Back 4 Blood is a lot like Left 4 Dead. Both games feature first-person shootin’, online co-op action, and tons of zombies. Even the names are very similar! These similarities are completely by design as Turtle Rock Studios, the devs behind Back 4 Blood, are the same folks who developed the original Left 4 Dead with support from Valve. While Valve is busy creating a handheld console, Turtle Rock has decided to make a new Left 4 Dead game even if they don’t own the franchise or IP anymore.
So, that’s how you end up with a game that is a lot like Left 4 Dead, even down to safe rooms plastered with notes and graffiti, not all of which feel quite like the desperate scrawls of zombie apocalypse survivors. I’ve been playing the Back 4 Blood beta over the last few days and have taken the time to screenshot as many of these notes and messages as I could find. The beta is only a select slice of the full game, so I expect there will be even more messages to find once Back 4 Blood comes out this October.
But for now, here are some of the sticky notes, messages, and spray-painted communications I’ve spotted after playing Back 4 Blood’s beta on PS5.
Mum Jokes Are Still A Thing
This is one of my favourite bits of graffiti messaging in Back 4 Blood because it reminds me of some of the best L4D safe room messages. People using markers and notes as a replacement for the internet. Also, it doesn’t matter if the world is covered in deadly zombies and is slowly dying; mum jokes are still going to be a thing.
Someone Misses Memes
There is a lot going on in this image. You can see someone wishing Mary a happy birthday, someone else wanting to “Make it Blue” whatever that means, and finally, a person warning people to never take off their shoes. But maybe the saddest and weirdest message is a simple note left by a lost soul who, for some reason, misses “all the memes.” They even drew a sad face. Honestly, the death of memes in a zombie-infested world sounds like one of the few upsides to me.
Oh Yeah, Where Are All The Animals At?
As you play Back 4 Blood, you might notice that only some birds seem to have survived the zombie apocalypse. Cows, horses, sheep, cats, even capybaras are all missing or dead. Now, in reality, this is because Back 4 Blood is an FPS co-op shooter focused on killing zombies and not an open-world game like Red Dead Redemption. Of course the devs didn’t include livestock and pets walking around everywhere. But this message is a fun nod to the people in this virtual world noticing all the animals are gone. Now, will any of them notice that people can die and respawn?
Wait, I Found One Of The Animals And Uh…
OK, this is sad. I think someone lost their pet lizard. RIP to a real one. Moving on. Don’t want to dwell on this…
Meat Sticks?
I spotted one note in Back 4 Blood that asked someone named Evans to “Stop hoarding the meat sticks!” I’m not sure what a meat stick is in this context. It could be some beef jerky, I guess. However, considering that it appears many of these safe rooms are low on supplies, maybe these meat sticks are some other kind of meat. And if there aren’t many animals around anymore, well, either a lizard got chopped up and eaten or someone is snacking on human flesh. Nice cupcake though! And don’t forget to kill Philip. (I hear he’s the guy making these meat sticks out of human flesh.)
Things Aren’t Going Well For The Survivors
Not all of the in-game graffiti and messages are left behind by random folks who are bored and stuck in a safe room. You can find more official documents and maps covered in notes too. For example, I found this map at the main hub area in the game. Unfortunately, based on the messages added to this map like FAILURE and FUCK THIS PLACE I’m not sure things are going great for our plucky little group of zombie killers.
Not All Messages Are Easy To Read
It turns out that scribbling notes and spray painting messages onto random walls during a zombie outbreak might not be the most long-term way to communicate with others. I spotted a bunch of messages in a bathroom during a mission, but sadly someone had been violently killed in the room. All the written notes on the wall were now covered in blood and hard to read. I marked in green what appears to be the word “arseholes” but it’s hard to say for sure. Damn zombies! Not only do they kill and eat us, but they also ruin our low-fi message boards. Is nothing sacred?!
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