Back 4 Blood: First Look At The Left 4 Dead Successor

We played through one of Back 4 Blood's co-op campaigns and got a sense of how developer Turtle Rock is expanding on its tried-and-true Left 4 Dead formula.

Developer Turtle Rock Studios created a cooperative gaming phenomenon back in 2008 with Left 4 Dead. Twelve years later, it returns to that zombie apocalypse well with Back 4 Blood, another four-player co-op game about working together to fight a horde of mutated former humans. In a lot of ways, Back 4 Blood is a mutation itself--the core is very much Left 4 Dead, but with new additions injecting some fresh blood into the formula.

GameSpot editor Phil Hornshaw and video producer Jean-Luc Seipke got to play through one of Back 4 Blood's campaign levels, in which players fight through the horde as they travel from safe room to safe room, during an early look at the game's closed alpha. Check out the video above, in which we talk about our impressions of Back 4 Blood and the way it draws and expands on Left 4 Dead.

The discussion outlines the similarities between Back 4 Blood and Left 4 Dead--including level structure, enemies, and gameplay--as well as the differences Turtle Rock has baked in as well. These include a progression system that doesn't just benefit players who put in a lot of time, but powers up the whole team, adding more replayability to the entire structure.

We've got more Back 4 Blood coverage from our time checking out the closed alpha, so be sure to check it all out on GameSpot.com.