Many of the staff compiled, and Valve followed that up with the decision to close down Valve South. Upon purchasing the studio, Turtle Rock was rebranded Valve South, and continued to work on Left 4 Dead, but after the game’s release, Valve asked the southern branch’s employees if they’d like to work within Valve proper at their Seattle studio. Given our expectations for Left 4 Dead and our long-standing relationships with members of the Turtle Rock team, this was an easy decision.” Lockdown (Turtle Rock’s Split From Valve) Left 4 Dead 2Įarlier on in 2008, Valve purchased Turtle Rock Studios, with Gabe Newell remarking at the time that it was an easy decision to make: “We have been seeing very strong growth with Steam and Source, our content distribution and development platforms, up over 150 percent over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, there was trouble brewing. Even though there weren’t a huge amount of campaigns, Left 4 Dead was still endlessly replayable. Left 4 Dead 1 also received a healthy dose of post-launch DLC and updates, including a new Survival Mode, an additional campaign in the form of Crash Course, and retained a healthy following for a long time after launch. The sales were nothing to sneeze at either, as L4D achieved 3 million copies sold worldwide within less than a year of release. The game achieved a fantastic 89 on Metacritic, with most agreeing that once you had a full team of players to enjoy the game with, there were few co-op experiences as satisfying. Upon launch in November 2008, Left 4 Dead proved to be a landmark moment in co-op gaming for PC and Xbox 360 players. According to Jaime Sue, a member of the L4D dev team, during the game’s internal commentary, there was an enemy type called The Screamer, which wouldn’t attack players but attract the hordes, though the foe was dropped and the horde luring ability was tied to the Boomer’s vomit. By changing enemy and item spawns, the Director ensured that players were always kept on their toes.ĭuring development, Left 4 Dead went through various changes and iterations with features that ultimately never made the full release. Left 4 Dead ran on an overhauled version of Valve’s Source Engine, which included a lot of key updates to allow more elements and enemies to appear on screen at any one time, but the biggest change came in the form of the AI Director, which altered the experience of every campaign every time you played. Hunters and Smokers in particular could immobilise survivors, leaving them trapped for another survivor to rescue them. All of these special infected had their own unique abilities that could easily put the survivors in peril. Littered amongst the hordes were special infected like The Witch, The Tank, The Hunter, The Smoker and The Boomer. Of course, the survivors weren’t just contended by basic jobber infected who ran at the player, looking to take a few swings. Each campaign was composed of numerous chapters, with the last one typically being a massive finale set piece that requires players to work together in order to win. The premise of Left 4 Dead couldn’t be simpler, with you controlling four survivors (Bill, Zoey, Louis and Francis) as they try to survive against hordes of infected, running, gunning and sometimes even both with the hope of reaching that chapter’s safe room. Valve’s Gabe Newell even said as much in a press release regarding the announcement. Previously, Turtle Rock had been known as the developers behind Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, so there was a keen sense that Left 4 Dead had the potential to do for co-op games what CS did for multiplayer gaming. With that in mind, we’re taking a trip down memory lane to celebrate the history of Left 4 Dead.ĭeveloped by Turtle Rock Studios, Left 4 Dead entered into development around mid-2005 before being revealed by the end of 2006. As this is being published, spiritual successor Back 4 Blood is launching on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S, along with a release through Xbox Game Pass. The 4 vs all zombie horde shooter is considered by many gamers of a certain age to be their first memorable online co-op experience, and the formula, or small aspects of it, has gone on to inspire the likes of World War Z, Zombie Army, Deep Rock Galactic, Vermintide, Payday and others.ĭespite its relatively short lifespan, with only two games released in the space of 12 months, Left 4 Dead’s legacy is still being felt to this day. If one game series seems to have influenced co-op gaming more than any other, it’s Left 4 Dead.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |