The L4D2 Demo is now out for everyone through Steam.

It's a 3+ Gigs download so be prepared, might be even more without any Source games installed.




It is basically a 10 minute campaign with almost nothing that would set it apart from L4D1. The weapons are just recycled and reskinned aside from the magnum/one-shot gun and melee weapons, I've yet to see the infamous incendiary ammo or the grenade launcher after 3 playthroughs so I'm going to assume they are not there.

The new special infected are in the game, but you can't play as any of them or even the old ones so thanks a lot you fags. It seems they also spawn a lot less frequently than the ones that are from L4D1 so you don't even see them more than maybe 3 - 4 times a map unless you dick around and wait for them to spawn. There's one uncommon infected which is the riot police who is invulnerable from the front thanks to his protective gear but to deal with them you just melee + shoot instead of just melee or shoot.

There's one triggered event present in the demo, and that is the press a button --> zombies come endlessly --> shut down alarm --> zombies come no more.


So basically, all this, aside from the 3 new SI, has been available for the past year in the L4D2 beta, also known as L4D1. If you are expecting to see even a glimpse of the new gamemodes or try out anything that is new then too bad, you're gonna have to throw away 40 dollars, wait until 17th and hope that you like the full game.

This demo isn't very demonstrating.



PS. I wasn't very impressed by the demo, just fyi

Maybe I'm just sucking valvedong, but I thought it was great. The first thing I noticed was the maps definitely looked and played better. It felt more... real.. to the extent that there are still hilarious looking zombies running around. The new SI change up the gameplay, and I'm interested to see how they play in versus. You can't play any game mode except the first two levels of one campaign, but if the quality remains consistent then I'm definitely interested. Gore has been turned up and if your system can handle it, it looks awesome. Especially the new locational damage to the zombies and the ragdolls when you use a pipebomb. It definitely doesn't feel like DLC, however I've already preordered it so perhaps I am biased. On the downside they've changed some of the UI and camera settings which can be a bit distracting, melee weapons feel too powerful right now, and we haven't seen what the new director is really capable of just yet.

It definitely feels like a 10$ expansion pack.

Game is great,
Unless you live in Australia.
Then fuck you thats what.
No gore and if an Australian Joins your server, Riot Police dont spawn.

I wasn't really that impressed with the first left 4 dead, i always liked zombie panic more.
I feel that Left4dead 2 was created only to sell more console copies. Instead of releasing it like they did with Team Fortress 2 updates.

They could have added all the new characters, new zombies, new scenarios and new weapons as a DLC... why put it as a new game... I do not know.

It definitely feels like a 10$ expansion pack.

I really don't understand this. Five new campaigns, new modes, etc etc. If the quality remains consistent that's an enormous amount of content (especially given how many hours a lot of people played and enjoyed L4D). $10? Really? A lot of games come out with expansions that people pay $40-60 for. And they do it gladly.

IDK how to feel about it. On one hand it's kind of similar, but I don't think the demo gives a good impression about the game either. There's a lot of cool stuff here, I just think the demo does a very bad job of showing how cool this stuff can be.

The Parish is IMHO the most boring (and last) campaign of the game. There's a shopping mall, a carnival, a town with a tsunami-like storm, and a swamp with little creatures that blind you. Which campaign did they chose? The town in daylight where the only exciting part is the crescendo and the finale that you can't play in the demo. The AI doesn't do that good of a job showing off the new SI although there has been a few brilliant plays by the Jockey and Charger (my fav. tactic is the SI will actually follow behind a Charger who is charging, you kill him and WOOPS you shot a boomer). The 2 levels of the Parish we are given are short and not very interesting because the campaign doesn't really get "good" until the end from what I've seen of people playing it at expos etc.

The survivors seem very flat but I'll chalk this up to being 2 maps in the last campaign - the L4D1 survivors weren't THAT interesting in the L4D1 demo either.

That said, I think all these new items and new infected will be interesting in Versus mode, and all the balance changes and tweaks like the weapon tables being different and not just set pieces will make that a lot more interesting to play as. Some of the new SI like the Jockey *must* be played by a player to really see how good they can be because the Jockey requires the most SI support to even do his job, which even with the vastly improved Infected AI isn't enough for him.

I don't know if it's worth 45-50$, but I'll definitely get it somewhere along the line. I do think the game has a different enough feel that making it DLC for L4D1 could have potentially backfired because it'd change how L4D1 is played drastically. That said, I do look forward to playing L4D1 campaigns on it, I can only imagine No Mercy's rooftops + the Charger.

I really don't understand this. Five new campaigns, new modes, etc etc. If the quality remains consistent that's an enormous amount of content (especially given how many hours a lot of people played and enjoyed L4D). $10? Really? A lot of games come out with expansions that people pay $40-60 for. And they do it gladly.

It's the same fucking game. Why is it necessary to call it a new game and ask another 40$ for it? Because they are greedy fucks, that's why. How is anything that supposedly comes with this game something that they couldn't add to the original?

They could've tweaked the guns and add a few variations, like they have done here. They could've introduced new SI to counter group hugs / corner camps or enhanced the old SI to fill that role (acidous boomer bile, hazardous smoker cloud, damaging boomer explosion etc. stuff that almost everyone has suggested at some point) since everyone who wasn't tucked in some glitch spot in L4D1 complained about corner camping. They could've made new campaigns that don't blow dicks (I'm looking at you Crash Course). They could've introduced new gameplay mechanics, like the ones you can find on some L4D1 servers that are made by fans (incap crawling comes to mind).

They could've done all this in a series of updates (worked pretty good with TF2) but they didn't. Instead they just wipe their asses with L4D1, reskin it, add a few new things and ask you for another 40$ for the same game.



PS. how is the infected AI better? Do you mean the special AI or the common AI? Because the commons are still just as dumb as ever before.

I like to think I anticipated this when I chose not to get L4D1, but the honest truth is that I simply just don't get in the habit of getting a game until a long enough time after it's already been out.

I'll probably want L4D2 since it'll be like playing L4D for the first time anyhow. (Which should have been free, at least then they'd have an excuse to dick around while hyping up the release of the "actual" version of the game in the form of an overpriced sequel. That's how TF2's business model panned out, and it's proven that it works.).

I like to think I anticipated this when I chose not to get L4D1, but the honest truth is that I simply just don't get in the habit of getting a game until a long enough time after it's already been out.

I'll probably want L4D2 since it'll be like playing L4D for the first time anyhow. (Which should have been free, at least then they'd have an excuse to dick around while hyping up the release of the "actual" version of the game in the form of an overpriced sequel. That's how TF2's business model panned out, and it's proven that it works.).

Ugh.. this just really strikes me for whatever reason. It should've been free? That's kind of insulting to the developers. I'm not trying to get into an argument over greediness, but especially coming from somone who didn't even buy the first game, that's pretty dumb.

Ugh.. this just really strikes me for whatever reason. It should've been free? That's kind of insulting to the developers. I'm not trying to get into an argument over greediness, but especially coming from somone who didn't even buy the first game, that's pretty dumb.

I would think such a notion could only come from someone that hasn't bought the first game.

And it isn't dumb, it's ignorant. I mean I don't know what the developers intended for the game when they started making it, and I know when and how a game like that gets released isn't in the complete control of the people in charge of actually making it. I reckon it's insulting to them, but if they did happen to release the first game knowing they were going to make a more functional sequel, then they were insulting us by releasing an incomplete game early while charging full admission.

I didn't buy the first game, so I have that much less I have to spend if I do want to play that sort of game after this sequel comes out. That's really the only thing I'm saying here. If it looks like I draw any other conclusions using information I couldn't possibly know, then that's just me being ignorant. Don't call it dumb.

PS. how is the infected AI better? Do you mean the special AI or the common AI? Because the commons are still just as dumb as ever before.

Special AI, common AI doesn't really matter too much since they don't really do anything except attack you, a lot of the Common Infected doing anything relies on the director. The Special AI is vastly better though, they try to group attack as much as possible (more and more as the difficulty increases) and they try to combo together when they do so. There's some individual AI improvements like tanks will avoid fire (no longer speeds them up in Campaign) and don't hit downed Survivors anymore and Boomers will try to get you to hit them after they puke more etc, but a lot of is team work AI improvements.

A good example, this happened the first time I played it, was we decided to shoot a witch in the hedge maze for the hell of it because we were having such an easy time on Advanced. Exact moment we shoot her, hunter pounces one of our guys, Smoker smokes another guy, witch downs me, Boomer pukes on the 3 of us, then the Spitter spit on all of us so the last guy couldn't even do anything when we were downed. Even in the most luckiest of circumstances this would never happen in L4D1, they sat and waited very quietly around the witch area just waiting for us to trigger her.

It's really noticeable in Expert where they go all out, you will very often have Smoker's smoking you through spit, jockeys riding you into witches/spit/tanks, etc there in my experience. There have been a FEW dumb moments (a boomer sitting in an alleyway by himself, notably) but they were pretty rare in the long run.

That's how TF2's business model panned out, and it's proven that it works.

TF2 is definitely more simple than a lot of other FPS games on the market and it also provides a more unique experience than those other games so the kind of business model they have going for it is very unique and works with the type of game it is. That type of business model is definitely the exception and not the norm though, and in reality what L4D has done is nothing different than Baldur's Gate 2 coming out one year after Baldur's Gate 1's expansion or Brood War coming out the same year that StarCraft did (at near full price) and tons of other games from other companies doing the same thing. The only difference is people are holding Valve to a slightly higher level because they now expect free content often just because of TF2, when in reality TF2 is a different game made by a different group of people at Valve not really related to Turtle Rock Studios group at Valve at all (except they helped out a bit just because the TRS group is kinda small). Yeah, I'd have loved for L4D1 to receive some free content like TF2 but free regular content is not the norm yet - TF2 is the only professional game that does it to any serious degree. Other games that have "free" content tend to be funded by paid DLC or require a monthly free.

Not sayin' I like it, I'd obviously prefer free content often, but it's just not the norm at all unfortunately.

It's the same fucking game. Why is it necessary to call it a new game and ask another 40$ for it? Because they are greedy fucks, that's why. How is anything that supposedly comes with this game something that they couldn't add to the original?

They could've tweaked the guns and add a few variations, like they have done here. They could've introduced new SI to counter group hugs / corner camps or enhanced the old SI to fill that role (acidous boomer bile, hazardous smoker cloud, damaging boomer explosion etc. stuff that almost everyone has suggested at some point) since everyone who wasn't tucked in some glitch spot in L4D1 complained about corner camping. They could've made new campaigns that don't blow dicks (I'm looking at you Crash Course). They could've introduced new gameplay mechanics, like the ones you can find on some L4D1 servers that are made by fans (incap crawling comes to mind).

They could've done all this in a series of updates (worked pretty good with TF2) but they didn't. Instead they just wipe their asses with L4D1, reskin it, add a few new things and ask you for another 40$ for the same game.



PS. how is the infected AI better? Do you mean the special AI or the common AI? Because the commons are still just as dumb as ever before.

Two questions...
Were you part of the boycott?
Are you still getting the game? You sound very mad.

Anyway, I think it's okay. I disagree with most of what you said, but I do have lots of other complaints. The first thing is the new characters, which aren't as fleshed out as the first ones. This could be because it's a demo, but I never disliked anybody from the first L4D. They had some charm, now they're just generic.

And yes, they picked the worst campaign to put the demo in. All you have to do is look at Hard Rain (interview and gameplay clips) to know that it will be wayyy better than anything in L4D. Which I actually think is the main problem in L4D1, the level design is horrible. There's nothing they could do to fix that game, even IF you put all of L4D2's shit as DLC. The first game is broken, it can't be fixed.

Basically I agree with hl, it's a bad choice for a demo. They left shit out like the incendiary ammo for some reason, and it doesn't showcase some of the better aspects of the game. You can play as the new infected by downloading something off the steam forums, but I don't know the details. I felt like it was some console port the first time I booted it up, but I've grown to like it.

I would think such a notion could only come from someone that hasn't bought the first game.

And it isn't dumb, it's ignorant. I mean I don't know what the developers intended for the game when they started making it, and I know when and how a game like that gets released isn't in the complete control of the people in charge of actually making it. I reckon it's insulting to them, but if they did happen to release the first game knowing they were going to make a more functional sequel, then they were insulting us by releasing an incomplete game early while charging full admission.

I didn't buy the first game, so I have that much less I have to spend if I do want to play that sort of game after this sequel comes out. That's really the only thing I'm saying here. If it looks like I draw any other conclusions using information I couldn't possibly know, then that's just me being ignorant. Don't call it dumb.

I'm not interested in arguing semantics etc etc.

L4D2, according to them, wasn't really planned until after L4D's release. Now, how factual that really is is up to debate, I guess. L4D, I think, is completely functional. Sure, it has some design problems and those were addressed in the sequel, but I don't jump from that to assuming L4D was therefore incomplete and I'm guessing the development team doesn't have omniscience and cannot forsee every design problem possible ahead of time. Could they have added the features to L4D in DLC? Sure. But what couldn't they have added? At what point do you declare "this is a free DLC/Expansion/Sequel"? I think L4D2 will justify itself, but that's yet to be known. They made some strange places for the demo, but seeing it in the larger scope of the problems with L4D and just the general increase in quality it doesn't feel like a $10 expansion to me!

Two questions...
Were you part of the boycott?
Are you still getting the game? You sound very mad.

No I wasn't in the boycott group, because although I'm more than displeased with how they handle this whole franchise, being in some gay group is just really stupid and at that point you need to realize you are boycotting a videogame and you could put your efforts into something worthwhile instead.

I'm not going to get the game at launch, I actually had it pre-ordered from retail but I'm not interested anymore. It's a lot better bet to just wait and see how badly they mess it up (like L4D1 was glitched to hell and missing content right off the bat). Then when/if it goes down to 20$ or less and they display genuine interest in their own product I'll get it.


L4D was really fun when it came out but it took them several months to fix gamebreaking glitches (hello 12 hunters at spawn and elevator droppers) and even more months to add in the missing versus maps. Then they toss out Survival which is just a closed off space of a campaign map with a timer. Then they shit out Crash Course which is as monotonous as it can get, there's exactly 2 distinguishable areas in the whole campaign. The whole post-release development process doesn't really instill trust in the developers.

Like, the game has so much potential but the developers are just greedy assholes who don't give a shit anymore. I'm not expecting anything else for L4D1 since now they have L4D2 also that they need to support and then also the console and PC versions of both games. They just drown themselves in all this work when they had trouble supporting even the first game.