Back 4 Blood is a co-op action shooter that’s filled with infected enemies to kill. It’s like a first-person version of World War Z, but it seems to have even more variety in the characters you play as and the enemies you’re fighting against, The Ridden. These are infected mutants that have come into contact with some sort of worm that makes them incredibly dangerous. Now, there are all sorts of variations of Ridden all over the world, and it’s down to a group calling themselves Cleaners to fix up the mess. I love this concept because it’s light. There’s not much lore you need to take in, and I imagine that any there is will be restricted to the characters only.
This game has a lot of stuff that the general gaming public is going to enjoy. The enemies are pretty much zombies, which is always a good combination with co-op and first-person shooting these days. Next, there are complex characters who are all different enough to warrant specialisation. The maps and enemies look to have enough variety that things will be interesting and dynamic no matter how long you play, there will always be some repetition, but I think it will all work out in this case.
I can see this game doing well because of what came before it. There’s very little that I see going wrong unless the implementation of the ideas is terrible. As long as the shooting feels good and fair and the enemies offer a real challenge, this game is going to rock. I myself will play anything with enemies that are even vaguely like zombies, so this is right up my alley. It does make me think of Left 4 Dead, but I think there’s so much more to it than that. The characters and enemies alone are so much more interesting.
Turtle Rock Studios tried to create a genre with Evolve, and they did, but the world wasn’t ready for it. Here, the studio is leaning on a beloved genre and making it better. Their spin on the co-op shooter experience is going to sell extremely well, and I can’t wait to see it succeed.