Left 4 Dead 2 receives a surprising update 14 years after its release

Valve has released a fresh update for Left 4 Dead 2 that fixes bugs and technical issues.

The update also includes a humorous addition: Valve has officially named the alligator in the game's swamp "Fred" due to numerous requests from the community.

Although there have been rumors about a possible Left 4 Dead 3, Valve has often concluded its franchises with the second installment in the past. Therefore, fans should not expect a new game to be released anytime soon.

Valve first released Left 4 Dead 2 in 2009, and now, 14 years later, a fresh update for the game has been released. Like most games developed by Valve, Left 4 Dead 2 received much praise from critics upon its release, particularly for the improvements over its predecessor and the new features it added to the series. Valve continued to support Left 4 Dead 2 with bug-fixing updates and new content years after its release.

Left 4 Dead 2 received several DLC packages that provided additional content completely free of charge to PC owners of the game. The DLCs developed by Valve for Left 4 Dead 2 were discontinued a few years after the release, but some community-created content was released through official channels, with Cold Stream appearing in 2012 and The Last Stand in 2020. Now, Valve has released a new update for Left 4 Dead 2 itself, although it does not offer significant new content.

The latest update for Left 4 Dead 2 is now available for download on PC and primarily addresses remaining bugs and other technical issues. One amusing detail in the patch notes for the latest Left 4 Dead 2 update is that Valve has given the swamp alligator the name Fred due to a "popular community request." Otherwise, this update is more of a routine one, ensuring that Left 4 Dead 2 is even more polished than before.

It remains to be seen whether this update will bring back lapsed players to Left 4 Dead 2. After all, the game is already 14 years old. However, there is a certain demand for a return of the series with a new sequel. Over the years, there have been rumors about a possible Left 4 Dead 3, but Valve has been reluctant to make official announcements thus far. Such a game would likely garner a lot of attention, although Valve is known for inexplicably discontinuing its franchises after the second installment.

That has happened with Portal, Team Fortress, and of course, Half-Life. It is possible that Valve will eventually move forward with a third main game in one of its popular franchises, but fans should not expect this to happen in the near future. Left 4 Dead enthusiasts may have to settle with the first two games, as there is no guarantee that a proper third Left 4 Dead game will ever hit the market. At least they can rely on Valve occasionally updating it randomly.

Left 4 Dead 2 Update Patch Notes

- Fixed several exploits reported via HackerOne.

- Fixed controller navigation in some menus.

Fixed: Inability to open the train door in "Crash Course" when playing the Tank Run Mutation.

Only the original attacker receives credit for the damage caused by exploding props.

The original horizontal swing direction of the knife has been restored.

Fixed erroneous teacher lessons for the Tank.

Fixed LDR skybox rendering at low shader settings.

New response criteria:

"TankActive" - 0 means no tank aggression, 1 means the tank is aggressive.

- "Chapter" - 0 is first map of mission.

New Script Functions:

"AreAllSurvivorsInBattlefield" - Returns "true" if all survivors are present on the battlefield.

"GetClosestCharacterWhoIsIT" - Returns the closest character who is "IT".

"GetClosestSurvivor" - Returns the closest survivor to the given origin.

"GetHighestFlowSurvivor" - Returns the survivor with the highest flow.

"GetLowestFlowSurvivor" - Returns the survivor with the lowest flow.

- "GetRandomSurvivor" - Returns a random Survivor

Maps and Mutations:

Dead Center

Map 1:

Restoration of window clipping hanging bugs that were patched with TLS to restore access to the roof in cooperative mode.

Versus: The tank will now spawn only after the survivors have exited the elevator and no later than when leaving the kitchen.

Map 3:

A stuck spot on the alternative path near the vending machine has been blocked.

Dark Carnival

Map 1:

A rare stuck point near the cargo container in the swamp has been fixed.

An elaborate SI exploit outside the boundaries has been fixed.

Map 5:

Several issues with the achievement "THE MAIN ATTRACTION" have been resolved by adding more triggers. As a result, the achievement will no longer fail if a survivor disconnects or disconnects during the performance.

Swamp Fever

Map 1:

 - Patched janky ladder near the ferry event.

Due to a popular request from the community, the TLS swamp crocodile has now been officially named Fred.

Map 2:

A stuck spot behind some rocks near the parachutist at the beginning has been blocked.

A stuck spot on a cypress knee near the dock area, close to the parachutist, has been blocked.

Map 3:

Stuck spots on two clusters of cypress knees near the area where the event begins have been blocked.

Versus: A stuck spot for Special Infected (SI) behind a bush to the left of the first bridge when entering the water has been blocked.

Versus: A stuck spot for Special Infected (SI) inside the bush near the lantern/event start has been blocked.

Versus: Improved the Special Infected's (SI) ability to latch onto the first ladder outside the safe room to prevent falling through a large gap.

Versus: A TLS Infected ladder has been removed from the path of the survivors at the beginning.

Map 4:

Versus: A stuck spot for Special Infected (SI) behind a bush in the rear area of the enclosed hedge area has been blocked.

Hard Rain

Map 2:

A shortcut fixed with TLS has been restored; instead, the issue has been resolved where survivors couldn't progress further if a player skipped the elevator.

The Parish

Map 2:

A stuck spot that was caused by a previous ladder patch has been eliminated.

Map 3:

Versus: A new ladder has been added in the rear corner of the descent area of the canal shaft to fix a stuck spot.

Map 4:

Versus: The Jet-Strike trigger following the balcony fall, which previously inflicted 25 damage per impact (totaling 75 damage) on the survivors, has been reduced to align with other triggers, causing only 2 damage per impact.

The Passing

Map 1:

A stuck spot in a corner behind a floodlight on the top floor after the alarm vehicles has been blocked.

Map 2:

Fixed collision issue with clips on the stairs near the safe room that caused severe teleporting on non-local servers.

The Sacrifice

Map 2:

Versus: Removal of the radio clip that blocked access for Special Infected (SI) to the final closet.

No Mercy

Map 1:

Raising the anti-grief kill trigger from the ground to prevent a vulnerability glitch.

Versus: Adding a clip to fix a ladder shortcut at the beginning.

Map 2:

All railings will now be visible to all players regardless of their graphics settings.

Crash Course

Map 1:

Block rare stuck spot between the crate wreck and the traffic light.

Map 2:

Clip added to prevent gas cans from falling between the final buses.

Death Toll

Map 3:

A stuck spot at the top of a rock cluster just after the church bus has been blocked.

A stuck spot between the cliff rocks and the right side of the mandatory house has been blocked.

Versus: A stuck spot for Special Infected (SI) on the barricade next to the church has been fixed.

Dead Air

Map 3:

Updated clip brushes and navmesh to allow SI players to access a previously blocked pipe that leads to an infected ladder upwards.

Updated clip brushes and navmesh, allowing the survivors to now enter the hallway next to the final safe room that was previously blocked by a roof clip in the L4D1 port area.

Map 4:

Fix the stuck spot for SI players and AI within the end debris.

Blood Harvest

Map 2:

Versus: Stuck spot for SI outside the tunnel at the end, just before the final safe room, has been fixed.

Map 3:

Fix rare stuck spot in the starting safe room exclusive to SI.

 - Stuck in tree near shed.

Map 4:

Versus: Fixed infected ladder on the fence next to the lawnmower room.

Cold Stream

Map 2:

Fix the stuck spot next to the military truck that leads to the barricade.

Fix two stuck spots behind the long hedges on the right side after the military truck that leads to the barricade.

Fix a regression with the clip that allowed easy skipping of the event and a stuck clip nearby.

Map 3:

 - Enlarged a stuck clip to fully fix it.

The Last Stand

Map 2:

The difficulty adjustment of the finale has been simplified, now only increased on the "Advanced" and "Expert" difficulty levels, instead of adjusting it differently for each difficulty. The goal is to mitigate player fatigue and confusion, aligning the finale more with the expectations of other finales.

The number of required gas cans in single-player mode has been reduced by 25% to compensate for the lack of human teammates. On the "Easy" and "Normal" difficulty levels, 6 cans are now required, while on the "Advanced" and "Expert" difficulty levels, 9 cans are now required.

The requirement for gas cans in multiplayer modes now increases by 1.5 times per difficulty level. On the "Easy" and "Normal" difficulty levels, 8 cans are now required, while on the "Advanced" and "Expert" difficulty levels, 12 cans are now required.

The requirement for gas cans in multiplayer modes now increases by 1.5 times per difficulty level. On the "Easy" and "Normal" difficulty levels, 8 cans are now required, while on the "Advanced" and "Expert" difficulty levels, 12 cans are now required.

The requirement for gas cans in multiplayer modes now increases by 1.5 times per difficulty level. On the "Easy" and "Normal" difficulty levels, 8 cans are now required, while on the "Advanced" and "Expert" difficulty levels, 12 cans are now required.

Tank Run:

The requirement for gas cans in multiplayer modes now increases by 1.5 times per difficulty level. On the "Easy" and "Normal" difficulty levels, 8 cans are now required, while on the "Advanced" and "Expert" difficulty levels, 12 cans are now required.

The requirement for gas cans in multiplayer modes now increases by 1.5 times per difficulty level. On the "Easy" and "Normal" difficulty levels, 8 cans are now required, while on the "Advanced" and "Expert" difficulty levels, 12 cans are now required.

 - Disabled water slowdown for all maps.

 - Set Survivor revive health to 50.

An automatic self-revival feature has been added, with a delay based on the "survivor_revive_duration" Cvar (default value: 5 seconds).

Slight improvement in pistol and melee damage against the Tank.

Fixed issue where sacrificing player was automatically revived after the generator was restarted.

Fixed issue where the finale resulted in a "failed" screen when players who jumped off the bridge to restart the generator became incapacitated.

Fixed issue where players becoming inactive, changing characters, or leaving the game would interrupt the automatic revival for that survivor.

Fixed issue: When a Tank was being doused with bile and was killed, it would interrupt the script.

Fixed issue: When Tanks were splattered with bile and then hit again with a vomit jar, they did not retain their slowdown effect.

Fixed issue: Survivors could be instantly revived when hit by a car.

Death's Door:

Enabled the heartbeat sound when health is below 25%.

 - Enabled B&W state when at 1 permanent HP.

 - Fixed heartbeat sound when taking over bot.

Fixed issue: Fallen survivors were able to drop medkits.

Fixed issue: Temporary health no longer decays in the safe room. Temporary health is no longer reduced when loading players.

The defibrillator now heals 1 permanent - 99 temporary HP (still in black and white).

Reviving in the safe room now heals 24 permanent - 26 temporary HP (with heartbeat sound only).

The transition to the safe room now heals 80% of the missing HP up to half of the health of the living survivors, for example, from 1 to 40 HP (no impact on health).

Fixed issue: A situation that caused the mission to be considered failed in finale "Last Stand" scenarios when the player pressed the final button.

Versus Survival:

Thickened clips and other map-related corrections to significantly reduce stuck spawn points.

When the pre-round timer expires, any output on the entity being used will now be triggered automatically to start the survival mode.

Taaannnk!!:

Thickening collision areas and other map-related corrections to significantly reduce stuck Tank spawns.

Players no longer have to wait for incapacitated survivors to progress in areas such as elevators.

L4D1 Coop & Survival & Versus:

The claw viewmodels for the L4D1 Special Infected have been set to the correct L4D1 models for the L4D1 Versus mode.

 - Disabled water slowdown for L4D1 Survival.

Defibrillators are now converted into pain pills instead of medkits. Previously, the game would still attempt to generate additional defibrillators when they were converted into medkits, resulting in an oversaturation of medkits.

The sound levels for running and speaking have been changed to their values from L4D1. This makes it slightly more difficult for common infected to detect the survivors, similar to their counterparts in L4D1.

The game has been switched to much more accurate ragdolls that closely resemble the appearance of L4D1.

Left 4 Dead 2 is available for PC and Xbox 360.

Source: Steam