News
Left 4 Dead, Survival Pack!
Posted today on Kotaku, is the news I know we’ve all been waiting to hear. And that is the (hopefully 1st in a line of many) expansion pack for Left 4 Dead is going to be released this spring, and it will be know simply as the Survival Pack.
What does this “Survival Pack” include exactly? Well, 1st there is going to be a new multiplayer game called Survival, which I am hoping is like Horde Mode in Gears Of War 2, where you just get wave after wave of oncoming enemies. And on top of that there is also going to be 2 complete campaigns for Versus Mode. Valve has also said that a Critic’s Choice Edition of Left 4 Dead will be in stores this spring, and that edition of the game will have everything from the Survival Pack pre-loaded into it.
And a special bonus for the PC Left 4 Dead players, (and really what makes me want to buy the PC version) is the Source Software Development Kit, so players can edit and create their own levels. And the best part? It’s free, and will be out in spring as well.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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