What are the best games like Left 4 Dead? Having a group of friends alongside you can make even bad games bearable, so when a game is great in the first place, you can end up with something truly memorable. Co-op is one thing, but there’s a certain elusive subgenre – arguably codified by Valve’s 2008 shooter Left 4 Dead – that just scratches an itch other cooperative games can’t.
Usually featuring teams of up to four players, complimentary classes with varied abilities and skill trees, and sporadic hordes of some horror or other trying to ruin your day, these games all share similar DNA, and some of which are still regarded as some of the best PC games ever. ‘Left-likes’, ‘Dead-likes’, and ‘4-likes’ are three descriptors literally no one has ever used before and will never use again because they’re all terrible, but you probably get what we’re talking about by now.
If you’ve had your fill of genre mainstays, it can be hard to find others to scratch the itch, but we’ve got your itchy back, like a giant back-scratcher made of words. So, choose your classes, your loadouts, and your flavor of horde, and, for goodness’ sake, do your best to keep your medic alive. Here are our picks for the very best games like Left 4 Dead on PC.
Here are the best games like Left 4 Dead:
Back 4 Blood
If the game name wasn’t obvious enough, Back 4 Blood is a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead, and it’s even got the creators of the legendary series at its helm. As such, you can expect a lot of the same mechanics and gameplay scenarios here: the campaign is fully co-op and packed with massive set pieces, you pick from a roster of characters each with different strengths and weaknesses, and there are dozens of undead archetypes to battle against.
But this isn’t just a shiny HD makeover. Back 4 Blood innovates with a deckbuilding system where you build your character using Back 4 Blood cards over successive missions to create more specialist zombie-slaying builds. Special mention should go to the guns too, which feel superb. Check out our Back 4 Blood review for more.
Deep Rock Galactic
Landing somewhere between the cooperative teamwork of Left 4 Dead and Payday 2, and the fully destructible environments of Minecraft, Deep Rock Galactic sees you and up to three friends playing (and savor this sentence, as it doesn’t come up every day) mining space dwarves. Each mission has you delve deep into subterranean caves rife with hostile alien flora and fauna, and it’s up to your team to mine precious minerals and complete objectives, before performing a tense and dangerous exfiltration. The more dwarves that make it out alive, the greater the rewards, which you can then spend on character and equipment upgrades.
It’s hard to pin down exactly what makes Deep Rock Galactic so special, as it’s very much more than the sum of its parts. Four wildly different, complimentary classes with a minecart full of different upgrades means tons of variety, but there’s a level of detail, polish, and imagination poured into every facet. There’s also a bar you can drink and dance in between missions. Did we mention space dwarves?
Hunt: Showdown
Hunt: Showdown is somewhat of a wild card in this list, but that’s by design. It’s hard to pin it down with other games like Left 4 Dead and Payday 2, simply because there aren’t any other games exactly like Hunt: Showdown out there. Combining PvP, PvE, PvPvE, and various other, steadily more complex acronyms, Hunt: Showdown’s darkly atmospheric matches are something truly original.
Combining an unsettling Wild West aesthetic with nightmarish creatures, Hunt: Showdown feels like a Nick Cave concept album about giant, face-eating spiders. Everything is coated in a thick sheen of grime and rust, and the tension leading to an encounter with other players is often much, much longer than the actual gunfights themselves. Traps, noise, and even stray gunshots all play a part in success or failure, injecting each careful footstep taken through its vast maps with an ever-present tension.
Killing Floor 2
Combining the zombie hordes of Left 4 Dead with the guns of Payday 2, Killing Floor 2 is a raucous co-op rampage that knows what it is, and what it is a game about killing wave after wave of horrifically mutated flesh-guzzlers, preferably before they manage to make you their next meal.
Since the FPS game launched in 2016, it’s seen a bewildering array of updates and DLC, which may mean new players have a confusing time knowing where to begin. The core gameplay loop is, at its heart, still just compulsive, gory fun, so don’t worry all too much about whether you need to pick up every single expansion.
Left 4 Dead 2
Rogue. Dark Souls. Doom. There aren’t many titles that can lay claim to having spawned an entire genre. Though there might not be an official name for its co-op shooter sons, we reckon Left 4 Dead deserves a place of pride among those hallowed titles.
Left 4 Dead 2 perfected the original’s formula, offering reams of AI-directed tension to keep teams of players on their toes. It’s not just another zombie game. For many, it’s the zombie game. It’s a classic for good reason – those old maps still hold up – but that hasn’t stopped new content from being released as a free Left 4 Dead update.
Vermintide 2
Let’s get this out of the way: Skaven are adorable and deserve to inherit the earth. However, since just letting our noble rat overlords take over the planet wouldn’t make for an especially interesting setup for a game, the next best thing is Vermintide 2. A melee and magic co-op blast, and the absolute pinnacle of ratmashers everywhere.
Taking close inspiration from genre grandaddy Left 4 Dead (shamelessly, it even copied the number in the title), Vermintide 2 lets you and up to three friends team up to battle against the combined forces of Skaven and Chaos. Players put off by the concept of first-person melee needn’t worry – Vermintide’s block, slash, and strafe combat is precise and satisfying. There are also bows, crossbows, and pistols, for those who prefer to hang back and watch their teammates get devoured. Thanks, team!
Darktide
Coming from the developers who brought you Vermintide, Darktide will be a similar experience to anyone who’s played one of the Warhammer co-op games, although this time instead of dicing rats with your sword, you’ll be prowling grimdark future structures with a.. different kind of sword, and plenty of guns, and did we mention there’s a class dedicated to playing as a giant ogre?
Darktide, of course, is best played with a group of four, the real distinction is, do you want to fire a crossbow? Maybe a giant shotgun that turns your enemies into pink mist? We know what we’d prefer. Check out our Darktide review if you want to know more.
Payday 2
If there’s one thing cooler than doing crimes, it’s doing crimes in colorful masks surrounded by friends, and that’s Payday 2 in a nutshell. The core here is the same objective-based co-op as Left 4 Dead, but instead of fighting off waves of zombies, you’ll be committing some of the coolest crimes out there – from kidnapping jobs to robbing banks.
Featuring dynamic scenarios with procedural elements, specialized character classes that excel in specific jobs, and tons of guns and equipment to customize your loadout, Payday has maintained a dedicated following since its release all the way back in 2013. This means newer or solo players should have no problem finding plenty of crime buddies to team up with.
Perfect Heist 2
If bank heists are what you’re looking for then Perfect Heist 2 delivers a very unrealistic, but totally unique asymmetrical cops vs. robbers experience. The setup is simple, the defending team has to prevent the robbers from getting away with a set amount of loot. However, the robbers can either sneak through the bank using disguises and gadgetry or launch a full-frontal assault and hope for the best – the most effective method is usually somewhere between the two.
The gadgets and classes are the stars of the show. You’ll laugh out loud the first time you see a sheriff storming around the bank atop a horse, and scratch your head wondering how one of the robbers managed to blow a hole through the ceiling of the vault without triggering any alarms. Like any great heist movie, the action always comes down to the getaway, and you can expect rolling gunfights through the city streets mixed with plenty of cartoon absurdity.
Gunfire Reborn
While games like Left 4 Dead and Payday 2 set their co-op action in bespoke levels, Gunfire Reborn embraces the roguelite chaos of procedural generation, from its levels to its weapon drops. It’s co-op with up to three friends, and you can utilize a selection of hero classes to take on your foes with a selection of colorful, zany weapons and abilities.
Gunfire Reborn has already amassed a sizable following of fans despite only leaving early access relatively recently. This might be down to the fact you get to choose between playing as an alchemist cat, a canine explosives expert, and a martial arts parrot. It might just be because it’s a damn fun co-op shooter, with tons of customization and upgrade options. There’s a panda in there somewhere, too.
So, those are the best games like Left 4 Dead on PC. If you’re hungry for some more undead action, don’t forget to check out our list of the best zombie games. For more fun with friends, here are the best co-op games, and the best FPS games, if you’re not too fussy about what you shoot, as long as you get to shoot something.