Valve has taken the wraps off The Sacrifice, a new DLC expansion for both Left 4 Dead and L4D2 that will “bridge the gap” between the two games and explain how one of the original survivors was lost to the zombie horde.
Apparently Valve wasn’t kidding when it pledged to support the original Left 4 Dead even after the release of the sequel late last year. If anything, the studio is going in entirely the opposite direction: Doing its best to ensure that everybody gets everything. The Sacrifice was originally intended solely for Left 4 Dead, but it didn’t take long to realize it would be a great fit for the follow-up as well.
“It’s a really fun campaign, it’s got lots of high Hunter leap points and stuff,” Valve’s Chet Faliszek told PC Gamer. “And we said ‘You know, this would be really cool in Left 4 Dead 2. Some of these locations would be cool for the Spitter and the Charger.’ So we decided we’d release The Sacrifice not just for Left 4 Dead 1, but for Left 4 Dead 2.”
Adding to the coolness is the decision to bring the popular No Mercy campaign to Left 4 Dead 2, although the addition of new zombies will change the experience considerably. “Your strategy of holing up in corners just disappears, because the Spitter is going to wreak havoc,” Faliszek said. “The Rooftop of No Mercy now, with Chargers and Tanks, is… you’d better not stand by a ledge.”
On the upside, players will also have access to the hard-hitting L4D2 weaponry. “You’re playing as the Left 4 Dead 1 characters in Left 4 Dead 1 maps, but you get melee weapons, the new weapons, the defib – all the stuff from Left 4 Dead 2,” he continued. “You get to see Zoe with a chainsaw, Zoe with an axe.”
In September, Valve will also release the first of a four-part, 190-page (150 pages, according to some sources) digital comic, the last chapter of which will be the story told in the DLC, including the “real” story of how one of the four original survivors falls under the undead onslaught. “The final part… takes place at the same time as the game,” Faliszek explained. “So you can either play it or read it – or both.”
The Sacrifice is scheduled to launch on October 5 in concert with the Mac version of Left 4 Dead 2. The new DLC will be free on the PC and Mac, while Xbox 360 owners will have to fork over 560 Microsoft Points.
