concept of the AI Director, Valve believed it could capture the lapp chaos and randomness that would occur in Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 in the accommodative gameplay know, transforming it from dim-witted memorization to a skills challenge. [ 33 ] Valve has farther termed this approach “ procedural narrative “, creating a newfangled floor each time the game is played. [ 35 ] The AI Director has several facets that combine to form “ integrated capriciousness ” for each playthrough. [ 33 ] The Director inaugural procedurally generates a dramatic stream for the tied, which identifies the size and location of hordes of common infect and rare infected throughout the level. The adjective generation considers each traversable area on the map, using pathfinding algorithm that Valve had incorporated into Counter-strike computer-controlled characters, and the “ stream ” of the map—the general steering from the start of the degree to the condom house. As players progress through the map, the Director will spawn infected in areas near the players and out of sight, while removing infected from earlier portions of the map the players have passed through. [ 33 ] The placement besides considered the “ Escape Route ”, the shortest path through the function, and will increase encounters along this road to increase the difficulty. [ 33 ] Spawning rules are different for each of the infected ; hordes are more often spawned behind players to take them by storm, while particular infected like the Hunter and Smoker will spawn ahead of the players, giving their individual AI the opportunity to lay in expect for the players. [ 33 ] Procedural generation is besides used to place weapons and other items throughout the level. [ 33 ] Weapons and equipment can be programmed by the map couturier to be generated by the Director at fixed points, allowing for some predictability for the players, and to give some creative control to the purpose for story-telling and ocular effects. [ 33 ] Overriding the procedural genesis is the aim to create “ active dynamic pace ” of the bet on by continuous monitor of players, and altering the preset pacing to react to this. [ 33 ] Each actor quality is tracked by a metric unit called the Survivor Intensity, which increases as the character takes damage, become incapacitated, or another character dies nearby, among other effects, and slowly decays in time. The Director will alter its previously developed schedule for spawn of infected to build up Survivor Intensity to a certain threshold ; when this occurs, the game sustains this acme for a few seconds, then enters a period where it relaxes and reduces the spawn of infect, allowing the players to finish their current meet and allow their Survivor Intensities to fall away from the doorway. The Director then repeats this cycle until the players have reached the end of the level. [ 33 ] The boss infect encounters are generated through different means, creating a sequence based on cycling without repetition between three situations : tank, Witch, or “ No event ”. [ 33 ] Boss events are then generated based on the phone number of areas the players have passed through. These events are not modified by the active pace of the game ; Valve discovered when these were controlled by the pace, players would often be at besides senior high school of an intensity to allow these encounters to occur. Keeping the events on a separate track allows the tempo to be irregular, promote enhancing the replayability finish of the Director. [ 33 ]
Left 4 Dead.[33] The top bar shows the original population of common (white icons), special (colored icons) and boss (large icons) procedurally generated by the AI Director prior to starting the level. The second bar is the monitored “Survivor Intensity”, with the red “Relax” sections occurring immediately after the Intensity reaches a threshold limit. The third bar is the actual population generated while playing the level; certain common hordes have been removed due to the Intensity being high and in a “relaxed” state, while other hordes and uncommons have been added when the Intensity is very low near the end of the level. A sample series of encounters ( with progress from left to right ) during a level playthrough ofThe top bar shows the original population of common ( white icons ), particular ( discolor icons ) and party boss ( big icons ) procedurally generated by the AI Director prior to starting the level. The second bar is the monitor “ Survivor Intensity ”, with the crimson “ Relax ” sections occurring immediately after the Intensity reaches a brink restrict. The third base bar is the actual population generated while playing the level ; certain park hordes have been removed due to the Intensity being gamey and in a “ relaxed ” state, while early hordes and uncommons have been added when the Intensity is very low near the conclusion of the level. The Director besides creates mood and tension with emotional cues, such as ocular effects, audio cues for specific types of infected, and character communication. [ 36 ] Within Left 4 Dead 2, the Director has the ability to alter placement of walls, level layout, fall, and weather conditions, and reward players for taking more difficult routes with more useful weapons and items. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] A dedicate Director routine dynamically controls music and early ambient sound effects, monitoring what a musician has experienced to create an appropriate sound shuffle. The summons is client-side and done by a multi-track arrangement. Each actor hears their own mix, which is being generated as they play through the game, and absolutely players watching a teammate hear their teammates ‘ mix. [ 39 ] Valve sees the AI Director as a tool to be used for other games. A software mend for the cooperative game Alien Swarm added a game mode, Onslaught, that used a version of the AI Director from Left 4 Dead to dynamically generate enemies for the players to fight. [ 40 ] Valve has investigated the consumption of biofeedback from the players directly as remark for the Director. At the 2011 Game Developers Conference, Valve demonstrated a simple test where a player, fitted with a device to measure hide conductance level, played through a Left 4 Dead 2 charge. Certain in-game actions, such as hearing a baleful noise or passing an opening doorway, would cause the bark conductance to rise. Valve postulates that such information fed into the Director could create a much more effective player experience. [ 41 ]

Infected characters [edit ]

The Infected characters within the game are divided into four categories. The most abundant are the “ common ” infected, the least flex of the infect creatures. alone, these infected are weak, but in large numbers, they pose a significant threat to the Survivors. Often, the Director will engineer a “ drove ”, where a large count of the coarse infect blame the players. Hordes can besides be created by setting off in-game “ crescendo events ” that normally involve some loudly noise created by the players, or by activating a car alarm. As such, many individual levels feature a alone, noisy event, such as the raise of a hoary elevator, where a very boastfully drove will be attracted, with the players given forewarning sol that they can prepare for the attack. A second type of infected introduced in Left 4 Dead 2, are the “ uncommon infected ”. Uncommon infected are unique to certain campaigns and, though not any stronger than the coarse infected, have a special ability that can hamper the players ‘ progress. For model, the uncommon infected in “ hard rain ” are infected road workers that are calm wearing protective ear pieces, making them immune to the bait of pipe bombs. The third base type of septic creature are the “ special ” infected. Each of these creatures appear less frequently during a campaign, and are designed to keep the players working together as a team. They have very specific vocalizations, adenine well as leitmotiv which are inserted into the game ‘s soundtrack when the AI Director places one, allowing Survivor players some forewarning. They serve as playable characters for the Infected in the games ‘ versus modes .

Hunter – a nimble and agile Infected that is able to leap large distances and tackle a single Survivor, who will take damage until either they are killed or the Hunter is either killed or shoved off. The pounced Survivor is rendered completely incapable of taking action, encapsulating the intent of the special infected: they must be rescued by other Survivors as they cannot help themselves.
Smoker – an Infected with a long tongue that it uses to ensnare and strangle Survivors, rendering them helpless until the tongue is hit or the Smoker killed or stunned with explosives or shoving. When killed, it leaves a cloud of smoke that temporarily obscures the Survivors’ vision and makes them cough.
Boomer – a slow-moving bloated Infected that vomits bile onto Survivors; though not harmful itself, the bile attracts common infected to the character. When killed, a Boomer explodes, covering any nearby Survivors in more bile.
Spitter – an Infected that spews a large amount of acidic “spit” at the Survivors. Survivors standing in the “goo” suffer quickly-increasing damage until they move out of the puddle. The Spitter herself is quite weak and upon her death, she leaves a small puddle of acid that also damages Survivors.
Charger – an Infected with a large mutated arm that attacks by charging Survivors at high speed. The charge attack is capable of knocking down and effectively stunning every Survivor at once, and the Survivor at the forefront of the attack is carried as far as the Charger runs or until the Charger hits a wall, at which point the Charger begins to pummel the Survivor. Survivors being pummeled are completely helpless and will be killed unless the Charger is killed. The Charger is also unique among the Special Infected in that, due to its hulking size, it cannot be shoved; only frag rounds and explosives can stumble a charger. The charger can cause almost as much damage with its standard melee attack while not charging.
Jockey – a small Infected with a hunchback that can “ride” a Survivor, hence the name. A Jockey can control a Survivor’s movement while riding them, steering the Survivor into danger. A Survivor suffers damage as long as a Jockey rides them and is completely helpless unless the Jockey is shoved or killed.

finally, there are two especial “ bos ” infected characters that the AI Director includes at rare moments :

The Witch – an infected woman with glowing eyes and long clawed fingers. Witches are unique in that they are passive, preferring to be left alone to cry. However, if a Survivor “startles” her, either with their flashlight, by invading her space, or by damaging her, she will charge that Survivor and automatically incapacitate them. Once incapacitated, the Witch will viciously attack the downed Survivor until either they are killed or she is. If she kills the Survivor who initially disturbed her, then she will run away. On higher difficulty levels, a Witch can automatically kill a Survivor. She is not particularly durable, but she can run faster than Survivors, making it difficult to slay her before someone takes damage. She is the strongest and fastest infected on foot. However, she has the second most hit points, behind the Tank. She can be stunned by explosives and frag rounds.
The Tank – an enormous Infected with superhuman strength. The Tank can charge Survivors and smash them to the floor, or can throw debris, rocks, and cars at them, the latter resulting in instant incapacitation. Kiting is a valid tactic, but Survivors must do so for an extended period of time, a Tank on Normal difficulty has ten times the health of all the Survivors combined. In versus —modes, players may not control the Witch, and may only play as a Tank if the AI Director has already chosen to spawn one. He is the second strongest infected and has the highest number of hit points by far over all of the other infected. Due to his gargantuan size, the Tank can only be stumbled by exploding oxygen canisters or propane tanks. In Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice, he is Bill’s murderer.

See besides [edit ]

Back 4 Blood — an title from Turtle Rock Studios, the original developers of Left 4 Dead.[42]