had a lot of fun in the beta. pretty much everything that i expected from a modern L4D game.

big questions remain about the value of full game content, their monetization strategy, etc.

still, it's day one on game pass so i will be checking it out.

OPEN BETA REVIEW. i have played act 1 twice at this point. shelved since i don't own it and can't drop 80 bucks on a game rn lol.

current state, game's glitchy as all fuck and is probably going to be like that on release unless the poor devs are crunched to death, which i sincerely hope they are not. we literally could not play the finale of act 1 because the hoards wouldn't spawn (both times lol).

DESPITE THAT, the game is extremely fun. like, EXTREMELY fun. i like the card system a lot and i think it's implementation is smart - it matters, but not THAT much. your build isn't really going to make or break you or anything, at least not on normal. it'll just give you a little bit of an edge along the way. same with the character picks. in my opinion anyway. i can see certain ones being broken on higher difficulties (like mom's instant revive), but we didn't play any higher than normal, so.

the gunplay feels REALLY good. like, REALLY GOOD. it's not often you find an fps game where shooting feels as good as in this, honestly. the guns have a real weight to them and can seemingly jam, which sounds annoying on paper but is sort of neat to me honestly and generally isn't a huge deal since you just have to reload sooner than usual. i like that there are rarities of guns and that you can customise them with addons. i like that A LOT.

melee is a little lacking, but i can see them paying some extra attention to that later and fixing it up a bit. i can sort of live without it, personally, since i rarely go with melee in shooters lol. so any flaws here don't bug me that much.

i enjoy the characters a lot, can't really complain that they're a little one-note because the ones in l4d were too lol. i do think the dialogue is entertaining enough although there ought to be either more or less of it because hearing the same cues repeatedly does get tiring.

the game appears to be pretty well optimised and despite what brain poisoned graphics chuds online will tell you it actually looks really good.

a minor complaint is the tone of this game is a bit all over the place? it hasn't quite found its footing, writing-wise. turtle rock seem a bit scared to get too serious or too goofy with it. my personal preference would be leaning into the goofiness, but either way would clean up the tonal messiness a bit.

i do also think this game is overpriced. i'm really not sure why they're charging full AAA price for this (USD$60, CAD$80). i wish it was 20 dollars cheaper, at the very least. i think a lot of people would take a lot less issue with it if the game was, like, base USD$40. 60 is a huge ask for a lot of people.

anyway, i'll be getting it at some point, barring a horrible crisis with the game or the devs lol.

ive only played the beta so i can't really say much on the complete game, maybe its actually really good
in no fucking world is this game worth 60 dollars + dlc, especially when the superior left 4 deads are a sixth of a price
for what is supposed to be a retro revival made by the classic l4d dev team, it misses all the little details that made those games so great
this game is feature bloated to the max, making every little step you take into this dull and drab universe needlessly confusing
asking 60 dollars for this game is a borderline scam

This game is fun. I understand why the beta got slated, personally I too am sick of beta's launching in pretty unplayable states but this full release, whilst it doesn't fully fix all it's issues it is a much better game. I'm not rating the game based of the quality of it's beta btw, just a point. The campaign, whilst not exactly a cinematic masterpiece offers a very fun and engaging zombies expierence. Gunplay is fantastic and the aesthetic and soundtrack is done really well. But make no mistake this game can't hold a candle to L4D2, not even close. I hope people stop comparing it with the Left 4 Dead series because many games struggle to compete with those classics, especially 2. But I really enjoy this game and will certainly keep on coming back to it with friends, however that's the issue. It's only fun with friends. After playing it solo for a bit and then with friends I can confirm that

A solid game in general design and option but it desperately needs some balancing. Might try it out again in a month. Glad i didn't spend $60 on it and tried it on xbox game pass. You'll notice almost all my issues with the game are fairly easy to change though.

Positives:
Looks great
I like what they've added in terms of mechanics, weapon mods
The idea of the card system, not really how its implemented
The guns look and sound good
Some of the characters, like doc
more options for horde moments, like boarding up windows
There being people in the saferoom that talk to you.

Negatives:
General balancing, way too difficult, special enemies take way too much damage
Not near enough health and its usually very hidden. They should have just stuck to health kits and a few extra options like pills, but instead there's also about 5 other options and they all heal weird different amounts according to what percentages you have... WAY TOO COMPLICATED.
Non game crashing glitches, Sometimes enemies just don't spawn for a wave, sometimes they spawn right next to you, T posing
Path to the end isn't very obvious a lot of the time, needs more signposting, lot of blocked exits for areas
Isn't obvious enough what some objectives are supposed to be, like removing survivors from the webs
On medium its super difficult, 3 specials and a horde at the same time will just spawn on top of you
On easy its generally too easy, there won't be a horde appear for a defense moment sometimes
The zombies that jump out at you from the walls are everywhere and very annoying
The weakpoints take too much damage for them to be useful to aim at on most specials
The amount of guns needs to be taken down a bit, 2 or 3 do the same thing but have mild differences
The card system is just straight buffs and not that interesting, +15% ammo capacity
Due to the story, a decent amount of the locations are similar. Not the worst thing but still there
Base movement, not the running feels a bit too slow
melee is worthless in comparison to guns
Not near enough downtime
It takes an oddly long amount of time to load other people in the game.
The buy box in the saferoom takes away from the relief of getting items like health kits and new guns. Buying should have been limited to higher end guns, enhancements. There also shouldn't have been a box, just the items infront of the person selling them.

The enemy designs are an absolute downgrade from Left 4 Dead. The Apex Legends style attachment system (that they couldn't competently copy as unlike in that game, attachments don't move from the gun you drop to the gun you picked up) mostly serves to grind the action to a halt every now and again when it comes time to compare numbers with red and green triangles next to them as if you're playing Borderlands. I do like the concept behind characters having inherent differences from one another in theory, and the introduction of aiming down sights makes shooting zombos a little more visually interesting if nothing else.

Also, it barely runs on the original Xbone, seems pretty scummy of them to release the game on a system that simply cannot handle it.

God this game is so frustrating, the level design and visuals are really pretty and detailed, you can tell that some serious time and effort went into it and that's pretty much where my praise ends. The gameplay loop? Ehhhh... it's a downgrade in every possible way and feels so unfinished. The characters just spew cringe after cringe, line after line. I can't even remember half of the cast's name because they never speak to each other hardly ever. The guns sound flat and hardly have any kick or impact, zombies don't blow apart they just flop backwards and spew blood. Even when you light them on fire, they just turn like a grey/orange color and flop over. Half of the chapters, the finale instead of heading into a safe room or a car or whatever, it just cuts to black abruptly and plays a cutscene. Don't even get me started on the horrific ending (I love bacon!) This is definitely not a $60 release and I don't know if it ever will be. It's a downgrade in every possible way from Left 4 Dead, if you have access to Left 4 Dead, play that instead. I'm really glad I got this on game pass because otherwise I would've been pissed. I'll update this review whenever I decide to check out the PVP, but I doubt it'll be any different from the awful one map survival type mode they had going on in the beta.

PVP Update: Yep, its unbalanced as hell and boring. Won't be revisiting this one. Do yourself a favor and play Left 4 Dead 2 instead, you'll find far more replay value in that.

played the beta. extremely generic zombie fps #9421 that is literally just a remastered left 4 dead (even down to the setting and the characters) with some added things like a decent sized arsenal with gun addons which is what a lot of these generic zombie fpses lack

but at the end of the day it is what it is, just another average, generic zombie fps that plays just like literally every big budget zombie fps past 2008. i wouldnt buy it for any more than $15 and i have yet to see some originality in the zombie fps category

this game is as cynical as it is boring. the characters never shut the fuck up, and often interrupt the game to chip in corny one-liners. many of the characters are quite annoying for the most part, i'd say. a lot of the gameplay elements are way too complicated for what should be a shooty fun fun kill zombie video game. i'm not really trying to critique the game for trying something new, but for something that clings so heavily to left 4 dead, i see no choice but to compare it to its predecessor. and honestly, less is more. i don't give a shit about the characters, no one ever did. part of the fun with l4d was that most people would just create their own memes out of the characters, as a shorthand way of "developing" what were just lifeless vessels. it's not as fun when the personalities are so boisterious and most importantly, unfunny. my game shat itself whenever i shot a gun too, which was kinda annoying. it felt like it went through several coats of manufactured online multiplayer lootbox paint and was then shat out. i think the only amusing part of this game was the fact the zombies call you slurs. yes this is real. but of course, as expected from something as lifeless and droning as this game, they patched that out. the weird ass card deck mechanic though? still in the game!

i mean it doesn't really spell out anything positive if my first thought after two rounds of this game was, "i want to play left 4 dead 2 instead." go back to valve. give us left 4 dead 3. i'm begging.

edit: i do not condone racist zombies

Full disclosure - Campaign finished and played with absolutely no one else but randoms. Xbox Game Pass.

It's very disappointing how unfinished this game feels. I had a lot of fun with the Beta, but the full game is just... bleh.

None of the levels stand out. The game is too content of spamming you with hordes and Special Infected instead of actually providing a challenge. The card system feels ultimately pointless. And to top it all off, the matchmaking is horrendous.

You just know that even on the easiest difficulty, there is no good reason for the first set of levels' achievements for finishing to be a Very Rare achievement. If you're going to play with randoms, good luck. Wait times can take up to 30 minutes and even then the minute even one person leaves, you're back to all bots.

It can probably be fun if played with actual friends and people you know, but even with that factored in, I cannot recommend this game in its current state, especially at full retail price. It's something you can finish in an afternoon with little to no replay value.

It's the Kirby Star Allies of cooperative first person shooters.

Very enjoyable zombie co-op shooter. You can clearly tell that it's a spiritual successor to Left4Dead, that tries to add it's own modern spin via added features like weapon customisation & it's card system.

My issue with the game isn't with the mechanics or the features, but unfortunately the matchmaking. I either can't find a game for the levels I need to push through in the campaign, regularly, or when I do, people leave the second someone goes down, seemingly without penalty.

I always get worried when I pick up a title that requires matchmade co-operation, for exactly this reason. Another case of this being proven right - this wouldn't be an issue, if they'd created a single player experience that's playable, rather than punishing you for making this choice.

This game is a very good time with friends (Definitely don't recommend randoms or bots)! Compared to Left 4 Dead, I really enjoyed the gunplay that has been modernized as well as the evolving gameplay with new weapons and new cards. The performance was incredibly smooth on PC as well with DLSS.

Some room for improvement include some bugs (Every time I got disconnected from a session, I was never able to return to the game without rest of my team going back to Fort Hope), difficult curves (Veteran still seem too difficult) and more campaigns. The repeating areas definitely become noticeable the more you play.

I'm very curious to see how Turtle Rock continues to support this game in the next few years. If supported well, I can see this game being a game to come back to with friends.