By John Walker on November 14th, 2008 at 12:19 am.
Left 4 Dead has gone gold. Hurrah! A short story, slightly lengthened by letting you know that those who have pre-ordered the game via Steam will be able to begin pre-loading it now, so it’ll be all but ready to go on the 18th November, from 8.01 am GMT (12.01 am EST).
14/11/2008 at 00:29 subedii says:
I was actually very surprised when the L4D demo released on time. Usually “Valve Time” means getting it at 3 AM the following day. Let’s hope they get the game out just as promptly.
I have already sunk FAR too much time into the demo as it is over this time, which is pretty impressive for a 1.5 level demo. I can’t wait for the full thing on Tuesday. Well done to Valve and Turtle Rock, this really is an excellent game.
14/11/2008 at 00:34 Nimic says:
This is perfect! I have a huge exam on the 17th, and the morning next day, L4D is out!
not so perfect, is the fact that FM09 was just released.
14/11/2008 at 00:38 Gorgeras says:
I’ve heard a rumour that the demo maps are not even the full maps, but short versions of the release ones. If it’s true, then they are not typical of the 20 maps that will be available on the 18th.
I hope so because with the right group, the demo maps even on expert are too easy when you move through as fast as you can. Moving to the next saferoom quick gives a huge advantage whilst waiting around makes it impossible.
14/11/2008 at 00:42 Mike says:
The second map is, indeed, not as big as it’ll be in the full version. But bear in mind that the demo is ‘easy’ on Expert, but there are still another three stages left. And a showdown with two tanks.
14/11/2008 at 00:45 subedii says:
I don’t know about the first map, but the second map is cut in half, the saferoom is way earlier than it would be. You can see this by no-clipping and checking out the rest of the level.
As for the complaints of it being too easy, the game is supposed to ramp up in difficulty as it progresses. What we’ve seen are parts of the two easiest levels of a four to five level campaign. Expect things to get worse.
14/11/2008 at 00:46 Vollgassen says:
After preloading Portal it was released at 12am pacific time exactly. I remember waiting up for it and playing through at the same time with a few friends… now I will get to wait up for L4D and play at the same time with a few friends TOGETHER!
14/11/2008 at 00:50 hydra9 says:
@subedii:
Ohhh, the second level is cut in half? Interesting… And that makes things a lot tougher, immediately.
Just completed my first playthrough on ‘Expert,’ after a lot of dying. As one of the group members pointed out, we only made it (‘we’ meaning 2 people alive, with 6 points of health between us) because we didn’t encounter a tank.
14/11/2008 at 00:53 Pags says:
Bought through Amazon instead because it cost me a whole lot cheaper; means I won’t get to experience the joy of preloading or even playing for a few days after release, but on the plus side, I’m £10 better off than I would be. Which, these days, would probably be enough for a really good sandwich.
14/11/2008 at 00:56 hydra9 says:
I also saved that £10 by pre-ordering off Amazon. But now I’m wondering:
A week of jealousy and crying > saving £10?
14/11/2008 at 00:58 Pags says:
I decided I’d use that time to do something resourceful. Like get a job. Or just finish Grim Fandango again. Whichever happens first.
14/11/2008 at 01:09 SlappyBag says:
I see they added an extra min to make up for Valve Time.
14/11/2008 at 01:42 A-Scale says:
Oh shut up you twat
14/11/2008 at 01:50 Tom says:
I downloaded the demo today, started it up and immediately got frustrated due to the german voice over of the intro. (yep, I live in Germany)
I was half expecting no blood, or maybe teddy bears instead of guts and gore, so I was surprised that there was at least some of the red pixel-liquid to go round, but I still suspect the game to be censored.
So please tell me, can you shoot of limbs, or at least heads, do the ‘dead’-undead also immediately disapear when killed? Or is the game just not as violent as it should be (being a zombie shooter and all…) ?!
14/11/2008 at 02:02 RichPowers says:
Great thing about Valve games: wait for a sale at retail or Amazon and then activate via Steam. Same convenience, lower price.
L4D is alright, but I can’t bring myself to pay $50 for it. Maybe if I had RL friends to coop with.
I downloaded the German version of “Meet the Soldier.” The black liquid and cogs that substituted for blood and bone would’ve been somewhat amusing if it wasn’t forced by the government.
14/11/2008 at 02:02 Saul says:
@Tom: Yeah, in the regular version you can blow off arms, legs and heads, blood splatters the walls and even the player’s screen. It’s gory alright.
@A-Scale: Stop trolling. Mike is making a good point that a lot of people seem to have missed. ie. Just because some people find the demo easy to get through, doesn’t mean the full-length game will be as straight-forward. I don’t see how that makes him a ‘twat’, but your comment is sure making you look like one right now…
14/11/2008 at 02:14 EvAde says:
So does anyone have any idea if the demo will count against the full game download at all?
14/11/2008 at 02:30 Tworak says:
This or Wotlk? This or Wotlk… BOTH! \o/
14/11/2008 at 02:51 IdleHands says:
Mike; Easy on Expert?! I feel fear of your gaming skills if you find expert mode easy, or jealousy for finding a good 4 man team.
Might need to take tuesday off to fully enjoy this game, and maybe wednesday, possibly thursday, friday too. At least it’s being released at 8am, rather than other titles that were released 5pm.
14/11/2008 at 03:26 Nick says:
Expert in the demo isn’t too tough unless you encounter a tank, then it becomes nearly impossible.
14/11/2008 at 04:05 Shadowmancer says:
According to Valve and the official Left 4 Dead group the release time is 8.01pm not AM you are off by 12 hours guys as 8pm (our time) is 12am (Valve time).
14/11/2008 at 04:13 Saul says:
@EvAde: The demo will more than likely count for a reasonable hunk of the final product, just as the demo itself made use of source engine files from HL2. Valve are big into the file-sharing (ha!) these days.
14/11/2008 at 04:33 IdleHands says:
Shadowmancer; According to steam it’s unlocked at 8am, doing the math from what’s up there (though could be wrong, seeing as prices are still in dollars they aren’t considering countries outside the US).
14/11/2008 at 04:52 Gaph says:
Really? Sounds like fun but I haven’t seen or heard of anything like that. Well, it’s not like one Tank is too much to handle…
14/11/2008 at 06:17 Thiefsie says:
So… do the demo and this preload share files at all? Out in the arse end of the world Australia where we’re the few living beings left to have download limits, the size of downloading is an issue!
14/11/2008 at 06:23 Corbeaubm says:
Expert in the demo is a matter of not panicking and shooting up your teammates. Even a tank is manageable if you can avoid making foolish mistakes. Though it is really, really, really easy to make such mistakes. :)
14/11/2008 at 06:37 john t says:
I am working on a 2 minute spiel when starting up games with strangers on expert.
“Okay, move quickly, — don’t split up, don’t stay in one spot, and don’t go back for anything except other players. If you have a shotgun you’re going first or turn around and cover the rear. If you’re standing up front, duck down. and don’t startle the fucking witch. Now… let’s kill zombies.”
Even on expert the game is actually kind of easy as long as everyone keeps moving. You have to get over the video gamer impulse to collect every fucking thing on the level. Just grab and go.
Nothing ends more games then “I’m just going to go look for a molotov”
14/11/2008 at 07:47 Tei says:
Mistakes in a Zombie apocalypse?.. now way!
14/11/2008 at 08:10 Idle Threats & Bad Poetry says:
Per http://store.steampowered.com/news/2009/
14/11/2008 at 08:17 Shadowmancer says:
@ IdleHands
Wrong the official left 4 dead (developers) group on the steam community has 8pm (gmt) and they were right for the demo, so we are all out by 12 hours here at rps.
14/11/2008 at 08:40 Skurmedel says:
Instant preorder.
14/11/2008 at 10:06 Digit says:
Is this hitting retail too? If so I’m quite amazed by the turn-around time, since this really only leaves 2 working days for mastering/shipping?! :o
14/11/2008 at 10:23 ChaosSmurf says:
I expect the way the game will be played is everyone and their 3 friends will play it through on Advanced (maybe normal) once or twice then we’ll all move on to Expert or Versus mode until our dying days.
14/11/2008 at 10:53 Dinger says:
Tom — you might be able to fix the language by switching your Steam language to something other than English, than switching it back to English. It worked for me. (Unless you like the German voice acting).
14/11/2008 at 10:55 Digit says:
Ok I’ve read up some more and the game hits stores on 20th November, which seems pretty fast, but more reasonable without super-powers. ;)
14/11/2008 at 10:58 Tainted says:
Play.com have the full game for £22.99. Really good pre-order price compared to Steam’s £36 or whatever it is.
Gotta wait an extra couple of days but it’s worth it for £13 (or two games from GOG!)
14/11/2008 at 11:07 LactoseTheIntolerant says:
Bugger saving money, I’ve got my game pre-ordered and pre-loaded. I know what I’ll be doing for most of next week.
14/11/2008 at 11:34 Paul Moloney says:
I’m happy enough to stick with the play.com pre-order; I really want to finish Far Cry 2 before I get sucked into a zombie armagheddon. Plus my copy of FO3 got lost in the post. :(
P.
14/11/2008 at 11:52 Frans Coehoorn says:
I STILL LOVE THIS GAME!
14/11/2008 at 12:16 manintheshack says:
Could we hear a word from RPS on the difficulty debate?
Did you end up in tears after a playthrough on expert? Or did you head to the nearest internet forum to make people feel inferior to you?
14/11/2008 at 12:38 Tei says:
Notice: Gameplay dificulty online can varie.
Varie because different spawn of special zombies.
Varie because different teammates.
Varie because bad/good timming.
etc.
14/11/2008 at 12:42 Alec Meer says:
We, er, weren’t very good at expert. That said, bear in mind the demo only covers the first two stages of a campaign. You’ve not seen any of the climactic stand-offs yet, which are a challenge way beyond the stuff in the demo. I suspect the uber-elite will easily conquer expert in due course, but it’ll continue providing a beefy challenge for us norms.
14/11/2008 at 12:46 Ceremony says:
I just checked my steam page, apparently I’ve played the demo for 12 hours.
14/11/2008 at 12:46 mrrobsa says:
I think expert is pitched just right, but my housemates think it is too easy. Suffice to say we have played through the demo for over two hours and only got to the end once. =S
Oh and if you see an expert Tank, run! Run and Shoot!
14/11/2008 at 12:51 Kieron Gillen says:
Yeah – people who are being all macho about expert really should wait until they play a conclusion. We battled through, as Alec said, but things really could fall apart near the end. Especially on Farmhouse, which we couldn’t beat without turning the difficulty down.
KG
14/11/2008 at 12:53 manintheshack says:
That’s all good then. I’m just wondering what difficulty to play through the full game for the first time for a perfect enjoyment/challenge ratio. Judging by the demo (which I’ve racked up a stupidly huge 24 hours of play on (Double brackets: That’s more than I’ve spent on Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 put together), I can make it un-killed through easy, normal and hard difficulties, but expert is only finishable 1 in 5 tries I’d say…
14/11/2008 at 12:56 Jim Rossignol says:
People are judging the difficulty based on having played the first part of what is arguably the easiest campaign. That alone should suggest it gets a little harder.
14/11/2008 at 13:04 Dude says:
And there is still a campaign we don’t know much about… Unless someone got some preview of Death toll that I missed?
14/11/2008 at 13:07 Dude says:
Well, seems my wish have been answer, there is a video of it at left4dead411
(no edit button….)
14/11/2008 at 13:20 Guido says:
I have to take a free day on the 18th.
14/11/2008 at 13:26 man alive says:
It is variable, first run through on expert singleplayer was easy, can’t beat it again now.
14/11/2008 at 13:27 Kadayi says:
Even before the game is out the E-penis of ‘expert’ bragging already rears it’s ugly head…
The game is all about the long haul. It’s clear that it’s not just enough to get to the safehouse, it’s also about getting there in good shape. If you’re having to burn the med kit in there as soon as you arrive simply to stay alive, you’ve screwed yourself for the next chapter.
14/11/2008 at 13:32 Kan3da says:
On Difficulty:
I consider myself an FPS Vet. Im playing online for about 10 years now and had my fair share of semi-pro play in the high-school days. On public servers im usually under the first 3 in the games i play, so id say im pretty decent. Now, everyone who tells you that expert is easy is either playing alone or just with one buddy which seems to make the Director tone down the difficulty immensely. Or they are exploting the flaws of the system (extreme rushing). If you play the game as intended youll have a very hard but very satisfying time with the expert mode. Considering that we only got to play 1.5 levels and that most parts of it are in tight places which makes the horde much easier to control id say its gonna be a hell of a challenge. Also the biggest enemy in this game are your teammates and not the zombies. Im playing the game with two friends of mine and normally one random or an NPC. After sinking about 15 hours into the game we established a set of tactics that really work well. But it needs just one mistake at the wrong time on expert and your dead.
We also got a ded Server running so if anyone wants to play a game with some blokes that are hardcore on the teamplay aspect of the game hit me up on steam: E.E. Kan3da.
14/11/2008 at 13:34 Kan3da says:
P.S.: Also consider Versus. If youd play on expert with the boss infected being humans i cant imagine how we would even survive the first level.
14/11/2008 at 13:36 MeestaNob! says:
@ Thiefsie
If downloading such a large bunch of files is an issue, you can try finding a friend locally who already has it.
- First, purchase L4D and let Steam allocate disk space.
- Once it’s downloading, for a few seconds, close Steam, make sure it’s COMPLETELY closed, then copy the l4d.gcf (or similarly named files) to the correct steam/steamapps directory.
- Start Steam again, it may/may not download some more to either update further or verify the file(s).
- Run the game, and it should all be hunky dory.
Technincally this is against the Steam subscriber agreement, but it’s a generally accepted method of skipping long downloads for gamers on a cap.
The other alternative is to use Steam’s game back up feature on the friends computer and then try installing the backup on your own machine. I don’t know if this is subject to problems when installing to a different account.
14/11/2008 at 13:37 Nitre says:
I’ve decided to get this in favour of WotLK. Mainly because it might actually be fun. Oh, and Auto-Shotguns are some of the best things in zombie apocalypses ever.
I fear that i might be spending way too much time playing the game when it comes out properly, because i’ve already pumped a good 10 hours into the demo since it came out, and i’ve had a pretty busy week.
Oh well, nothing is better than shooting the crapfel out of a zombie horde with some friends.
14/11/2008 at 13:53 qrter says:
That’s an interesting question, actually. Never really thought about that. I don’t see why anyone who owns a game on Steam couldn’t just use someone elses back up files, you’d think the important part is that you paid for the license to play – otherwise you wouldn’t be able to buy the game in retail, wouldn’t you?
14/11/2008 at 13:57 cyrenic says:
@Kan3da
I agree that the director seems to tone things down if you have some AI teammates.
Regarding tank difficulty on expert, I think it’s perfect. We take him down maybe 2/5 times we encounter him, and it’s very satisfying when we do manage to kill him. Fighting him in the parking garage with all the pillars is great.
14/11/2008 at 14:01 GenuineEntropy says:
Had another bash at the demo last night. All rather spiffing.
Friends signed off rather early so I ended up playing with some interweb randoms… At one stage I noticed we were spending a lot of time stalling and hanging around at certain points in the map.
‘Curse these cowards’ thought I ‘everyone knows that hanging about on expert mode is the quickest way to get killed’.
And then it dawned on me; my random interweb cohorts had actually all buggered off , leaving me with 3 AI teammates who were all waiting patiently for me to stop being so cowardly and lead on… Heh.
14/11/2008 at 14:23 Dinger says:
Heh. John T.’s speech is good. Too many people play it like any other FPS.
Zombie respawns and weapon/ammo/health drops are all controlled by the Director, folks. If you clear that side-room, they’ll just bust in through the window. No need to hunt for molotovs and health — the Director will put them where you can find them. Now move!
14/11/2008 at 14:34 Brian English says:
I think the difficulty is fine and my friends and I beat it all the time. If you want to bump up the difficulty upscale the console command that spawns 30 zombies in the rushes to something higher. Problem solved.
14/11/2008 at 15:08 Ian says:
One thing that does concern me about the game is that for me half of the pleasure of the demo has been when playing with competent people but who hadn’t played it before. There’re very human traits that shine through when you’re not sure where you’re going, somebody stepping a little too far from the group as they try to check something out and all that stuff.
Once everybody’s done all the levels a dozen times and know the nooks and crannies will it become just another co-op shooter? I’d like to think that this is what the Director is for, to catch you off guard and keep things fresh. But even then, eventually you’ll have your attacks for each boss and what to do during the wave-attacks by zombies that the element of surprise will be gone.
What makes and breaks the demo for me is how people react in the game when they’re not well drilled and each scenario the Director tosses your way sparks improvisation.
Hopefully I’m just over-thinking it.
14/11/2008 at 15:24 Kan3da says:
Yeah. Tank fights are great. Imagine him played by a human though who moves on to the next player after downing one player and maybe even another human boss infected as a boomer puking one of the survivors when things get really hectic fighting the tank. controlling the tank, fighting of the horde and then even have a hunter entering the fray.
Also upping the diff by increasing the horde wouldnt change much in my opinion. If you have the horde under control it doesnt matter if there are 30 or 100 coming. But having the horde coming in the open and then having a smoker or hunter in the middle of it. Thats when things go bad.
14/11/2008 at 15:26 cullnean says:
i laughed hartily when in a PUG, a dude ran off on his lonesome got pwnd by a hunter called us gays and quit.
want a tough game, play with mental peeps you dont know or trust for an added layer of tension.
14/11/2008 at 15:52 Devildog says:
I’m so torn between getting this on the 360 or the PC. On one hand, the 360 will have Live support and very little, if any, lag as a result of processor capability, graphics card, etc. On the other hand, I firmly believe that FPS games play better on the PC and I just like playing with WASD and my mouse much better but I’m worried that I won’t have that player base to tap when I want to play Co-Op. WHAT TO DO??!! Plus, I’m not running a KILLER machine right now. I mean, it’s an XPS laptop that was amazing in May of ’07, but no amazing anymore. Maybe just good. Kinda really good. Sorta.
14/11/2008 at 15:57 Ceremony says:
@ Dude
The first footage of Death Toll was released yesterday: http://www.g4tv.com/trailers/videos/34879/Left_4_Dead_Mission_2_DirectFeed_Gameplay_Footage_X360.html
14/11/2008 at 16:06 hydra9 says:
@GenuineEntropy:
Hehe. I had a similar situation the other night, when I suddenly realized I was playing with three AI guys, and probably had been for the last couple of attempts. The original 3 humans and I had been getting completely destroyed and they’d obviously got fed up and left. I thought they’d just become cowardly and despondent but no, they were robots. Quite creepy, actually.
14/11/2008 at 16:08 manintheshack says:
I have noticed that this game is reasonably moron proof. They don’t really know what to do with themselves and generally have a hard time griefing others and if they do try it on their own they can’t really take it very far. Hopefully Valve’s anti-dick system will eleviate the rest of them.
14/11/2008 at 16:08 Ian says:
@Devildog: Lots of friendly folk on the RPS Steam community chatwebs thingmajig.
14/11/2008 at 17:07 Nick says:
@the RPSchappies – which is why I specified expert on the demo as not being too tough, I (and Mike) fully expect it to be much more of a challenge further along that campaign, let alone in the other ones. No macho-nes here, just our experience of playing it with our various forum friends, the only time we get in trouble is usually when a tank shows up – and this is with plenty of dicking around.
14/11/2008 at 17:14 Deadpan says:
A few pro tips:
1. When using the pipebomb to draw a mob away from a puked-on survivor, don’t lob it AT the survivor.
2. Cars with red blinking lights, when shot, set off an alarm and attract a horde of zombies. So don’t shoot it if your team is half dead…. unless you are far enough away that the mob will bypass you.
3. Zombie mobs can, and will attack from the area you just cleared. take note of this and be sure to check your sectors.
4. Avoid throwing molotovs into your only path of escape. That’s when the horde will come from the opposite direction.
14/11/2008 at 20:32 Gorgeras says:
The game is very easy when you rush, so of course it will be different when the game forces you into staying in the same place for a while like a stand-off would.
When human players can control the Infected bosses though, I’m sure they will come up with devious ways to counter the rush strategy.
10/01/2009 at 16:29 alex says:
nice game i loveit
10/01/2009 at 16:31 alex says:
how i install left 4 death??
10/01/2009 at 16:32 James T says:
Can u shot web?