Back 4 Blood, the highly-anticipated action survival co-op game from the developers of the Left 4 Dead series, was given an official release date of October 12, 2021 earlier this week. During the Xbox and Bethesda 2021 E3 Showcase Livestream, Back 4 Blood was confirmed to be coming to the Xbox Game Pass on launch day. It was recently rumored that the game would be available on the service, which the morning trailer confirmed.
The Xbox Game Pass is a subscription-based service that gives members access to a huge number of games on multiple platforms. Part of the appeal of the Game Pass is that subscribers have access to some newly released games on day one, usually games from Microsoft-owned studios. Back 4 Blood will be available on all modern systems, but will only be available on day one through a subscription service on the Xbox Game Pass.
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Back 4 Blood features a four-player co-op story just like its predecessor, but it also introduces multiplayer in the form of a Swarm Mode and Humans vs. Zombies mode. The game has modernized visuals and special effects that will take advantage of modern console capabilities – while the trailer shown during the morning Xbox conference did not unveil specifics, the rest of the E3 will likely reveal gameplay details, especially during the Back 4 Blood conference later in the day.
Back 4 Blood has been in development for many years and will serve as a spiritual successor to the Left 4 Dead series. The game is in fact being developed by Turtle Rock Studios, the company that developed Left 4 Dead (which was then published by Valve) all the way back in 2008. Turtle Rock Studios also developed Evolve, an asymmetrical multiplayer 4v1 shooter, and helped to develop Counter-Strike Source nearly 20 years ago.
The Xbox and Bethesda conference unveiled a huge number of upcoming games that will be exclusive to PC, Xbox, and the Xbox Game Pass – towards the end of the conference, 27 games specifically were highlighted for having release dates this year. Some of the other notable games coming to the Xbox Game Pass on launch include the eagerly anticipated Halo Infinite, the award-winning roguelike Hades, the next entry in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, and the ever-popular Among Us.
Back 4 Blood will release for individual purchase on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, the Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X|S or through the Xbox Game Pass on October 12, 2021.