I always hoped there’d be a successor to the iconic Left 4 Dead games of the late 2000s. Back 4 Blood was made by the same creators of that series, but it’s not a direct followup—instead, it put its own spin on the co-op zombie shooter genre. With up to three other players, you’ll choose from eight characters to battle hordes of the undead through a series of first-person campaign missions. Each character comes with their own starting loadouts and roles on the team, but your gameplay will be impacted most heavily by the deck of cards you accumulate and build over time. These cards have different buffs, perks, and modifiers that can be combined to tailor your own playstyle. For example, if you like hand-to-hand combat, you can equip cards that boost your melee damage or speed, or grant you and your teammates extra health when you make a melee kill. Once I got the hang of this unique deck-building system, I found Back 4 Blood to be one of the most entertaining multiplayer zombie games I’ve played in a while.
