Turtle Rock is finally ready to talk about Back 4 Blood's upcoming PvP mode, and it's sounding more and more like a return to form with Left 4 Dead's Versus mode. In Back 4 Blood PvP, one team of players will become the zombies (called the "Ridden" here) and take out the survivors as quickly as possible.
The runs down all of the special infected types that'll be playable, including the melee-focused Reeker, the Exploder, the pouncing Stalker, acid-spitting Stinger, the big-armed Tallboy, and several other variants. It's nice to see so many playable infected types here, because the lack of variety is a big reason Left 4 Dead's Versus mode never left a big impression on me. It felt pretty cool to get good at the Smoker and stealth as a Hunter, but the novelty wore off kinda quick.
It sounds like Turtle Rock really wants to make Back 4 Blood PvP into its own evolving thing, which is a good sign. The devs went into more detail in a dedicated PvP showcase video. The main objective for the survivors is to survive as long as possible, and each team will be scored based on how long they can run the clock before switching roles. The Ridden apparently have their own set of upgrades that can make things harder for survivors as the match progresses.
Back 4 Blood is finally coming on October 12 and will be on Xbox Game Pass immediately. An open beta for the PvP mode kicks off on August 5. Check our full list of every game at E3 2021 to catch up on the announcements.
