Left 4 Dead is considered one of the greatest cooperative games of all time for good reason. The Valve-developed four-player shooter introduced a whole generation of fans to a tight collaborative action experience whose subtle mechanics allowed for infinite replayability. Without a sequel on the horizon, other companies have begun to create new spins on this beloved series, such as the upcoming Back 4 Blood, which has already generated huge buzz within the gaming community.
At this year’s E3, a slew of cooperative games with similar mechanics to Left 4 Dead-style were revealed. Ranging from original properties to licensed games, these new co-op shooters are keeping the legacy of the fan-favorite title alive and well.
Redfall
One of the more surprising reveals at Microsoft and Bethesda’s joint E3 press conference, Redfall is developer Arkane Austin’s follow-up to single-player shooter Prey. However, Redfall goes in a very different direction. Redfall is a four-player co-op shooter that features wise-cracking and colorful human characters in a world plagued by monsters.
This time around, the monsters aren’t hordes of zombies but rather powerful vampires. Players will have to band together, utilizing conventional weaponry and powerful abilities to save the town of Redfall, Massachusetts, which has been overrun by the blood-drinking creatures of the night. Redfall features an open world where the sunlight has been blocked out and only one team of four unique characters can send the vampires back to hell with cooperative teamwork and violence.
Evil Dead: The Game
Another upcoming shooter that trades Left 4 Dead‘s zombies for another monster is the licensed revival of the Evil Dead franchise, featuring the return of iconic demon slayer Ash Williams and his motley crew of allies. Evil Dead: The Game looks to be a combination of the asymmetric multiplayer of games like Dead by Daylight and the traditional humans blasting monsters combat of Left 4 Dead blended into a humorous, action-packed package.
Recently shown off in a gameplay trailer during E3, Evil Dead: The Game puts one player as a powerful demon, able to possess characters against a team of four players consisting of heroes from the Evil Dead film and television franchise. Players must vanquish the demon along with a horde of deadite monsters in this return of the Evil Dead series to the world of video games.
Aliens: Fireteam
Announced earlier this year and due sometime this summer, Aliens: Fireteam is another licensed shooter that aims to deliver a cooperative third-person shooter that takes the team members down to three and brings the sci-fi horror of the Alien franchise back into video games. By combining the most iconic weapons and enemies of the series with brand new surprises, Aliens: Fireteam hopes to continue the Alien video game revival started by 2014’s excellent Alien: Isolation.
Players can choose from five customizable classes, including the medic-focused “Doc” and gadget deploying “Engineer,” and launch into a Left 4 Dead-like four campaign arc, whereby each campaign contains three missions. Players will face off against not just classic xenomorphs but rogue synthetic androids and even brand new alien designs created exclusively for the game by developer Cold Iron Studios in this spooky space shooter.
Warhammer 40K: Darktide
Warhammer is a property that is no stranger to great cooperative games inspired by Left 4 Dead. For years developer Fatshark has been releasing and updating its Warhammer: Vermintide series over two games that deliver medieval combat in a deep fantasy world. However, with the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Fatshark aims to take the gameplay of Vermintide to the distant future by creating a Left 4 Dead-style game inside the Warhammer 40K science fiction universe.
Darktide trades Vermintide‘s focus on melee combat mechanics for a melee and shooter hybrid that puts players in opposition to Chaos forces of pure evil. Four players will unite and pick from a handful of unique characters to take on hordes of enemies ready to destroy the universe if their onslaught isn’t stopped. The Vermintide series has been praised for its adherence to and evolution of the Left 4 Dead-style into a deep RPG system. Hopefully, Darktide will bring this same kind of gameplay experience when it launches later this year.
The Anacrusis
The Anacrusis is a game firmly set in the world of late ’60s to early ’70s science fiction media like Logan’s Run and the original Battlestar Galactica. Studio Stray Bombay hopes to combine the retro sci-fi style with a tense battle against aliens that looks as good as it plays.
The Anacrusis has four suave survivors facing off against hordes of aliens aboard a groovy space station where the battle for the future of the earth will begin. The Anacrusis attempts to deliver a different experience for players with each round. A random generation AI reshuffles items and enemy placements each game and attempts to surprise the four-player teams with new outcomes and challenges. Players will need to stay vigilant when The Anacrusis comes out this fall.
2021 already seems like the year of the cooperative video game revival, with games poised to deliver a great shooter experience to those who love working with others. Even outside of the Left 4 Dead-style genre, the massive success of games like Valheim has proven that players enjoy collaboration more than ever. Time will tell if players find the next Left 4 Dead or simply return to the original series to satisfy the need for cooperative shooting action.
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