Left 4 demo arrives on PC and Xbox 360

By Robert Purchese Published 12 November, 2008

Try out two maps from new zombie shooter.

Valve has unleashed PC and Xbox 360 demos of Left 4 Dead.

We did know about this, but assumed a brief reminder wouldn't be met with pitchforks or hordes of undead keen on chomping at our faces.

The Xbox 360 sampler weighs in at 1.2GB, and offers up the first two of five No Mercy maps, which are playable both on your own and with friends.

The copycat PC sampler, meanwhile, can be grabbed from Steam.

Left 4 Dead is the co-operative zombie-survival shooter from Valve, where groups of four humans use guns to ward off hordes of Infected, which move frighteningly fast and savagely.

The result is overwhelmingly fun, as many of you found out at the Eurogamer Expo recently. We even screamed.

Left 4 Dead launches for PC on Steam on 18th November. Shops will then stock the game on Xbox 360 and PC from 21st November.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bad09 #1 3 years ago

    Saw that last night. I'll download it for the weekend, too much to play right now...

  • Dizzy #2 3 years ago

    GOTY for me. It is just awesome.

  • Fleisch #3 3 years ago

    taking sooooo long to download! left it going while im at work... "left 4 download" if you will.

    But played it at eurogamer expo at damn its good!

  • Bealsy #4 3 years ago

    Brilliant game, never played a game so involving, some moments are genuinely scary!

  • Darren #5 3 years ago

    Is that all you do in this game... run around maps shooting zombies with other players? Isn't there more (excuse the pun) "meat" to the gameplay? COD: World at War has a similar zombie mode for solo and multiplayer but also packs in a campaign and the usual online modes too. Left 4 Dead certainly doesn't look that great in the videos I've seen so far... I can't honestly say I've much interest in it. :?

  • Widge #6 3 years ago

    DL'd this via steam last night, will have a look at lunch. There has to be a proper campaign in it surely? For the money its asking for on Steam anyway. Otherwise its just a HL2 mod, like their CS and DOD updates.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #7 3 years ago

    Played it last night with a good team of friends. Thought it was great. Got connection issues so left. Afterwards I though it's maybe not as good as I first thought... and then after 30 minutes the urges to play it some more came! Joined my team again and played for the rest of the night.

    We cranked it up to Expert from the outset and it's an awesome awesome game.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #8 3 years ago

    It's quite good from the first of the two maps I played last night, but it just felt like a snippet of Ravenholm out of HL2 for the most part.

    Mind you, I never bothered with coop, I suppose that's the point of the game.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/08 @ 09:35

  • General_Zod #9 3 years ago

    Well I downloaded it off steam last night fearing the worst for my 1.8 ghz, 6600GT PC but when running at 800X600 it ran perfectly.
    Very hectic when the zombie hordes come and I blasted my team mates a few times, made up it for it though by sacrificing myself by throwing a molotov at a witch in the last room. Gave my life for the team :'(

  • Mooks #10 3 years ago

    It's good fun but the steam price is seriously overpriced for me in the UK because the dollar is so strong against the pound. Valve need to have a proper pricing structure for its European customers.

  • Katsumoto #11 3 years ago

    Darren - if you haven't given it a go I really recommend it with some mates.

    I can see how this would get boring quickly in single player, but with a few mates it really is utterly incredible.

    Your PC will run it, grab the demo off steam and give it a whirl.

  • sneetch #12 3 years ago

    @Widge
    "DL'd this via steam last night, will have a look at lunch. There has to be a proper campaign in it surely? For the money its asking for on Steam anyway. Otherwise its just a HL2 mod, like their CS and DOD updates."

    I don't know if it's "proper" but you can play the game off-line and single-player in which case it's you and 3 NPCs escaping from the infected through the campaign.

    @Mentalist(air)
    "It's quite good from the first of the two maps I played last night, but it just felt like a snippet of Ravenholm out of HL2 for the most part.

    Mind you, I never bothered with coop, I suppose that's the point of the game."

    Yep, precisely the point. :)

    I played a single player game first and had the same opinion, I thought it was quite good but a bit like Ravenholme (which was, imho, the best section in HL2).

    Then I played it co-op and it changed all that, I created a friends-only game, started using my mic and we worked our way through and it was much more... everything! Mind you increasingly I only play games co-op (or team games), just more fun.

    The second map is much more challenging too and there are 18 more. And being a Valve/Source game you can be sure that people will produce custom campaigns.

    @Darren
    Listen to farticus he makes sense. I'm genuinely giddy when I think about this game coming out in six days. :)

  • fatrabbit #13 3 years ago

    Played with 3 others last night on Xbox Live on the hardest setting and stuggled. In the end we put the difficulty down to advanced and finally made it after some trouble in the subway! Good fun!

    Is the demo really 40% of the final game? In the blurb at the end i'm sure it mentioned "10 new maps". What counts as a map? From safe room to safe room?

  • fatrabbit #14 3 years ago

    BTW, there is a great deal on the pre-order at Amazon (PC and Xbox). Steam works out at £13 more (although you get to play it a day or two earlier).

  • kinky_mong #15 3 years ago

    "GOTY for me. It is just awesome."

    This x1,000,000.

    Literally one of the best multiplayer experiences I've ever had. The AI Director works PERFECTLY. Played about 6 times last night and I was amazed at how well it made playing on the same map so different each time.

    "Left 4 Dead certainly doesn't look that great in the videos I've seen so far"

    Does any game EVER look good in gameplay videos? Do you wonder why most adverts for computer games contain as little gameplay footage as possible? The truth is the majority of computer games are just not "spectator sports".

    I've never played any of the main Final Fantasy games due to not being a fan of turn-based RPGs but I watched my old housemate play FFXII last year and I felt like stabbing myself in the eyes to make the boredom go away. However I'm not narrow-minded enough to think that actually playing the game is not fun because of a little something called immersion.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/08 @ 11:18

  • ParanoidZombie #16 3 years ago

    I hope the other 18 levels are less linear. The 1st level hasn't much replay value, since there's only one path anyway, and it's very short. If you don't trigger the car's alarm (brilliant idea BTW), level's over in 10 minutes.
    Awesome game, though. The witches are fantastic.

  • sneetch #17 3 years ago

    @fatrabbit
    "Played with 3 others last night on Xbox Live on the hardest setting and stuggled. In the end we put the difficulty down to advanced and finally made it after some trouble in the subway! Good fun!

    Is the demo really 40% of the final game? In the blurb at the end i'm sure it mentioned "10 new maps". What counts as a map? From safe room to safe room? "

    It's 10%, sort of, there are 5 maps per "movie" and 4 movies. I believe the first map in the first "movie" is the shortest (you have to be somewhat gentle at first :) ) and that later maps are longer, or at least the second one is longer than the first.

    @General_Zod
    "Gave my life for the team :'("

    No, no, NO! You're doing it all wrong: you give someone else's life for the team. ;)

    In one of my less noble moments I did take down Zoey with a pistol shot and limped off to find cover while she was being eaten by the horde. It was an accident but I was damned if I was gonna die trying to save her from the hunter and horde on 1 health. Heartless, yes, but as my friend Joe said; "we're survivors the key is surviving, if it comes down to a choice of me or you, it's gonna be you."

    It's nice to know where you stand. :)

  • viper_h #18 3 years ago

    Game. Of. The. Year.

    I've said it before and I've said it again - this game is world class. Awesome. 21 hours of the demo played so far and still going. If my mates can just figure out their random crash problems that figure would be higher.

    /plug - join our server! 85.234.148.28:27145

  • rashes #19 3 years ago

    How's the lag on the 360? We had a terrible time with TF2 when it came out first.

  • ZuluHero #20 3 years ago

    its not my GOTY (unless the full game does something spectacular beyond the demo). Dont get me wrong, i think it is very good and very fun and i must have played the 360 version like 6 times last night, but it needs to do something really good for me to classify it as my game of the year. So far(for me) that crown goes to Fallout and what i played of L4D last night doesn't make me think that it will steal that honour from it any time soon... Looking forward to the full game now thoigh! :)

  • kinky_mong #21 3 years ago

    How's the lag on the 360? We had a terrible time with TF2 when it came out first.

    No lag what so ever last night. That may be because the servers are fantastic, or because the tossers who continually deny it's their connection causing the problem are still only 44% of the way through downloading the demo.

  • SBfistfun #22 3 years ago

    How's the lag on the 360? We had a terrible time with TF2 when it came out first.

    Was completely lag free for me last night, good fun as well, the chopping and changing of pace from the AI director is pretty good:)

    Does anyone know if valve have any plans for releasing regular map packs?As good as it is I think 20 maps will grow stale a bit quick. I'm sure the pc version will have maps galore provided by both valve and other mappers.

    Maybe time to upgrade my pc :(

  • Darren #23 3 years ago

    Well I can't try the 360 version until the 19th as I have NXE installed on the "naughty" but I guess there's nothing to stop me trying the PC version on Steam. I'll wait until I've fitted my new graphics card first though.

  • AhSoul #24 3 years ago

    Did anyone find they had no Game Chat Channel in the 360 demo?

    We could only use private chat and obviously that is only 2 people max atm....

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #25 3 years ago

    Brilliant stuff

  • Widge #26 3 years ago

    Just been playing in my lunch hour in a meeting room. FUCK ME IF THIS ISN'T AWESOME.

    I was thinking of picking up a cheap COD4 to play online with at lunches but this beats the shit out of that. I'm assuming it will have some vague kind of story too since you get the big up intro thing. I startled a witch in my game just now, had my bastard flashlight off as well. Nothing beats the crazy of being pinned down, pelting away with dual pistols into the face of a rampant witch, screaming for help.

    This could be good. Interesting single player (you get bots... I think you can temporarily replace yourself with a bot on co-op if you have to AFK, clever), plus some multiplayer action (which isn't on the demo I believe).

    PC bods who want to know system guff:

    T7250 (laptop innit), 2GB, Vista 32bit, 8600GT DDR3, 5400RPM HDD

    Was running at native 1440x(something), all bells and whistles on, 2xAA, 8xAF. All pretty much smooth, although I may ditch the AA as it defaulted to it on while settings were at Med-High.

    My PC has bluetooth, if I get the PS3 headset thats coming out, you reckon I'll be able to pair that up with my laptop? My work colleagues are going to think I'm a nutter if they see me jabbering into a headset in a meeting room.

  • T4RG4 #27 3 years ago

    Feels like the kind of game I'd play across LAN with workmates at lunch. For me, it didnt translate too well onto 360 and I noticed constant lag in the online games I played (shooting was not satisfying, it was always slightly out).

    Imagine counter strike against loads of zombie AI and you picture something half decent. Even with the AI director (each game was different) it didnt 'feel' all that different because the Zombies just run at you from left/right or behind in different numbers. The weapons feel crappy, but would probably be better with a mouse ala CS. In fact, the M16 has the same sfx as the CS game I played years ago. Graphics wise it looks like an old CS too, in fact I'd agree with some who dare to say it feels like a Mod.

    Couple of moments were scary, but if you've played it through once that feeling vanishes. It's not actually scary, although it might catch you out sometimes. It feels like the kind of game you could pump coins into at an Arcade ;) The chain gun in the final room is so rubbish its almost funny! The friends I was playing it with enjoyed the games, the premise is admittedly very simple but also very fun which is why I've been looking forward to trying it out for so long. I thought it quite shallow in the end, as did another mate whereas the other two couldnt stop laughing and screaming - each to their own! I can see its appeal but I cant decide which side of the fence I'm sitting - at the moment its squashing my knackers.

    20quid on the PC = value
    36quid on the 360? I'm not so sure... pre-order remains so I'll play the demo some more.

    My PC probably isnt up to it and all my game playing mates are on Live... :(
    Edited by 2 at 12/11/08 @ 13:28

  • gaselite #28 3 years ago

    why the fuck would you play a game like this on 360. pc only zone.

    can not effing WAIT for this.

  • ZuluHero #29 3 years ago

    i like it on both - prob get the PC version for the community created stuff and the ease of using a mouse.

  • Widge #30 3 years ago

    PC + PS3 = L4D on PC.

    I bet after I buy it, they'll announce a bloody PS3 version.

    Really gotta sort out hooking my laptop up to the HDTV at home, for bastard reason I can't get the display settings to work! Refuses to default to 1080p

  • Hypercube #31 3 years ago

    Time to sort out a DVI to HDMI cable so I can play this on my HD TV with mouse and keyboard. Having much fun in the demo last night, looking forward to more fun tonight.

  • DrDamn #32 3 years ago

    Played the demo solo this lunchtime. Nice and slick but would be a stack better with a bunch of friends. One thing which does concern me is the longevity of the game, that and the piss poor torch. Torch I can live with but the game had a feel to it that it would be an absolute blast for a few sessions and then fizzle.

  • mexalen #33 3 years ago

    I played with some dudes from america and had a blast. We played twice and the game felt totally different on our second go. The Director AI works fine.

    it has the most dense atmosphere I ever seen. and with the guys I played yesterday it was even better, as they were all yelling into their mics hysterically. it was a constant "Oh my god, we are gonna die." and "help me. help me." ... so much fun.

    Probably GOTY.

  • bodypopper #34 3 years ago

    Good fun on the 360 though listening to squeaky kids jabbering away on my team last night rather spoiled the grim atmosphere. Perhaps the dev should have put automatic voice changers in there ;-).
    Still feels like a polished HL2 mod though, something that would have been ace as part of Orange Box 2 but a bit cheeky as a full game.
    /awaits more reviews of full game.
    Edited by 2 at 12/11/08 @ 17:24

  • AhSoul #35 3 years ago

    @farticusmaximus
    12-Nov-08 12:00:35
    Nah, I was chatting away with my team of random yanks last night.
    Do you have friends-only chat enabled?


    Hmm don't think so - certainly I've not had any trouble with Game Chat with any of my other games. I'll try again tonight.

  • chrisola #36 3 years ago

    the lack of 'iron sights' aiming bugged me a bit...i know it's all frantic and they rush you, but proper zombies need headshots to kill...although using the hunting rifle did make me feel like i was in the mall attack scene in Dawn of Dead....

    Not played with other peeps yet, just the AI, which is actually good !

    I think it would be even more awesome if you had the iron sights though.

  • local_celebrity #37 3 years ago

    Am I missing something?

    I've just played through these maps with a few randoms, and it all seemed standard fare really. We wandered round and killed a bunch of zombie...and, er, that was it. The end.

    Hardly GOTY material, surely.




  • AhSoul #38 3 years ago

    Turns out the game doesn't use the Game Chat channel in the same way as most other XBL games. It just has inbuilt chat. If we'd just left our private chat all would have been good.

    Oh well live and learn ;)

  • Slipstream #39 3 years ago

    This game is insanely fun! But is most certainly not GOTY material, not by a long shot, but even so, such status is no substitute for good, Co-opertive fun!

  • costa_k #40 3 years ago

    Am i the only one here that was expecting a bit more from Valve?Finished the 2 demo levels in what feels like a mindless shooter,i was expecting puzzles and situations where a bit of thinking should be required.
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/08 @ 11:50

  • mikeleddy83 #41 3 years ago

    Great game, enjoyed the witch baiting and disaster as a result. Definitely a fun game & quite likely worth the money at release.

  • Jandurin #42 3 years ago

    costa_k
    13-Nov-08 11:47:55
    " Am i the only one here that was expecting a bit more from Valve?Finished the 2 demo levels in what feels like a mindless shooter,i was expecting puzzles and situations where a bit of thinking should be required. "

    I know this is late, but still. It's... a demo. >_>

  • greenthumb #43 3 years ago

    is this still available as a demo on xbox? i just got mine back from repair, updated to the NXE thing, but now i cant find L4D demo... its not in the game demos section, there only seems to be a video available.... am i missing it somehow?

  • shamblemonkee #44 3 years ago

    dunno, i cant find it either!

  • benstarkie #45 3 years ago

    where by carl weathers' ghost is the bloody thing on live? It done dissapear'd!

  • A.N.T #46 3 years ago

    Where's the xbox demo? Was it ever there?