Back 4 Blood: Open Beta Sneak Preview - IGN First

00:00:00.910[Music]

00:00:09.200back for blood

00:00:09.920the four player co-op survival zombie

00:00:11.920shooter from turtle rock studios the

00:00:13.599team that brought you the original left

00:00:15.1204 dead will open its doors back up to

00:00:17.199players beginning with an early access

00:00:19.039open bay that runs from august 5th to

00:00:20.960the 9th

00:00:21.520for players who pre-ordered with the

00:00:23.119fully open beta to follow from august

00:00:24.96012th to the 16th to kick off our

00:00:27.039month-long ign first for back for blood

00:00:29.119i was able to visit turtle rock for a

00:00:30.880sneak peek at what they have in store

00:00:32.399for players with regards to both

00:00:34.000pve and pvp and while i was regularly

00:00:37.520grabbed

00:00:38.399puked on set on fire and covered in

00:00:41.360sticky debilitating phlegm

00:00:43.120the one thing that was on my mind as i

00:00:45.039left the studio was

00:00:46.559man i want to play some more

00:00:53.600if you're not up to speed on back for

00:00:55.039blood first i'd highly recommend that

00:00:56.879you check out our previous coverage of

00:00:58.079the alpha but the main thing that you

00:00:59.600need to know is that it's you and three

00:01:01.280other friends facing off against a

00:01:02.879zombie horde

00:01:03.680with a heavy teamwork oriented focus

00:01:05.760much like left 4 dead

00:01:07.439but there's a key twist which is the

00:01:09.439fact that at the core of the experience

00:01:11.280is a deck building card system that

00:01:13.119allows players to build decks of stat

00:01:14.960altering cards

00:01:15.920that help define the roles each player

00:01:17.759has on a squad there are cards meant for

00:01:19.759players who want to play a healer

00:01:21.119cards for those who want to be a leader

00:01:22.640by calling out and marking special

00:01:24.080zombies

00:01:24.799cards for those who want to scavenge

00:01:26.320supplies across the map and

00:01:27.840cards for those who just want to focus

00:01:29.680on bashing zombies faces in

00:01:36.560at each safe house and also after each

00:01:38.880continue if your team wipes

00:01:40.479you're able to add a new card from your

00:01:42.079deck to your set of active cards

00:01:44.000which can often be just the leg up you

00:01:46.000need to meet the rising difficulty with

00:01:47.680each new level within an

00:01:48.880act the cards aren't just for you either

00:01:51.520every level of back for blood introduces

00:01:53.600a number

00:01:54.000of corruption cards that can enhance the

00:01:56.079written in specific ways

00:01:57.600create challenging world events for your

00:01:59.119squad to overcome and even

00:02:00.960offer a reward for completing an

00:02:02.640optional challenge that encourages your

00:02:04.240team to play a certain way

00:02:05.520whether it be challenging you to play

00:02:07.119fast enough to beat a speed run

00:02:08.399challenge

00:02:09.039or careful enough to get through the

00:02:10.640level without scaring birds or

00:02:12.239triggering a horde

00:02:13.360all of this is stuff that we got a small

00:02:15.040taste of in the alpha but the beta

00:02:16.640really kicks it up a notch

00:02:18.080especially on the corruption card side

00:02:20.080one round delta's a card that would

00:02:21.599trigger a horde every couple of minutes

00:02:23.360regardless of what's currently happening

00:02:25.120in the level

00:02:25.760which completely changed how we had to

00:02:27.760play the game it caused our team to keep

00:02:29.599an eye on the countdown clock and call

00:02:31.120out when a horde was approaching

00:02:32.720so we could attempt to find somewhere

00:02:34.160that's relatively defendable of course

00:02:36.080that's not always possible in back for

00:02:37.840blood and we eventually ended up having

00:02:39.680to fight off a ford in an area that was

00:02:41.440open on all sides

00:02:42.879and had a pack of birds that inevitably

00:02:45.200got spooked

00:02:46.000which triggered another horde the whole

00:02:48.080thing left our squad in utter shambles

00:02:50.160and we had to go through it again in

00:02:51.760just two and a half minutes

00:02:53.200as a vehicle to drive the variation of

00:02:55.200each run the corruption card system is

00:02:57.040extraordinarily effective

00:02:58.560and when combined with the more subtle

00:03:00.239under the hood tweaks of the game

00:03:01.440director

00:03:02.000which orchestrates all the item and

00:03:03.840enemy spawns it's easy to see that a

00:03:05.920clear focus of the team at turtle rock

00:03:07.840is making every run of back for blood

00:03:09.760feel as distinct as it can

00:03:11.599and so far it's a goal that they're

00:03:13.360absolutely succeeding

00:03:19.519based on my experience with the alpha i

00:03:21.360expected to have a great time with the

00:03:22.879pve of back for blood

00:03:24.319and i absolutely did but as someone who

00:03:26.720is typically very lukewarm on most

00:03:28.480competitive

00:03:29.120asymmetrical multiplayer modes what i

00:03:31.120didn't expect was that i would

00:03:32.720absolutely love its pvp swarm mode

00:03:35.120it's four versus four cleaners versus

00:03:37.120ridden in short bite-size rounds that

00:03:39.040have the human players fortifying their

00:03:40.640defenses

00:03:41.360in a relatively compact arena and

00:03:43.200surviving against hordes of ai

00:03:44.959controlled zombies

00:03:46.080with player controlled special ridden

00:03:47.920interspersed in the mix

00:03:49.360the ridden players must attempt to wipe

00:03:50.959the opposing team as fast as they can

00:03:53.120after a round ends the team switch sides

00:03:55.280and the team that survives the longest

00:03:56.879as the cleaners

00:03:57.840wins every round begins for the cleaners

00:04:01.120with a scavenging period

00:04:02.400where they can explore the level for

00:04:03.840supply boxes that contain randomly

00:04:05.680placed goodies like med kits

00:04:07.120grenades molotovs razor wire and an

00:04:10.000assortment of weapons

00:04:11.200once the scavenge period ends the

00:04:12.879riddens start to spawn though player

00:04:14.480controlled special ridden can only spawn

00:04:16.400in locations that are out of sight of

00:04:18.000the cleaners

00:04:18.799one of the most crucial pieces of

00:04:20.160strategy that i found out was that as

00:04:21.759the ridden

00:04:22.479it becomes extremely important to

00:04:24.240coordinate your spawns so that you don't

00:04:26.160spawn and die one at a time

00:04:27.840even tankier ridden like the tall boys

00:04:29.600can go down quickly against coordinated

00:04:31.280fire from the other team

00:04:32.320and while the spawn timers are

00:04:33.759relatively short this is still a game

00:04:35.840mode where every second matters

00:04:37.840it's also worth pointing out that there

00:04:39.280are 9 different types of ridden to

00:04:40.800choose from

00:04:41.440with three main classes and three

00:04:42.880mutations within each of those classes

00:04:45.040though only six are available in the

00:04:46.560beta with two mutations for each class

00:04:49.040each ridden is designed to be really

00:04:50.560good in one environment and

00:04:52.320kind of weaken another making it

00:04:54.000critical to switch to a different

00:04:55.280monster depending on what the situation

00:04:57.040calls for

00:04:57.680tall boys and exploders are phenomenal

00:04:59.520if a team tries to hold up inside a

00:05:00.960house

00:05:01.440but if they're out in the open a

00:05:03.039well-coordinated team can spot them and

00:05:04.800take them down before they cause any

00:05:06.400damage

00:05:06.960wretches meanwhile aren't great in a

00:05:08.720one-on-one fight but can force a team

00:05:10.880that's sticking together to split up

00:05:12.400with their aoe puke and finally the

00:05:14.240stinger type ridden are near useless

00:05:16.000indoors since they die so quickly

00:05:17.680but are able to wreak havoc from long

00:05:19.600range and can force a cleaner team to

00:05:21.520try and take cover indoors

00:05:23.120making them easy prey for your teammates

00:05:25.120the cleaners meanwhile play very much

00:05:26.800like they normally would in a pve game

00:05:28.639of dr blood

00:05:29.520they must constantly be communicating

00:05:31.440calling out locations of special ridden

00:05:33.360taking care not to split off from their

00:05:34.960team and always be ready to break an

00:05:37.039ally out of a bind

00:05:38.080there's also a completely separate set

00:05:39.680of cards that are designed purely around

00:05:41.199pvp

00:05:42.000that players can equip themselves with

00:05:43.600in order to establish roles on their

00:05:44.960team

00:05:45.520for example the squad leader deck comes

00:05:47.280with a card that allows players to mark

00:05:48.880special riddens for the whole team to

00:05:50.240see

00:05:50.560which is invaluable when it comes to

00:05:52.160locating elusive stingers

00:05:53.680or coordinating attacks on the more

00:05:55.280tanky enemies all

00:05:56.800it felt really well designed and while

00:05:58.800it's hard to get a feel for how balanced

00:06:00.400it is as a whole after just a few rounds

00:06:02.639swarm felt like a mode that i could see

00:06:04.240myself spending just as much time with

00:06:06.319as the pve

00:06:14.960the full blue dog hollow chapter is

00:06:16.720something of an endurance run for sure

00:06:18.319with each level taking anywhere from 15

00:06:20.240to 30 minutes

00:06:21.199capped off by a thrilling finale that

00:06:22.960had us desperately trying to close up a

00:06:24.720mine with the howitzer

00:06:25.840while a literal army of zombies swarmed

00:06:27.840us from every direction

00:06:29.280i genuinely can't wait to get back in

00:06:31.360and experience it with my own friend

00:06:32.800group

00:06:33.280and fortunately i don't have to wait

00:06:34.880very long to get my chance the early

00:06:36.639access beta opens later this week and

00:06:38.479the open beta follows it not too long

00:06:40.319after

00:06:40.880thanks for watching and for more back

00:06:42.479for blood make sure to stay tuned

00:06:43.919because all throughout the month of

00:06:45.360august

00:06:45.840we'll have new videos dropping each week

00:06:47.680as part of our ign first coverage

00:06:49.680and of course for everything else keep

00:06:51.680it here on ign

00:06:54.240just make sure i don't have to carry you

00:06:55.919guys next time