Back 4 Blood has some of the most difficult missions in gaming, challenging the player in both gameplay and patience. Developed by Turtle Rock Studios as the spiritual successor of the Left 4 Dead series, the missions in Back 4 Blood are just as unique in their execution as they are brutal in their delivery, leaving the majority of players either angry, speechless, or a combination of both. However, some missions have continued to be a permanent obstacle to players on the road to completing the playthroughs.
[Major spoilers for Back 4 Blood follow below.]
Back 4 Blood is set after the apocalyptic event called The Collapse saw most of humanity turned into the Ridden by a parasite known as the Devil Worm. Back 4 Blood tasks eight player-controlled Cleaners - individuals who are immune to the Devil Worm - to turn the tide against the Ridden and their newly developed special mutations. Most missions include completing a variety of different tasks, from acquiring supply boxes to simply surviving an incoming horde of infected.
The source of difficulty in Back 4 Blood's missions stems from that trek getting from point A to B while surviving an onslaught from the regular and special Ridden. This is in addition to the AI Director's use of corruption cards that add unique abilities to the Ridden, creating enemies such as Armored Ridden or Ferocious Bruisers. This makes Back 4 Blood's Ridden zombies harder to kill and more damaging to players on top of the difficulty level. While it makes repeat playthroughs at the same level of difficulty more unique, the outcome is usually the same: a team gets wiped and has to try again.
Back 4 Blood's Missions Vary In Difficulty
Back 4 Blood's sink or swim mission and intro to the game, The Crossing, is the final obstacle that stands in the way of reaching Fort Hope, one of the last bastions of humanity that actively engages with Ridden. However, to get to the Fort, the player must cross a bridge crawling with Ridden and cut off their advance by blowing up a lodged ferry. While an intimate knowledge of Back 4 Blood's campaign card–building mechanics is not required, it's preferred.
The mission is challenging in two ways: its reliance on communication and its place as one of the first missions. For the former, a lot of coordination is required that some players coming off other zombie games where a single player can carry solo are not accustomed. As for the latter, the map is only the third level in the first act of the game and is pretty punishing for new players who are just getting used to its mechanics. This makes The Crossing a perfect level to grasp the difficulty of Back 4 Blood going forward.
Book Worms Introduces Back 4 Blood's Birds
Tasked with securing a library while searching for survivors, Book Worms is one of many Back 4 Blood missions that may seem simple, but one error can wipe the team. The library is filled with the Ridden called Sleepers, similar to the Birds from previous Back 4 Blood maps, and they act as stationary alarms that leap at players, pinning them down and summoning a Horde. On top of that, a Horde timer counts down that can automatically call Ridden that will overwhelm the Cleaners if they don't board up four windows located around the dimly lit library.
The mission is one of many Back 4 Blood levels littered with multiple obstacles from Birds that can summon a Horde to the Sleepers. Moreover, it's a close-quarters mission which means that when the Horde of both regular and mutated Ridden do come, they can spawn on both floors and quickly overwhelm the Cleaners. Book Worms introduces the player to the more devious forms of the Ridden while promoting teamwork to avoid taking trauma damage in Back 4 Blood.
The Handy Man Tasks Players With Finding More Weapons
In the Back 4 Blood mission titled, The Handy Man, General Phillips, commander of Fort Hope, sends the Cleaners to a police station to acquire the hardware for the upcoming war with the Ridden. However, the previously thought secured station was quickly overwhelmed by the Ridden with the weapons behind a biometric lock that Bob, a guard watching the guns, can only open. Fortunately, after destroying a nest, a piece of Bob is found. The task then shifts to finding the other parts of him scattered throughout the Police Station.
As was the case with Book Worms, an incoming Horde timer looms over the player, forcing players to utilize every resource in Back 4 Blood from healing to weapons. However, since each piece is within the nests, the Horde is instantly summoned. This forces the player to think on their feet while fighting off a constant stream of regular and mutated Ridden.
Abandoned Is One Of Back 4 Blood's Longest Missions
One of the longest Back 4 Blood missions, Abandoned sees the Cleaners complete a previous mission given to a squad assumed to be lost. The mission contains a lot of navigation through houses and backyards as the Cleaners fight through the outskirts to the village proper. There's even a segment where players have to sprint down a street with the Horde on their heels.
The difficulty in the mission comes from the tasks given and the length of the mission compared to other maps, with Back 4 Blood feeling harder than intended at times. While the player can navigate each house with relative ease entering the mine trail leading up to the quarry where the previous squad last reported is another story. There are multiple shafts between the saferoom with Ridden, both regular and mutated, spewing out. Players can sprint to the saferoom, avoiding the Ridden altogether; however, it's easy to catch a Crusher or push back by an Exploder. Abandoned will test the player's stamina and challenge their survivability against incredible odds.
Grave Danger Requires Plenty Of Coordination
Grave Danger sends the Cleaners on their way to Dr. Rogers' lab, a scientist that has a possible solution to end the Ridden. To get to him, the Cleaners must utilize Back 4 Blood's various weapons and clear a Church's area of five Snitches, Ridden that will alert a Horde regardless of being killed. However, once surviving the four Hordes and killing the last Snitch, two Breakers will spawn a more agile, armored, and intimidating version of the Tank from the Left 4 Dead series.
The mission seems relatively clear-cut, as players have to survive the onslaught and work as a team. A lot can go wrong in Back 4 Blood and it usually does, so communication here is not only key but essential. However, when the Breakers spawn, the players need to stick together despite repositioning for a better location. Grave Danger is one of the levels that feel directly influenced by the Left 4 Dead series from the tone and theme but requires more teamwork than its predecessor ever did.
T-5 Has One Of Back 4 Blood's Deadliest Onslaughts
With an end to the Ridden insight, the Cleaners find a scene in Back 4 Blood straight from a horror movie, with Dr. Rogers donned with hazmat gear atop his house-turned laboratory. Eager, he demonstrates a new weapon to the Cleaners, the T-5, a gas that immediately kills or weakens Ridden that comes into contact with it. Firing the mortar rounds filled with the gas into a nearby infested mound seems to work, with the Ridden screaming in agony in the distance. However, the suffering is quickly exchanged with an angry roar as the Ridden sprint towards the house en mase.
A twist to the classic 'fortify the location and hold against the enemy' mission-type, T-5 tasks the players not only holding and reinforcing an area but to find six of Rogers' research documents scattered about his house. Intimate knowledge of Back 4 Blood's corruption cards would help counter. However, to make matters worse, an Ogre, a boss-level Ridden that towers over the house, spawns in front of the exit vehicle with wave after wave of both regular and mutated Ridden constantly spawning. This onslaught occurs atop Dr. Rogers' home and they crash through the windows, which means that Ridden can overwhelm the players from every direction while they look for the research. Arguably one of the hardest and challenging missions, T-5 is just a taste compared to the game's most demanding mission.
The Body Dump Is Back 4 Blood's Hardest Mission
Like the mission T-5, but rather than bomb the Ridden, the mission tasks Cleaners to enter the mound and destroy them, to winning Back 4 Blood's Body Dump requires teamwork. However, multiple obstacles stand in the player's way in the form of every special Ridden, save for the Hag, on top of the groups of regulars sprinting around. It gets relatively chaotic quickly as every variant of the special Ridden acts as a distraction for their bigger brethren like the Ogre.
While the players are armed with the T-5 grenade variants that can debuff all the special Ridden and kill the regulars outright, they are not infinite. There are stashes strewn about the mound; however, considering it is swarming with Ridden, running off alone to restock is ill-advised unless the player uses a melee deck build with plenty of stun guns. Fortunately, there are only three hives the players need to eliminate. Unfortunately, each time a nest is destroyed, an Ogre will appear alongside a Horde. The cycle of Ridden spawns will begin anew. The Body Dump is the epitome of Back 4 Blood, as it is challenging, fast-paced, and teamwork reliant.
Back 4 Blood's uniqueness lies in its creative depictions of its enemies and its approach to missions. Creating levels that differ depending on the literal cards dealt by the game AI Director and the builds various decks players make encourages out-of-the-box thinking. However, it's hard not to notice the seemingly overwhelming odds players face throughout their playthroughs when it comes to difficulty.
Some of the mission details can lead to a squad wipe and subsequent rage quitting even on the easiest difficulty. On the Nightmare difficulty, the hardest, the Ridden down players in a few hits with special infected killing players outright. When playing on Back 4 Blood's Veteran difficulty, it becomes apparent that the campaign may need some rebalancing. Part of the challenge in Back 4 Blood is overcoming impossible odds, but the game could afford to be a bit more lenient in certain areas.