For a good chunk of my initial time with Back 4 Blood I had precisely zero opinions about it. It’s a strange game, half of it built on a kind of ultra-nostalgia, especially potent for anyone who spent a single day of the late noughties in the same room as an Xbox 360. The other half – all cards, progression, loot – is quite abruptly modern. The two, at least at first, seem to cancel each other out, turning it into a thing that’s just too familiar, too recognisable. I’m shooting zombies in co-op, while looting weapons and grinding the progression system for cards that might help on my next run. Imagine, in the most emotionless voice: OK.
But, actually, thankfully, it’s more than that. Scrabbling around in the game’s oddly enticing dark for long enough has allowed me to admit I was very much wrong. Back 4 Blood is interesting. It is unfamiliar, in places. It is good! Really good.
