KEY POINTS

  • "Back 4 Blood" has a solid gameplay loop that's bogged down by glaring issues
  • Some players are concerned about the game's mediocre AI and dubious gameplay balance 
  • Other players feel that the game is way too overpriced

At its core, “Back 4 Blood” is a great co-op shooter that gets many of the things that “Left 4 Dead” did right, but not without missing the mark on some important aspects that may drastically affect player enjoyment once it officially launches later this year.

The early open beta paved the way for tens of thousands of players. “Back 4 Blood” reached almost 100,000 concurrent players during the short few days of the beta, according to PC Gamer. However, not everyone was impressed with what they experienced.

Many community members at r/Back4Blood gave valuable feedback for the developers to work with. But aside from minor balance changes, many of the problems they encountered could cripple the game in its entirety upon launch. Here are three of the most concerning issues with “Back 4 Blood” so far based on the beta.

Back 4 Blood is the spiritual successor of the four-player coop classic Left 4 Dead
Back 4 Blood is the spiritual successor of the four-player coop classic Left 4 Dead Turtle Rock Studios

Bad AI Teammates

Compared to “Left 4 Dead,” the AI teammates in “Back 4 Blood” is simply horrible. They do a great job of following players around and shooting at zombies, but they tend to get stuck in terrain. And if they run out of ammo, they stop functioning altogether. Bots shouldn’t be an issue for players who play in groups, but for everybody else, this could be a dealbreaker.

Difficulty And Balancing Issues

“Back 4 Blood” is simultaneously too hard and too easy. The easiest difficulty, Survivor, is borderline boring; zombie population is too low and special zombies very rarely spawn unless players are on the finale stage.

Veteran difficulty, on the other hand, is much harder. Special zombie spawn rates increase exponentially, to the point where up to three or four of them can be present at any given point.

This issue can be resolved with a few balance passes but considering how difficulty has been a problem since the early alpha, Turtle Rock developers themselves may be having trouble with this issue.

Monetization

Perhaps the biggest concern with “Back 4 Blood” is its price and monetization model. Players are considering the game to be overpriced as the developers seem to be asking for too much while providing too little. “Back 4 Blood” will also have microtransactions in the future, which is a feature that’s generally frowned upon by the gaming community, especially when a game is already fully priced at $60.

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