02/02/2023 Developer Turtle Rock Studios has discontinued support for Back 4 Blood, though it is still playable.
If you’re ever sitting around and reminiscing about the good old days of booting up your Xbox 360 and playing Left 4 Dead with your mates, wondering what happened to those games – you’re in luck. The developer behind the pinnacle of zombie-fighting co-op games, Turtle Rock Studios, reformed and created a spiritual successor to its iconic undead title: Back 4 Blood.
Having discontinued support for Back 4 Blood in early 2023 to move onto “the next big thing,” one of the best zombie games no longer gets content updates. However, the game is still playable if you’re taking a journey back to the undead horde.
Back 4 Blood release date
Back 4 Blood was released on Tuesday, October 12, 202, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Game Pass on day one.
Check out all the new Xbox Game Pass games and the best Xbox Game Pass games while you’re browsing, as there’s much more than just Back 4 Blood.
Back 4 Blood gameplay
Broadly, Back 4 Blood’s gameplay was a lot like Left 4 Dead – it was a spiritual successor, after all. You would have to pick your character before heading out on fairly linear missions with bespoke objectives to complete as a team. Of course, you weren’t alone – the zombie horde, known as the Ridden, was everywhere. As such, it was a good idea to have the Back 4 Blood best cards in your back pocket.
As you would expect, there was a variety of different zombie types that would block your path and require your team to work together to take it down. Going alone would mean certain death.
Back 4 Blood crossplay
Back 4 Blood had crossplay, cross-gen, and cross-progression from launch. In fact, even the beta tests had these features active, showcasing how crucial it was to the developer. This helped keep the servers populated and you didn’t have to worry if your friends had a different console.
Back 4 Blood game modes
The main multiplayer mode of Back 4 Blood was classic co-op PvE action, pitting four Cleaners against hordes of computer-controlled zombies. This invited those fun times reminiscent of Left 4 Dead, and it was the most popular mode for a reason.
However, it also had Swarm Mode, a PvP mode that allowed players to take control of Cleaners or The Ridden in 4v4 action. Cleaners could upgrade their weapons and gear between rounds, whereas The Ridden mutated into ever-deadlier variants of their horrible bodies.
That’s everything you know about Back 4 Blood, one of the best co-op games out then – at least when it was still getting new content to keep things exciting.