6 Things We Want in Left 4 Dead 3
By Sarah Fields 26 January 2016
The hope of a Left 4 Dead sequel has fans excited, but a simple carbon copy of the prior games isn’t enough. Here’s six things we’re hoping for from Left 4 Dead 3.
Valve is notorious for never releasing a third iteration of a game, but gamers are still hopeful at the rumors that Left 4 Dead 3 will be their first. While Left 4 Dead 3‘s leak has revealed a lot of information about the title, like who will be on the new team of survivors, there are still some things many of us can’t help but hope make it into the game. Here’s our list of the top six things we want to see in Left 4 Dead 3.
Survivor Cameos
Left 4 Dead 2 delighted fans when it added “The Passing” campaign, allowing the original team of survivors (sans one) to interact with the new team of survivors. It not only introduced a lot of hilarity into the game, but also helped to explain what exactly happened to the original Left 4 Dead crew after their game ended.
It would not only be a joy to see the survivors from both games reappear again, but also it would help to explain what happened to the Left 4 Dead 2 group of Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle. While gamers know that they were on their way to a military evac in their final campaign, “The Parish”, nothing has been revealed since. Considering how the military didn’t work out for the original Left 4 Dead survivors, it’s time for Valve to reveal what happened to the team and whether they’re still out there trying to survive, or if they’re finally safe.
Expand on the “Room for One” Mutation
Left 4 Dead has always been about team cooperation, because surviving alone is nearly impossible. However, Left 4 Dead 2 shook up this concept a bit by introducing the “Room for One” mutation, which encourages teamwork all the way up to the end. While gamers still have to work together to survive, once the escape vehicle is accessible, only one can actually escape, leaving the other three in the dust.
Left 4 Dead 3 could benefit from an expansion of this concept, perhaps with another mutation. Introducing escape sequences that have two-seaters, three-seaters, or even randomizing the number of players who can escape and forcing teams that were once allies to turn on each other could be a lot of fun.
Larger Co-Op Player Count
Playing with a tightly-knit group of four friends (or eight on versus) is enjoyable, but for some, it means leaving others out of a game. Mods currently exist to allow eight or even sixteen players to play a co-op campaign together in Left 4 Dead 2, but it’d be great if Valve introduced it as an actual mechanic.
Considering that with the release of Left 4 Dead 3 there will be at least a total of twelve Left 4 Dead survivors, it’d be great to play through a non-canonical mode where up to twelve players can participate. Of course, the difficulty would have to be raised, as twelve players could take down tanks, witches, and hordes almost instantly, but Valve can probably manage it.
Buff the Witch
In the original Left 4 Dead, the Witch was a terrifying creature that was designed to inspire fear from the first opening cutscene. Left 4 Dead 2 then went on to make her even more of a wild card by allowing her to wander during the daytime, and by filling the “Hard Rain” campaign with dozens of Witches.
Unfortunately, the change was too little too late, as most gamers had learned (due in part to Valve’s own “Cr0wned” achievement) that it’s possible to kill the Witch with a single well-placed headshot. In addition, the Witch’s pathfinding seemed to be somewhat broken in Left 4 Dead 2, as those who’d earned her ire and were being pursued could often lose her simply by jumping or climbing a ledge.
Valve needs to make the Witch scary again – maybe by modifying how quickly she becomes enraged, or at least making her resistant to damage before she pursues. In any case, hopefully she becomes a threat again, rather than a simple obstacle to overcome.
Race to the Finish Versus
Versus mode in both Left 4 Dead games was entertaining, but rather limited. Left 4 Dead 2 expanded upon the simple versus mode by adding in Versus Scavenge, allowing two teams to face off; one as the infected, and one as the survivors, to try and best each other’s times.
Left 4 Dead 3 could take this even further by allowing two human teams to best each other’s times. Whether the teams play at the same time or take turns, it could amp up the inherent difficulty of Left 4 Dead quite a bit if gamers not only have to survive, but also have to make it to the safe room before the other survivor team does.
Story Mode
Left 4 Dead’s campaigns were designed to act like individual zombie ‘movies’, with only a tenuous connection between each one. Left 4 Dead 2, however, enticed players with an opening cutscene explaining that all the campaigns were linked together. Unfortunately, the intro was just a tease, as there were no more cutscenes to be had in the game, and still very little story stringing the campaigns together.
Left 4 Dead 3 needs to be as accessible as its predecessors, allowing gamers to play whichever campaign they like and drop in and out at will. However, Valve should also offer a story mode to fully flesh out what happens between each campaign. Valve is masterful at creating long storytelling videos for Team Fortress 2 in Source Filmmaker, so surely they could create a few cutscenes between campaigns to increase the depth of the survivors’ personalities and provide a little more story than ‘get from point A to point B.’
Valve has had years to work on Left 4 Dead 3, so we hope that it brings back everything the first two Left 4 Dead games had to offer. But we also expect Valve to make significant additions, like those on this list, so that Left 4 Dead 3 doesn’t simply feel like a rehash of the first two titles.
Is there something you want to see Left 4 Dead 3 that we didn’t mention? Tell us about it in the comments.
Left 4 Dead 3 is rumored to release in 2017.
