Turtle Rock Studios’ Back 4 Blood Open Beta has already started. Its early access began last August 5 to August 9 for players who have pre-ordered the game, and the Left 4 Dead series fans can also play by registering on Back 4 Blood’s official site. Its Open Beta will then continue from August 12 to August 16, where the game will be available for all players. But its publisher Warner Bros. also mentioned that not all those who registered will be able to play the open beta.
Back 4 Blood is coined as Left 4 Dead’s spiritual successor because it is also developed by Turtle Rock Studios. Fans have been calling it Left 4 Dead 3 due to the gameplay similarities of the two games. However, as seen in the trailers, Back 4 Blood seems to be a lot more interesting with its new features and special zombies. Players will also be able to experience some new content not found on Left 4 Dead.
Here are some of the features that open beta players can expect from Back 4 Blood:
- 2 maps for Swam PvP mode
- 2 co-op maps against Riddens (Special Zombies)
- Play as Mom for the first time
- Playable Characters/Cleaners include Holly, Hoffman, Evangelo, and Walker.
- Play as six different Ridden variants (Special Zombies) in Swarm mode, including Hocker, Exploder, Bruiser, Retch, Stinger, and Crusher
- Experience various weapons, cards to build decks, and Ridden to slay
- Explore Fort Hope communal Hub
- Supports cross-play and cross-gen gameplay
According to Back 4 Blood’s lead producer, Matt O’ Driscoll, players can team up with three friends to play the Swarm Mode. The Swarm Mode is the game’s PVP mode, wherein each team will either play a set of Cleaners or a group of Riddens. Cleaners are the zombie-killers like Mom, Holly, Hoffman, Evangelo, and Walker. On the other hand, the Riddens are the special zombies with different abilities like the Bruiser, Crusher, Exploder, Hocker, Retch, and Stinger.
In Swarm mode, the two opposing teams will need to take each other in a head-to-head battle across three rounds. It works pretty similar to Left 4 Dead’s PvP mode. As Driscoll stated, the winner of the game depends on which team can survive the longest as the cleaners over three rounds.
It is called Swarm mode because it features a ring of deadly insects around the map. The insects come closer at every round, making the map smaller and more challenging for the Cleaners to hide from the Riddens.
Back 4 Blood Open Beta will be playable on Microsoft Windows gaming pc, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 and 5.