13 Most Anticipated 2021 Video Games Ranked - Did They Live Up To The Hype?

After the disastrous mis-step of Evolve, this year saw Left 4 Dead creators Turtle Rock return to what they do best - letting four friends blast away at the undead hordes with a smile on their lips and murder in their hearts.

Thankfully for all concerned, Back 4 Blood was a return to form for its developers. Rather than resting on their laurels and releasing a glorified Left 4 Dead level pack, B4B offered some welcome updates to Turtle Rock's patented zombie-blasting formula.

The class system offers a much-needed evolution of Left 4 Dead's "different skins, same abilities" approach to character design, and the unlockable perks allow you to tailor your character in a way that perfectly suits you. Combined with gleefully gory gunplay, Back 4 Blood is a game that excels in delivering that "just one more run" feeling that all great multiplayer games invoke in their players.

Unfortunately, there are still some glaring mis-steps for Turtle Rock to sort out. Locking out progression for single-players feels mean-spirited and punitive, the hub feels like it could have easily been a menu, and the Swarm mode - which pits four humans against four player-controlled super-powered zombies - is hopelessly imbalanced in favour of the bad guys (that's the zombies, in case you were wondering).

Back 4 Blood is a fun game, but two months after its release it still feels like a work in progress. Which might be par for the course for multiplayer games these days, but it still doesn't make it any less disappointing.