“Back 4 Blood” reaches a key milestone next week as the spiritual successor of the “Left 4 Dead” series enters its Open Beta. Running in two phases through August, the snippets of gameplay will give fans a chance to check out the “Swarm” PvP mode and two co-op maps.
The first phase runs from Aug. 5 to Aug. 9 and is the Early Access portion of the beta that’s available to those who preordered the game. Players can also register for a chance for an Early Access code on the “Back 4 Blood’ website here. The second phase of the beta is open to all and runs from Aug. 12 to Aug. 16. The main difference between the experiences is that the preorder players will get a bonus Fort Hope Elite Weapon Skin Pack. Regardless of when they access the game, players can expect to play it on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC. Best of all, “Back 4 Blood” has cross-play and cross-gen support on the Open Beta.
As for the content, players can jump into two maps for the aforementioned “Swarm” PvP mode that pits the Cleaners against the Devil Worm-infected Ridden. One team plays as the humans and the other as zombies in a best-of-three series. Those who play as Cleaners can pick from Mom, Evangelo, Holly, Walker and Hoffman. On the Ridden side, they’ll have access to six zombie variants, which include Bruiser, Retch, Hocker, Exploder, Crusher and Stinger.
With its return to the zombie shooter, Turtle Rock Studios tries to push the genre forward by increasing the level of replayability with a rogue-lite Card System, characters that have distinct perks and abilities and a beefed up Game Director system that changes up how levels unfold. The PvP also adds another element to attract gamers and offer another avenue of play.
In addition, players can explore the Fort Hope communal hub during the beta and check out some of the weapons in the game. For the co-op mode, players can venture through two maps. “Back 4 Blood” is scheduled for release Oct. 12, 2021.
