'Left 4 Dead 2' Meets Minecraft & Lord of the Rings

Game Rant

By Rob Keyes

Published Jun 28, 2012

What happens when you take the unique creatures, objects and environments of Minecraft and mix it with the beautifully animated, fast-moving and scary zombies of Left 4 Dead 2? This.

When examining gameplay trailers for Battlefield 3 or exploring the vast array of mods available for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, it's difficult not to appreciate the benefits of PC gaming, especially now with current console generation showing its age. Community-generatrf content or modified/added features offer improvements to video games that otherwise wouldn't exist (see: Minecraft) and in some cases, vastly increase the replayability of popular video games.

Just recently we saw what dedicated fans can do when talented players added multiplayer features in Just Cause 2 and Super Mario Galaxy 2, and today we're going to take a look at some exciting Left 4 Dead 2 mods.

First up is Deathcraft (for Left 4 Dead) and Deathcraft 2 (for Left 4 Dead 2), a total conversion mod for which takes the environments, weapons, characters and enemy zombie mobs and transforms them into familiar Minecraft objects and creatures, even down to the pixelated snowflakes. For veteran Minecraft fans who are actively part of the community or who enjoy the popular Minecraft YouTube shows (like the Yogscast) will find a few Easter Eggs as well.

To see it in action, and to see what a "next-gen" Minecraft could theoretically look like, watch CaptainSparklez having fun:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VPUgq5nBbI

Download Deathcraft 2 here.

Next up we have Lewis, Simon and Duncan protecting Middle-earth from the Uruk-hai as they attempt to stand their ground at Helm's Deep, the infamous battle from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. This one's not a total conversion unfortunately, so there are no Orc skins, medieval weaponry or heroic characters like Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas (someone needs to make that) but the map is big and at least looks like Helm's Deep.

This one's a challenge map and the team must hit certain benchmarks to surpass the bronze, silver and gold survival times to complete it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHi8aQCXMa0

Download Helm's Deep here.

As you can tell, it didn't go so well, but they did manage to do better in their 2nd and 3rd attempts.

I think a few of us Game Ranters are going to pick up Deathcraft 2 as soon as we finish the Dawnguard Skyrim DLC, The Amazing Spider-Man and Spec Ops: The Line.

Have you played any sweet L4D mods?

Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.