Luckily, for anyone craving something a bit different, E3 2021 has so far offered up a deluge of alternatives. Being a relatively known quantity and coming from Left 4 Dead’s original creators also renders Back 4 Blood the safe choice for players wanting to indulge in this classic style of co-op shooter. The latest deep-dive may have focused intimately on Back 4 Blood’s new PvP “Swarm” mode, but there’s no denying that it’s mostly built on the proven formula of having players simultaneously blast away at different types of the flesh-eating undead as a party of four. Yet even then, gameplay innovations have been made on the ruleset side of things, with Back 4 Blood separating itself from its inspiration through a new “corruption card” system that affects the challenges ahead. The biggest indication of this stems from the enemies you’ll be fighting: zombies, plain and simple. Developed by the same staff that worked on the original Left 4 Dead games, Turtle Rock has been candid about just how much of a spiritual successor it is to the much-beloved duo of coop shooters.
Almost every entry showcased both outside of and during this weekend’s events is separated by both a difference in tone and the distinct range of enemy types you and your pals will get to fight.īack 4 Blood was the one we knew the most about going into E3 2021.
With so many co-op PvE shooters set to release within the next 12 months, though, should we be worried about them suddenly flooding the market? Not really. Outriders did gangbuster numbers by launching straight into Game Pass early on this year, while the wonderfully absurd Second Extinction (which challenges three-player squads to fend off against giant mutated dinosaurs) has already cultivated a devoted audience in Early Access form. and more are all jumping into the fray to lend this style of multiplayer action the Triple-A production values and sensibilities modern players crave.Īdmittedly, we should have seen this long-gestating genre surge coming. It’s especially exciting because no longer is it just indie teams looking to provide their own addictive spin on the setup either, as the likes of Ubisoft, Warner Bros. As such, all signs point towards a boom for this classically chaotic genre. This year’s event has seen the promotion of not one, not two or even three, but at least four different upcoming PvE shooters in Back 4 Blood, Rainbow Six: Extraction, and the newly announced The Anacrusis from Stray Bombay, and Arkane Austin’s Redfall. A mythical third entry is just a hopeful dream within most player’s minds, but in lieu of that dream sequel, this year’s E3 has proven plenty of other developers are happy to step up and satiate people’s hunger. Valve – and more specifically Turtle Rock Studios – were some of the first to recognise this over a decade ago now, offering up a near-perfect slice of cooperative multiplayer shooting in Left 4 Dead.
But you know what’s better? You guessed it: doing the exact same with three or four friends supporting you right alongside. Shooting down endless waves of either aliens or the undead is a lot of fun.