To many, theLeft 4 Deadgames make up some of the most iconic zombie titles in gaming. Valve’s co-op experience that sees players team up to fight off hordes of undead has become influential within video games, inspiring recent titles likeAnacrusisandBack 4 Blood, with the latter even borrowing the 4 fromLeft 4 Dead’snaming. However, recent reports suggest thatValve president Gabe Newellwasn’t initially onboard with zombies being the primary enemies of the games.
In a recent interview, former writer at Valve Chet Faliszek told of how when he was beginning work on the firstLeft 4 Deadgame, Gabe Newell tried to steer the direction away from zombies.Left 4 Deadlaunched in 2008, before the first season of things likeThe Walking DeadTV seriesand game that sought to redefine the zombie genre. This meant that films likeNight of the Living DeadandDawn of the Deadwere major influences in people’s ideas of zombie media.
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To Newell, this meant that a zombie game would come off as “cheesy.” Even as Faliszek explained thatLeft 4 Deadwould be about the team working together, making the themes of the game separate from other zombie media, Newell still believed that the undead were “cheesy.” As Faliszek explains, this led to him having to include zombies in the game while understanding the “cheesiness” of them. This resulted in a couple of characters inLeft 4 Deadlike Zoe and Lewis who understand their scenario is like a movie and play it seriously from there. Faliszek speaks on this at 9:27 below.
Faliszek admits that even while he wanted zombies to be inLeft 4 Dead,at the time they were “cheesy” monsters. However, in the early to mid-2010s, zombie games were to be found all over the video game industry, with some likeDying Lightand Telltale’sThe Walking Deadgiving fresh spins on the undead creatures. Zombie titles have been less dominant in recent times, but some big releases have still found major success, such asDying Light 2,which sold 5 million units in its first month.
Even without zombies taking the forefront, co-op horde games inspired byLeft 4 Deadhave been popping up all over.Warhammer Fantasy’stwist on the traditional zombie formula sees the undead replaced by numberless hosts of Skaven inVermintide, and more recently Arcane Studios announced its latest titleRedfall.Not much is known aboutRedfall, but it is inspired byLeft 4 Deadand features vampires instead of zombies. Still, without zombies inLeft 4Dead,it is unknown how much of an impact it would’ve had on the games of the future.
Left 4 Deadis available now for PC and Xbox 360.
