Dead Before Dawn Mod Impressions

As I posted a day or two ago, Dead Before Dawn for Left 4 Dead has finally been released. Not the beta, but the complete version, bug free and all that. My previous experience with this mod was marred by plenty of crashes at level load(to be fair it was a beta). Darth Brush has now released a vpk file that makes this mod easy to install. No mucking about with map files or rebuilding sound cache needed. Dead Before Dawn is a recreation of the movie 'Dawn of The Dead' by George Romero in a Left 4 Dead Campaign.

What'll strike you immediately is the visual quality of this mod compared to many other custom campaigns. Custom textures and new prefabs are sharp are fit in naturally with the setting on a map. Nothing that looks out of place or janky. There's some nice use of lighting thrown in to add to the impressive visual quality of this package. Very impressive map making work here.

Dead Before Dawn is longer than any of the official campaigns. You'll want to hook up with a group of dedicated friends who will stick with you through to the end of the campaign. It has the standard five levels but some of the maps are huge! The maps are designed well enough that you wont be lost. It's quite intuitive in its design(compared to other custom campaigns), except for this one section where you are tasked with finding cranks to turn on this generator. This fetch quest isn't cool and it's easy to miss one part only to realise you're missing one bit later on.

Dead Before Dawn doesn't just recycle the same type of scripted crescendo moments from Left 4 Dead, but it also utilises some custom scripting. There are rolling crescendos(non stop horde moments) like in Left 4 Dead 2. However unlike Left 4 Dead 2, it was obvious they were working within the limitations of Left 4 Dead. The rolling crescendos spawn zombie horde in spurts. The zombies seem more numerous and more frenzied, leading to me to believe that equipping yourself with the shotgun to be the best strategy to take on this campaign. There is hardly any opportunity to use weapons like a hunting rifle when you get swamped close range.

Overall I found Dead Before Dawn to have excellent production qualities. Maybe it feels just a little short off the mark if compared to Valve's work but without a doubt one of the best community made campaign. The sound of the new voice overs for NPC's just come off a tad too loud in game but is well done. Dead Before Dawn provides a challenging and fun experience that anyone who owns Left 4 Dead should play. Go get it now here.