Valve Reanimates Left 4 Dead Shockingly Early, Sequel Later This Year

June 2nd, 2009 by: Alisha K.

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Valve isn’t really known for pumping out sequels at lightning pace, like a lot of game companies, so despite all of the bigger news coming out of E3, this is certainly one of the surprises. Not only are they preparing a sequel to the wildly popular zombie game Left 4 Dead, but it’s coming out this fall–only a year after the original.

Only a year? Sounds less-than-exciting, considering that there’s only been a few (free!) add-ons for the original, and the modding scene–always popular with Valve’s games–has not yet had much time to develop fully. For most companies, that might mean a sequel that just offers more of the same… the sort of thing that should just be an expansion.

Not so with the second installment of Left 4 Dead. There are some big improvements in the works here, and not only new locations (New Orleans), new characters, new weapons (chainsaw!) and new special infected. The AI Director will have even more power than before, including the ability to change the layout of the stages as you proceed. Perhaps even better for those of us who are complete masochists when it comes to the zombie genre (long live the original Dead Rising save system!), the creators are even working to make dirty little tricks less possible. You want to survive? You want to win? You’re going to have to do more than hide in a corner out of the reach of the violent masses.

Also? Frying pans. Oh yes.

Now they need to get to work on Left 4 Dead 3… the version that will use those newfangled Xbox 360 body controls.

[via RockPaperShotgun]