Valve Announce New Left 4 Dead Content

Aug 22, 2010

Veteran developers Valve, have announced that new downloadable content will soon be available for their best selling Left 4 Dead series. According to a report by PC Gamer, ‘The Sacrifice’ will have players stepping into the roles of the original survivors of the first game, in events that will run parallel to Left 4 Dead 2′s ‘The Passing’ DLC, released in March of this year.

Valve have also revealed that the DLC will be compatable with both the original Left 4 Dead and it’s sequel, and give the players the choice of decided exactly which of their team will bite the dust in the chapters finale. It is also said to give us backstory on how each of the survivors met one another. In addition to this, Valve are giving L4D2 owners the treat of being able to play the popular ‘No Mercy’ campaign from the original game, with all the benefits of weapons and defib items from the sequel.

The news is sure to come as a good news to fans of the original Left 4 Dead, who were upset with Valve’s decision to create a sequel so soon after the initial games release, their arguement being that Valve had promised frequent updates and content for the title. Left 4 Dead 2 was met with boycotts by said fans, who felt that the quick sequel was cynically motivated in the name of financial gain. However a vigorous PR campaign was launched in order to win back the scorned fans, by flying them out Valve studios in order to play a beta of L4D2 and address their concerns and questions to the developers themselves. Valve’s own Gabe Newel spoke of his delight over the resolution of the issue in a previous interview:

“-the thing that makes me happy is when you look at the customers who self-identified as boycott members, they actually bought Left 4 Dead 2 at a higher rate than any other group of Left 4 Dead 1 owners.”

As well as the campaigns themselves, Valve will also be expanding the arsenal of weapons in the original game by incorporating those from Left 4 Dead 2, as well as carrying over some of the new enemies to create a greater challenge. Also announced has been a 190 page comic, which will act as a prelude to ‘The Sacrifice’, keeping with Valve’s tradition of using various methods of media to expand on it’s best loved titles, such the short films made for Team Fortress 2.

I for one am very excited about this! This cracking news as I really love the original Left 4 Dead, however I’m not sure about bringing L4D2′s enemies over onto the first considering how much of a pain in the ass they are. One of the joys of playing the original to me now is the lack of irritating enemies, but still overall this is great news!

October 5th has been given as the date for the new content, available for 560 MS Points and free for PC and Mac users via Steam.

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