Back 4 Blood
Turtle Rock Studios reveals its roguelite black heart
Improve knife attacks, stack weapon damage, or flood the map with a neverending army of armoured Ridden.
Every venture into the Ridden-infested world of Back 4 Blood promises to be a shocking surprise. We’ve played the game, and the AI certainly keeps you on edge. But it’s the innovative card system, a roguelite feature, that ensures every playthrough is different.
Developer Turtle Rock Studios has revealed the game’s card system works behind the scenes to make every confrontation with the zombie-like Ridden a dynamic surprise. You collect and use Corruption cards to modify the gameplay, AI, creature roster, weapons, buffs, and more – though if you don’t want to worry about fiddling with the setup there’s the option to play with default preset decks.
SUIT YOU
The adaptive AI, called the Game Director, will read your deck and adjust the game accordingly. It beavers away behind the scenes keeping track of your actions and choices. On a broad level it adjusts the environmental conditions and even unleashes special mutations of Ridden to up the ante.
You can add another layer of customisation to the game by dipping into the Deck Manager and loading in cards that can, for example, improve the effect of knife attacks, stack weapon damage, or flood the map with a never-ending army of armoured Ridden.
In-game this means you can rerun maps with friends in co-op, adjusting the challenge for them in new and interesting ways each time you play.