Why did this game fail so miserably?

[Agony]

It had a lot of potential, but ultimately failed. I'd argue it's because the devs are incompetent, but i'd like to hear your thoughts as well.

[xXZownXx]

Character dialogue is either corny or cliche, making it intolerable to listen to a lot of the time. One DLC character (Han) is completely useless, I have no clue why they even added him into the game, so I wouldn't doubt it if they added in another pointless character. Ridden design and variation is completely lack luster, the only ones that are unique or legitimately cool are the Hag and Snitch; legit in all special ridden categories every variation share the same attack, one of each category not even having any special ability.

Tedious objectives during chapters that make it even worse because every 10 steps there is some kind of hazard that alerts a horde. Nonsensical additions by the devs whether it be cards, guns, or even something as stupid as adding in the capability to use all cards in your deck on the first level no matter the difficulty, you can't even toggle it on or off, so you can now run through the game very easily.

The game was very cheap and not difficult in the beginning release, and the community who abused certain mechanics or in turn used cheap tactics became very toxic and would make it so no one would even wanna try playing with randoms or joining in on the "fun" because the playerbase believed themselves all-mighty, or would just tell people "B4B GoOd GamE, l4D BiAs, GiT guD" instead of coming up with actual reasons why the game is good.

Now the devs are adding in more stupid ♥♥♥♥ like bear traps and smoke grenades, I can't think of a singular use for bear traps in a ZOMBIE HORDE SHOOTER, and smoke grenades are just gonna screw over your teammates more than the ridden.

The playerbase has decreased drastically and I'm glad for it, this kind of obvious cash grab doesn't deserve a following of any kind; and it's funny because the new DLC coming out is centered around a cult, very similar atmosphere to what's left of the community who actually enjoy the game.

There are a flood of other reasons, or I simply could go more in depth, but those are all of the reasons I can remember or think of from the top of my head after playing the base game and DLC some time ago.

[Knee]

It’s been pretty successful in my opinion. It’s a lot of fun. Sort of ruined L4D for me as I can’t return to it after playing B4B. There’s a healthy amount of players to queue up with and more content on the horizon. No misery here, except for players that hate the game.

[TsarFlow]

Originally posted by xXZownXx:

Character dialogue is either corny or cliche, making it intolerable to listen to a lot of the time. One DLC character (Han) is completely useless, I have no clue why they even added him into the game, so I wouldn't doubt it if they added in another pointless character. Ridden design and variation is completely lack luster, the only ones that are unique or legitimately cool are the Hag and Snitch; legit in all special ridden categories every variation share the same attack, one of each category not even having any special ability.

Tedious objectives during chapters that make it even worse because every 10 steps there is some kind of hazard that alerts a horde. Nonsensical additions by the devs whether it be cards, guns, or even something as stupid as adding in the capability to use all cards in your deck on the first level no matter the difficulty, you can't even toggle it on or off, so you can now run through the game very easily.

The game was very cheap and not difficult in the beginning release, and the community who abused certain mechanics or in turn used cheap tactics became very toxic and would make it so no one would even wanna try playing with randoms or joining in on the "fun" because the playerbase believed themselves all-mighty, or would just tell people "B4B GoOd GamE, l4D BiAs, GiT guD" instead of coming up with actual reasons why the game is good.

Now the devs are adding in more stupid ♥♥♥♥ like bear traps and smoke grenades, I can't think of a singular use for bear traps in a ZOMBIE HORDE SHOOTER, and smoke grenades are just gonna screw over your teammates more than the ridden.

The playerbase has decreased drastically and I'm glad for it, this kind of obvious cash grab doesn't deserve a following of any kind; and it's funny because the new DLC coming out is centered around a cult, very similar atmosphere to what's left of the community who actually enjoy the game.

There are a flood of other reasons, or I simply could go more in depth, but those are all of the reasons I can remember or think of from the top of my head after playing the base game and DLC some time ago.

[Diablerie]

To say that it failed what was your goal post for success? More importantly do you have insight into what trs/wb games would consider a success? Not even saying you're wrong, just that if you're going to begin such a topic it should be made clear by what measurement it failed. The topic comes off as dreadfully biased otherwise.

[Agony]

Originally posted by xXZownXx:

Character dialogue is either corny or cliche, making it intolerable to listen to a lot of the time. One DLC character (Han) is completely useless, I have no clue why they even added him into the game, so I wouldn't doubt it if they added in another pointless character. Ridden design and variation is completely lack luster, the only ones that are unique or legitimately cool are the Hag and Snitch; legit in all special ridden categories every variation share the same attack, one of each category not even having any special ability.

Tedious objectives during chapters that make it even worse because every 10 steps there is some kind of hazard that alerts a horde. Nonsensical additions by the devs whether it be cards, guns, or even something as stupid as adding in the capability to use all cards in your deck on the first level no matter the difficulty, you can't even toggle it on or off, so you can now run through the game very easily.

The game was very cheap and not difficult in the beginning release, and the community who abused certain mechanics or in turn used cheap tactics became very toxic and would make it so no one would even wanna try playing with randoms or joining in on the "fun" because the playerbase believed themselves all-mighty, or would just tell people "B4B GoOd GamE, l4D BiAs, GiT guD" instead of coming up with actual reasons why the game is good.

Now the devs are adding in more stupid ♥♥♥♥ like bear traps and smoke grenades, I can't think of a singular use for bear traps in a ZOMBIE HORDE SHOOTER, and smoke grenades are just gonna screw over your teammates more than the ridden.

The playerbase has decreased drastically and I'm glad for it, this kind of obvious cash grab doesn't deserve a following of any kind; and it's funny because the new DLC coming out is centered around a cult, very similar atmosphere to what's left of the community who actually enjoy the game.

There are a flood of other reasons, or I simply could go more in depth, but those are all of the reasons I can remember or think of from the top of my head after playing the base game and DLC some time ago.

^^

[Agony]

Originally posted by Diablerie:

To say that it failed what was your goal post for success? More importantly do you have insight into what trs/wb games would consider a success? Not even saying you're wrong, just that if you're going to begin such a topic it should be made clear by what measurement it failed. The topic comes off as dreadfully biased otherwise.

The current player count, obviously. I've been watching this game lose more and more players every day, since release. It's gotten to the point where there are barely 2k concurrent players on steam. Meanwhile, lfd2 has 40k+, and is over a decade old. That's still much more than b4b, even when taking into account players on other platforms. It's sad, and i'm disappointed this game died the way that it did. The only thing that could revive it, is mod support, but we know that's never happening......

[Macrollium]

A larger, more receptive approach towards playtesting combined with having more time (I'd say another good 2-3 years) before release would've likely landed the game in a significantly better spot.

The inclusion of modding support would've been the icing on the cake to solidify its legacy for years to come in a similar fashion to L4D2.

[PhamTrinli]

Originally posted by Agony:

It had a lot of potential, but ultimately failed. I'd argue it's because the devs are incompetent, but i'd like to hear your thoughts as well.

There is already a thread like this
https://steamcommunity.com/app/924970/discussions/0/5089647632461847506/

[Diablerie]

Originally posted by Agony:

The current player count, obviously. I've been watching this game lose more and more players every day, since release. It's gotten to the point where there are barely 2k concurrent players on steam. Meanwhile, lfd2 has 40k+, and is over a decade old. That's still much more than b4b, even when taking into account players on other platforms. It's sad, and i'm disappointed this game died the way that it did. The only thing that could revive it, is mod support, but we know that's never happening......

arguably better games such as vermintide have lower player counts. This is fairly average for horde based pve games. They don't generally have staggering numbers past release Primarily because content gets quickly exhausted and people leave until there is a new offering.

[[PMC] Portable Merc Collector]

Originally posted by xXZownXx:

Character dialogue is either corny or cliche, making it intolerable to listen to a lot of the time. One DLC character (Han) is completely useless, I have no clue why they even added him into the game, so I wouldn't doubt it if they added in another pointless character. Ridden design and variation is completely lack luster, the only ones that are unique or legitimately cool are the Hag and Snitch; legit in all special ridden categories every variation share the same attack, one of each category not even having any special ability.

Tedious objectives during chapters that make it even worse because every 10 steps there is some kind of hazard that alerts a horde. Nonsensical additions by the devs whether it be cards, guns, or even something as stupid as adding in the capability to use all cards in your deck on the first level no matter the difficulty, you can't even toggle it on or off, so you can now run through the game very easily.

The game was very cheap and not difficult in the beginning release, and the community who abused certain mechanics or in turn used cheap tactics became very toxic and would make it so no one would even wanna try playing with randoms or joining in on the "fun" because the playerbase believed themselves all-mighty, or would just tell people "B4B GoOd GamE, l4D BiAs, GiT guD" instead of coming up with actual reasons why the game is good.

Now the devs are adding in more stupid ♥♥♥♥ like bear traps and smoke grenades, I can't think of a singular use for bear traps in a ZOMBIE HORDE SHOOTER, and smoke grenades are just gonna screw over your teammates more than the ridden.

The playerbase has decreased drastically and I'm glad for it, this kind of obvious cash grab doesn't deserve a following of any kind; and it's funny because the new DLC coming out is centered around a cult, very similar atmosphere to what's left of the community who actually enjoy the game.

There are a flood of other reasons, or I simply could go more in depth, but those are all of the reasons I can remember or think of from the top of my head after playing the base game and DLC some time ago.

Hit the nail on the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ head with a large portion of this.

Oftentimes the characters in the game can make or break it for me. I can forgive a lot if I like the characters, I love L4D but honestly the characters have stuck with me long after I got bored of the game. Say what you will about Francis Zoey Bill and Louis, or Coach Nick Rochelle and Ellis, but you can't deny their personalities make them likeable and their interactions enjoyable.

Bringing it back to B4B, almost all of their characters just.. lack any reason to LIKE them. Karlee is ♥♥♥♥♥♥, Holly is.. the embodiment of snotty annoying college girl and Evangelo is.. more just annoying than anything. Worst of all these two never shut up.

At least the others aren't as annoying, but they're generic as all hell. The one that stands out the most to me is Hoffman. Doc could of been interesting, buf she's literally iust there to be the "kickass woman" of the group. Mom could of been really cool, but a lot of these characters fall into either painfully cheesy or generic action movie one-liners.

L4D had one-liners too, but that wasn't EVERYTHING, and that's a big reason I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate almost all of B4Bs characters, both casts of L4D interacted, felt real. They grieved when somebody died, they commented on the situation, on their condition, reacted to the environment. Even talked to each other at multiple points in the campaigns.


B4B has NO INTERACTION, it's generic because of how many characters there are, and because of that.. there's no reason to remember any of these people, or care.

The L4D cast are still fondly remembered over 10 years later.

When this game shuts down nobody is going to remember it or it's characters after a couple.

[Jack Reaver]

Originally posted by Diablerie:

Originally posted by Agony:

The current player count, obviously. I've been watching this game lose more and more players every day, since release. It's gotten to the point where there are barely 2k concurrent players on steam. Meanwhile, lfd2 has 40k+, and is over a decade old. That's still much more than b4b, even when taking into account players on other platforms. It's sad, and i'm disappointed this game died the way that it did. The only thing that could revive it, is mod support, but we know that's never happening......

arguably better games such as vermintide have lower player counts. This is fairly average for horde based pve games. They don't generally have staggering numbers past release Primarily because content gets quickly exhausted and people leave until there is a new offering.

You might want to correct the wording there, I think you mean that better games still have less players but uou makes it sound like Vermintide has less players than B4B despite being "better". It doesn't, vermintide has been higher in player count pretty frequently on steam.
In fact I think one of Vermintide's anniversary updates beat the launch player count of B4B.

[ItaAndy]

L4D2's fanboys, nostalgia freaks gave the game a bad name. This game is way better than L4D2 in so many ways, that if it wasnt for the mod support, L4D2 would've been dead years ago.

[Bongo]

-Overpriced
-Lack of content
-Lack of updates
-Lack of polish, unfixed bugs
-Quality of updates
-Abysmal server/net code performance
-Poor quality PVP mode
-Poor decision making by the developers
And many, many more.

[Jack Reaver]

Originally posted by ItaAndy:

L4D2's fanboys, nostalgia freaks gave the game a bad name. This game is way better than L4D2 in so many ways, that if it wasnt for the mod support, L4D2 would've been dead years ago.

Originally posted by xXZownXx:

The game was very cheap and not difficult in the beginning release, and the community who abused certain mechanics or in turn used cheap tactics became very toxic and would make it so no one would even wanna try playing with randoms or joining in on the "fun" because the playerbase believed themselves all-mighty, or would just tell people "B4B GoOd GamE, l4D BiAs, GiT guD" instead of coming up with actual reasons why the game is good.

[Moxley]

Originally posted by ItaAndy:

L4D2's fanboys, nostalgia freaks gave the game a bad name. This game is way better than L4D2 in so many ways, that if it wasnt for the mod support, L4D2 would've been dead years ago.

Na, the Versus community is about 50% of the community. The number would be less without mod support, but it would still be probably 4x what B4B's playerbase is. While B4B is better in some ways than L4D (Weapon customizatons and all that). You can't deny that its lacking in a LOT of fields that made you love L4D.

You say L4D would of died without mod support.
I say B4B would of already died if it wasn't on Gamepass.