Turtle Rock Studios confirmed that its upcoming zombie-shooter Back 4 Blood will not feature a Campaign Versus mode similar to its spiritual predecessor Left 4 Dead. Instead, the developers said, Back 4 Blood will focus on its existing versus mode, which pits two teams of players against each other on a smaller map with each team alternating between Cleaners and Ridden. As of today, the studio has “no plans” to add Campaign Versus to the game.
The studio revealed the new information via Back 4 Blood‘s official discord server, in response to a fan’s question on whether the studio would add a versus campaign mode. When asked why, Design Director Chris Ashton stated, “We have a lot of defensive equipment and our specials are good at ambushing. Defending worked far better for our game than running from A-B.”
While the game’s current versus mode does share some similarities with the popular game mode from the Left 4 Dead series, there are a few key distinctions. One, as noted by Ashton, is in the game mode’s objective; rather than running from the beginning of a map to a designated safe room, Cleaners are simply tasked with fighting off a team of player-controlled Ridden. The second difference is that the two teams alternate between the Cleaners and Ridden with each round, and can pick upgrades to improve their chances at winning.
This isn’t the end-all-be-all, of course, but needless to say, many fans are disappointed by the lack of a campaign versus mode. It’s no exaggeration to say that the mode’s endless replayability was what kept—and arguably, what is continuing to keep—the Left 4 Dead series afloat after all these years. Considering Turtle Rock Studios has stated that it’s making an effort to include accessibility options in the game, who knows, maybe they’ll listen to fan feedback and add the mode in eventually.
Did you play the Back 4 Blood beta? If so, how did you feel about the versus mode as it exists? Let us know in the comments below.
[Source: Eurogamer]
