While GTFO's approach to the survival horror co-op genre expands and builds upon Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood, it still needs work. Enemies are roaming hazards for the players as they navigate the immense map without a guide, with one wrong move triggering a cascade effect, alerting the monsters to their presence. Moreover, players must use the GTFO terminals and their DOS-style command prompts to find essential resources like key cards or medical kits. In contrast, GTFO has no objective markers or guides instead, the map is more generalized, similar to a D&D campaign map, with twisting corridors and stretching hallways. Despite this, the levels themselves remain essentially the same. Moreover, the two games have similar ways of mixing up the levels, with the former using an AI director to place obstacles in the players' path, and the latter using a game director's deck of corruption cards that modify each run. Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood levels are reasonably straightforward to navigate, with objective markers guiding the player through the map. The crushing difficulty will require players to bring all their tactics and tricks to survive GTFO. Unlike L4D and B4B’s special mutations, which require more finesse and nuanced play to take out, these unique enemies do massive damage and kill players outright in seconds. Players aren't restricted to stealth only, as there are plenty of opportunities to go loud and mow down monsters, but there are consequences like getting the attention of bigger enemies. Moreover, stealth is the best policy in GTFO, rather unlike Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood approach. Where L4D and B4B punished players for lacking in ammo or health, GTFO can start a level with diminished resources, punishing wasteful players by wiping the team. GTFO, however, takes the same framework and escalates it in tricky ways. Back 4 Blood’s deckbuilding mixes up that formula in interesting ways, letting players kit out their characters in various builds, a necessity for its harder difficulty levels. Most challenges players face in Left 4 Dead come down to killing wave after wave of enemies and their specialized mutations. While zombies in other games go down without their heads, the enemies in GTFO are more formidable, with instances of headless enemies sprinting towards the player. Despite their generic humanoid look, they lash out at the player with tendrils and elongated mouths. The enemy designs in GTFO further lean into the survival horror aspects by more fully embracing body horror. The immersion sometimes even carries into communication and teamwork, with players whispering around enemies despite it not being a feature in the game. The game builds an atmosphere similar to how horror co-op games like Phasmophobia stay scary by using audio as much as possible, immersing the player in the game’s ambience.
While Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood have their own immersive qualities, and different framings for their experiences, GTFO is content in leaving the player in the dark, sometimes literally. This focus on immersion and atmosphere is as much a part of the experience as the gameplay in GTFO. When the player does gain control of the character, the panic is exchanged for an eerie silence with distant growls echoing through the halls. As the harness lowers into the level, the character starts to panic, the sound of hyperventilation overwhelming the rest of the game's audio. While B4B shakes up L4D’s formula in level design but in many ways remains the same, GTFO creates a new experience while shaking up the co-op zombie FPS.Įvery mission in GTFO begins with the player's character strapped in a harness. While punishing difficulty is a given with FPS co-op games, GTFO's approach to difficulty in its starting levels is more akin to endgame raids in Destiny. The game focuses on immersion and atmosphere by leaning on its survival horror elements and enemy design. While GTFO is a darker and grittier version of Left 4 Dead, it's an entirely different game and improves upon L4D and Back 4 Blood. Related: Fun Survival Co-Op Shooters Inspired By Left 4 Dead This focus on atmosphere bleeds into the gameplay of GTFO, creating an experience that is as terrifying as it is rewarding. While it also borrows the environmental storytelling of Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood, it integrates it into the narrative in a different way, using it to bolster the game's atmosphere. Each level takes inspiration from other quality sci-fi horror games like Dead Space or Alien: Isolation in tone and theme.
Everything in GTFO adds to the survival horror factor of the game.
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