EVERYTHING YOU’VE WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT LEFT 4 DEAD’S SURVIVAL MODE DLC
With Left 4 Dead‘s first free DLC pack to touch down as soon as next week, Valve have finally let loose precisely what its new “Survival” mode will amount to, and, in typical Valve style, they’ve done it with a thoughtful, chart-enhanced look behind its design.
As it turns out, it will be as simple as requiring a team to survive a fairly constant onslaught of infected as intense as the campaign mode’s final moments — and will chart via leaderboards the tighest-knit groups around the world — but, the team found, even an onslaught needs to be properly tuned.
Says Valve:
Given the extreme pace of Survival Mode, the number of zombies killed in a single round often outnumbers an entire campaign. Even optimizing towards using pistols to eliminate common hordes, ammunition usually becomes an issue at some point. As ammo piles provide a unique infinite resupply for players, they tend to be in relatively less defensible positions in the Survival arenas. This means making an all important ammo run is rarely a safe proposition and requires good teamwork and planning. Timing your resources correctly to be able to make a run when necessary can make or break a team. The perfect pipebomb or well placed molotov can mean the difference between a cakewalk and catastrophe.
The Hospital Elevator, for example, might seem like an easy Crescendo Event to conquer. Hit the elevator button and holdout until the doors open for a quick escape. In Survival Mode, however, the area begins locked down. Areas open as the hordes come in, breaking down the doors to reach the survivors. In each room there are additional caches of vital pills, pipes, and Molotovs. By moving from location to location, using up the plentiful supplies as needed, a team can maximize their time in a game where the elevator never arrives to offer escape. In other maps, items may be less plentiful and require careful planning on their usage. Managing one’s inventory and resources works hand-in-hand with teamwork in Survival Mode.
Head to the official Left 4 Dead blog for more on finely crafting chaos.
Surviving the L4D Survival Pack [Valve]
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