Valve unveils fourth Left 4 Dead 2 mode

By Tom Bramwell Published 8 October, 2009

Team-based can-gathering in Scavenge.

Valve has announced the new fourth game mode for Left 4 Dead 2 - Scavenge.

Scavenge is a round-based competitive multiplayer game for up to eight players, where a team of survivors attempts to collect and transport gas canisters to a generator somewhere on the map while a team of infected tries to stop them.

Each gas can brought to the generator adds a bit more time to the clock, which is ever ticking down, and scores the survivors' team a point. After three rounds each playing as both survivors and infected, the winner is the team with the most points.

According to people who have witnessed Scavenge at US press events, it's extremely fast-paced - something of a focus for Valve's recent Left 4 Dead efforts, in light of how long games of Versus take in the original.

Check out the first screenshots of Scavenge in Left 4 Dead 2 to see what it looks like, and don't forget that you can play Left 4 Dead 2 at the Eurogamer Expo at the end of the month in Leeds and London.

The game itself is due out for PC and Xbox 360 in November - 17th in the US and on Steam and 20th in shops over here. Check out our recent Left 4 Dead 2 hands-on for even more information.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • charming_fox #1 2 years ago

    Sounds sexier than a cosplay virgin (x2)

  • ChthonicEcho #2 2 years ago

    Back when Survival Pack was mentioned but its details were still scarce, I thought this is what the new game mode will be like. How amusing to see it again.

  • Chufty #3 2 years ago

    Awesome. I really can't wait for this game.

  • Tomo #4 2 years ago

    Sounds like such a rip-off this game, doesn't it?!

    Valve's cheek is astounding!

  • systems #5 2 years ago

    Have you seen the review of it on Kotaku though? They found it too easy to win as infected as all you do is spawn-camp the generator. And it's even worse with the spitter as they can block the generator and explode the gas cans. I hope they get the balance right for the final release.

  • Byzanite #6 2 years ago

    Im getting bored of constantly hearing about L4D now. Is L4D3 being announced yet?

  • ChthonicEcho #7 2 years ago

    @systems

    That's easy enough to fix, simply by making the generator area(s) a 'safe place' quite like the safe rooms in that Infected cannot spawn in them. Make the gas cans impervious to damage from Spitter's... well, spit, and you've already nudged the game mode towards a more balanced experience.

  • penhalion #8 2 years ago

    @ChthonicEcho

    Actually the spitter can spit into the safe areas and spawning and then entering a safe area isn't stoppable. The mode was always geared towards the infected because the survivors have to constantly "carry the can" as it were *ba boom daaa ching*

  • ChthonicEcho #9 2 years ago

    @penhalion

    There's a colossal difference between spawning in the generator areas and waddling over to them. Boomers no longer become a threat, because they won't be able to get near, and if they spawn in advance and hide, they will be duly taken care of (ninja Boomers always fail).

    Jockeys and Spitters are thus the most potent threat, with Hunters coming second (depending on whether there will be 25 damage pounce spots nearby). However, once you repel the first wave, you'll have plenty of time (assuming there are respawn counters similar to Versus for SI) to pour the fuel into the generator. I'm sure the Spitter's spit won't last longer than 20-30 seconds, and even that time would be rather overkill.

    Also, we don't know how selection of an Infected class works in the game. Perhaps the Spitter is given to players only when the AI detects lack of movement from the survivors.

    Edit: God, I'm such a L4D nerd.
    Edited by 1 at 08/10/09 @ 10:09

  • cnlfailure #10 2 years ago

    I like the sound of this. Just as long as they don't forget that the full-length VS campaigns are the best thing since sliced bread, and not all of us are desperate for shorter experiences this will be wonderful.

  • bigshot316 #11 2 years ago

    If the balance is right, this could be an awesome little addition to play in between epic VS matches!!!

    I can honestly say that I havent been this excited since Mario 3 on the NES!!

    Roll on the real Christmas!! (Nov 20th)

  • Nephirion #12 2 years ago

    Left 4 dead 3 is announced on Nov 21st ;-)

  • Spekingur #13 2 years ago

    @Tomo: Sarcasm doesn't really translate well over the interwebs ;P

    Also, I'm excited. Is it wet in here or is it just me?

  • Invisible_Cow #14 2 years ago

    Very keen for this. L4D always suffered from the length of a multiplayer campaign IMO. It should hopefully help prevent the 'get pwned'-quit loop that you tend to get with randoms.
    Launch-day title for me I think!
    Edited by 1 at 08/10/09 @ 15:05

  • DAN.E.B #15 2 years ago

    Agreed about the lengh of VS its perfect the way it is
    bit concered about all this talk of shorter VS matches!