Skip to content
Left 4 Dead

Valve

Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead is a cooperative first-person shooter set during a zombie outbreak on the East Coast of the United States. Four players control survivors who must fight through hordes of infected humans, creatures transformed by a rabies-like pathogen that causes extreme aggression and loss of higher brain function. Gameplay emphasizes teamwork, with colored outlines showing teammate positions through walls, shared healing items, and friendly fire creating consequences for careless shooting. An AI system called the Director dynamically adjusts enemy placement, item spawns, and pacing based on player performance. Beyond common infected, players face five special mutated types with unique abilities. Campaigns are divided into levels connected by safe houses, each culminating in a desperate last stand for rescue.

Released
17 November 2008
Developer
Valve
Publisher
Valve
Engine
Source
Perspective
First person
Age rating
PEGI 18 · ESRB M
Controller
Full controller support
Metacritic
89/100
Steam recommendations
57,855
Platforms
PC (Microsoft Windows) · Mac · Xbox 360
Genres
Shooter
Also known as
L4D
Estimated owners
5,000,000–10,000,000 (est.)
83
Player rating
85
Critic rating
760
Ratings counted
96.4%
Steam reviews
73
Achievements

Left 4 Dead

Quick answers

Left 4 Dead

The story

An outbreak of a pathogen nicknamed the Green Flu sweeps across Pennsylvania, causing extreme aggression, loss of higher brain function, and rapid mutation in its victims. Two weeks after the first infection, four immune survivors find themselves stranded together in the city of Fairfield: Bill, a Vietnam veteran; Zoey, a college student; Louis, a district account manager; and Francis, an outlaw biker. As the group fights through city streets, subways, and countryside in search of evacuation, they discover that the military's containment efforts are failing and that the infection is producing increasingly dangerous mutations in some of its hosts. Each rescue attempt leads to another setback, pushing the survivors further from safety and forcing them to rely entirely on each other to stay alive.

Left 4 Dead

How long to beat

Main story
15.5 h
Main + extras
32 h

Browse

Key facts

Platforms

Game modes

Themes

Left 4 Dead

Trailer

Left 4 Dead

Screenshots

Left 4 Dead

Reviews and languages

96.4% of 67,785 Steam reviews are positive. Valve labels that “Overwhelmingly Positive”.

33 languages in the interface, 6 of them with full voice acting. English is supported, with full voice acting.

Publisher's content notice

Includes realistic violence, blood and gore involving zombie-like creatures.

Left 4 Dead

Platform releases

Mac
17 November 2008
PC (Microsoft Windows)
17 November 2008
Xbox 360
18 November 2008

Left 4 Dead

Official pages

Left 4 Dead

Similar games