Back 4 Blood Reviews
Back 4 Blood edges past the competition in the packed cooperative shooter landscape by offering players a creative card system buffered by tight gameplay, just be sure to bring some friends along for the massacre as solo play features limitations.
With Back 4 Blood, developer Turtle Rock tries to revive Left 4 Dead's cooperative, zombie-shooting glory days. The result is a mixed bag that features solid ideas, but half-baked execution.
It's a no-brainer to at least check out as it's on Game Pass, but poor controls on console serve as a great detriment to what otherwise can be a really fun time.
Left 4 Dead is a beautiful relic, something I and many others spent hundreds of hours playing in high school and college. But with games like Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and even Aliens: Fireteam Elite branching out and taking more of a class-based approach, I was sure Back 4 Blood’s more classic bone structure would crumble under the pressure. But Back 4 Blood is more like that makeshift, armor-clad Hummer you see in every zombie show and movie: The bones of what it once was are easy to see, but it’s been reinforced to survive in a new environment.
Back 4 Blood is a good game, it improves on the Left 4 Dead formula in a way that is challenging and creative. However, the move to forcing people to advance the overall game by going online, being forced to work with randoms in a very badly connected cross-platform multiplayer games where without a solid communication base, resulting in Back 4 Blood being an experience in frustration rather than a very enjoyable game. If Turtle Rock allows for private games where you can do under 4 players with bots instead, then maybe this game can truly be something that is a must-own. But at the moment Back 4 Blood is only worth playing if you have a premade group of friends.
If you played Left 4 Dead, you’ll feel right at home. Back 4 Blood is a more mature and more bad-ass version of L4D, elevating every mechanic from the former series and making it better while adding in new features that makes playing far more rewarding. I can’t wait for my friends from the former Friday night L4D group to get their hands on Back 4 Blood when it launches next week on Game Pass. We’ve already made plans to play together, meaning a large Little Caesars pizza is in my future.
It seems backhanded to say that a game is only worth playing if you can find people to distract you from the actual game, but if your group wants something mindless to wind down after an intense night on Warzone or Rainbow Six: Siege, Back 4 Blood is ideal.
Overall, Back 4 Blood is a great game with glaring flaws that bring it down a little. Maybe as time goes on Turtle Rock can address the issues and elevate this to a perfect game for me. I am so happy to have a Left 4 Dead successor that feels current for this gaming landscape and is genuinely a blast to play.
Back 4 Blood is another great multiplayer zombie game, but some serious balance issues force it to stumble out of the gate.
We're back to the old cooperative mode of busting zombies like there is no tomorrow with Back 4 Blood, the heir to Left 4 Dead that keeps the essence of the franchise alive and incorporates new mechanics, but with lessons to be learned in the field of PvP.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Back 4 Blood has built on the great foundations that Left 4 Dead laid over a decade ago. The gameplay is brilliant, there's also that little bit more to keep the challenge fresh and to keep zombie killing fun.
Back 4 Blood is more than Left 4 Dead 3 with another name. It presents a strategic use of cards and a well developed progression system that guarantees a lot of fun and replayability.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Is it new Left 4 Dead or not? Are There some new improvements? Is it worth to play? Yes, Yes and Yes!
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Turtle Rock's Back 4 Blood is tough as nails and has some minor annoyances, but it's a refreshingly complete and competent multiplayer experience.
Despite a few shortcomings, Back 4 Blood is nevertheless an excellent and fresh take on the beloved Left 4 Dead formula.
Back 4 Blood' has the best water-cooler moments of any game released in 2021.
Back 4 Blood is a fantastic entry in this genre that is held back by a couple of bold choices. Builds are a lot of fun until it becomes overly robotic and anything short of a really bad modifier puts you on a set loop. It also benefits from strong mechanics that make even the lowest difficulty feel unrelenting, along with rewarding team players. As much as I applaud Back 4 Blood for catering to a specific hardcore player base, it is a choice that will alienate certain players. I suggest asking yourself if you’re looking for a game to grind heavily or if a moderate challenge on a lower difficulty is enough. If you answered yes to either or just love the genre, odds are you’ll love this too. However, if you’re not looking for a massive team-based shooter, this is one experience that will leave you frustrated and disappointed.
Tons of replay value and great challenge make Back 4 Blood a fantastic co-op experience that shouldn’t be missed.
If you have a squad of like-minded buddies ready to lose many an evening to slaying some zombie infested hordes, Back 4 Blood will provide you plenty to satisfy that urge. It doesn’t quite capture the greatness of its forebears and it stumbles over itself with its erratic difficulty curve and repetitive nature, but Back 4 Blood has immensely satisfying, if simplistic, gameplay mechanic. This is a veteran, war-torn survivor who’s maybe danced this bloody dance once too many times, but it knows damn well how to deliver that co-op fun.