http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/left-4-dead-poster.jpg [[caption-width:333:[[BadassBiker Francis]], [[CoolOldGuy Bill]], [[TheChick Zoey]] and [[TheStraightMan Louis]].]]
-->'' '''Louis''': We made it... I can't believe we made it!\\
'''Bill''': Son, we just crossed the street. Let's not throw a party till we're out of the city.''
---> -Left 4 Dead

-->'' '''Coach''': Wait for official instructions. ''(laughs, tossing away instruction sheet dismissively)'' Wait, my ass.\\
'''Ellis''': Kill all sons-a-bitches. ''[[DramaticGunCock *pumps shotgun*]]'' That's my 'ficial instruction.''
---> -Left 4 Dead 2

A cooperative FirstPersonShooter proclaimed by its advertising as "the ZombieApocalypse you can play with your friends", ''Left 4 Dead'' reduces the zombie genre to its absolute basics: You are one of a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Quartet of Ragtag Misfits]] caught in the middle of the outbreak of a deadly [[TheVirus virus]] that's turning people into bloodthirsty mutants. Your objective is to make your way from safehouse to safehouse through an area infested with these murderous creatures, and finally reach a pickup point from which to summon the cavalry to spirit you to safety.

Of course, this won't be easy: there could be a herd of thirty zombies, or just one extremely powerful mutant zombie, waiting around the next corner. The game's "AI Director" is watching your progress and planning your next sudden encounter -- every time you play is a different experience. He's ready to send a horde of zombies at you whenever the situation calls for it, or [[ZeroPunctuation just if he's bored. Which is]] ''[[ZeroPunctuation all the time.]]''

More anticipated, perhaps, than the Campaign mode (in which four players step into the Survivors' shoes) is Left4Dead's Versus mode, in which eight players, trading off between rounds, control either the Survivors or the dangerous [[SuperpoweredMooks Boss infected]]: the long-tongued Smoker, the lightning-quick Hunter, the nauseous (and explosive) Boomer, and [[TheOgre the Tank]]. (There's a fifth boss -- the Witch, who doesn't react well to flashlights and loud noise -- but like the Horde she's not actually a playable character.) The goal of Versus isn't to make it to the next safe room; nine times out of ten, you ''won't''. The goal is to ''make it farther than the other team.'' You don't survive unless you're professionals or the other team is pretty bad.

The expansion pack takes it further with the ironically-titled [[KobayashiMario Survival Mode]]: the irony lies in the fact that "survival" is pretty much [[CaptainObvious the last thing you'll be doing.]] The question is how long you and your friends can hold out against an all-out Infected onslaught before you all die.

In 2009, a sequel was confirmed less than a year after the original. The official ''[=L4D=]'' blog mentions "...a much larger game than the original, and features new co-op and versus campaigns, all-new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, as well as melee combat". An official trailer gives a release date of Nov. 17. Unfortunately, Valve's generosity with ''TeamFortress2'' updates promptly backfired, as large numbers of people were ''outraged'' that they were expected to buy content they were under the impression they'd get for free; this gave rise to [[http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2boycott the biggest outburst]] of RuinedFOREVER, uhhh, ever: a 40,000+ people '''boycott'''. A month before the sequel was due, the leaders of the boycott shut the group down after Valve's release of a new campaign for the original, "Crash Course".
----
Tropes:
* AbandonedHospital: The first campaign of the series involves one of these; you have to get to the helipad on the roof to get a lift out of the city.
* AbandonedWarehouse: Nearly every campaign features one.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: At least two of the campaigns feature sewers that are big enough to accommodate whole mobs of zombies for the players to fight off. Not much time is spent in them though.
**The one in the first campaign is actually about the right size for Philadelphia (which is what the levels are supposedly based on).
* AIIsACrapshoot: The AI in Left 4 Dead 2 is quickly becoming infamously bad. See [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqyNS7ZdY1A this Youtube video]] as a hilariously shameful example.
* AKA47: Done subtly: although the real guns in the game are not named, zooming in on the gun models reveal they are made by fictional companies. For instance, the 1911 pistols are made by "Finleyville Armory" (a play on Springfield Armory), the M16 is made by "American Armory", and the pump shotgun is made by "Renegade" (Remington). The AKM is called an AK47 bizarrely, though.
* AllThereInTheManual: Actually, it's all there in the opening cutscene. Pay close attention and you might live longer.
** Not to mention the [[BackStory back stories]] of the characters are actually only explained in the manual, although by taking a look at their character models and hearing some of their dialogue you could probably guess what they are without reading it.
*** Only applies to Xbox 360 owners. PC owners only get a scrap of paper with instructions on how to play and the activation code. At least the internet is there for the research.
** Also in the new trailer for the second game. It clearly shows all the different new infected doing their thing, with the new weapons, and even the new uncommon common: hazmat zombies (who are immune to fire), zombies in riot gear (Who are immune to bullets), swamp zombies (who move even faster and blind the person they hit), and finally, zombie clowns (which emit a squeek from their squeeky-shoes that draws all common infected to them).
*** Though it doesn't show construction zombies, who are immune to pipe bombs attraction effect.
** On a bio note for the sequel, it's more like [[AllThereInTheManual All There On The Blog]]
* AmusementParkOfDoom: The second campaign, ''Dark Carnival''.
* AnAxeToGrind: ''[=L4D=] 2'' adds an axe, among the other melee-centered weapons.
* ArtificialBrilliance: The special infected are quite smart and are very wary of the presence of the players. Hunters and Boomers will always try to hide around corners or behind thick shrubs so that they can ambush the players. The two may also tag team players if a player is caught by a smoker. Tanks can try to avoid fire the player makes, assuming the player sets the fire off too early. While they can be quite stupid at times, it doesn't happen too often. Tanks are now much smarter in the sequel. When they down someone, they will usually go chase the other survivors instead of just pounding one till they're dead and become a sitting duck.
* ArtificialStupidity: Although not too horrible, the Survivor AI has many infamous quirks. This is a great reason to play the game with actual people.
** The sequel seems to have improved the AI considerably, though some of the achievements inadvertantly cause it to play the trope quite straight. Of particular note is the "Sob Story" achievement, requiring the player to complete a stage without killing a Witch. [[{{Understatement}} The AI is not remotely suited to sneaking missions]].
* AscendedMeme: In ''Crash Course'', in the safe room before the finale, some woman has written a [[PurpleProse sappy poem about her dead love]]. Later survivors crapped all over it with various internet putdowns like "QQ" and [[http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6417/l4dgarage02lots0000.jpg "Cool story bro!"]].
* AsTheGoodBookSays: In ''Death Toll's'' "The Turnpike," there's safehouse graffiti where someone wrote "Exodus 9:15" in large letters. If you happen to look up that particular verse ...
--> ''"For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth."''
** More show up in the sequel, which includes great variations on well-known Bible quotes such as:
---> '''Coach:''' Though I walk, through the valley of the shadow of death ...
---> '''Ellis:''' Yeah! I'm walk'n in that valley'n I'm kick'n some ass!
* [[AutobotsRockOut Autobots, Rock Out!]]: The finale to ''Dark Carnival'' is different from every other in that it has a rock band playing in the background. It even features TWO rock versions of the Tank's theme!
* AwesomeButImpractical: The minigun, which can shred oncoming hordes like no other, is never positioned so it can effectively cover more than two of the generally five or so directions that zombies can come from.
**And for some unimaginable reason, the Director likes to throw the Horde at you in the directions it can't cover. Funny, that.
*** The sequel's mchine gun also suffers from this, as it either cannot cover the most important points, or is found on Versus maps where the goal is to reach the end without stopping, ''not'' hold out with a mounted gun.
* [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning Awesome Moment Of]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Cr0wning]]: Killing a witch with a single headshot nets you the "Cr0wnd" [[CosmeticAward achievement]].
* BackStab: Not in a literal sense, but performing a melee attack on a zombie from behind kills them in one hit and earns you the Spinal Tap achievement. Special infected are immune to this.
* BadassBiker: Francis
* BadassCreed : Played over the title card in the commercial for extra badass points:
-->'''Bill.''' I'll see peace back on earth if I have to murder every one of these animals with my own bare hands!
**Another one, From the Sequel:
--->'''Nick:''' We are walking through the valley of the Shadow of Death, and kickin' ass!
* BadassNormal: All [[strike:four]] eight of the Survivors.
** Special note is Louis, though, who is easily the most normal of the four.
*** The original featured a Green Beret, a biker, a college student, and an office worker. The sequel's survivors are a bit more "normal", with a mechanic, a coach, a reporter, and a con man.
* BadassGrandpa: Bill, Vietnam vet and former Green Beret.
* BagOfSpilling: The intro cinematic shows all the survivors using guns that they don't start with. But during that intro, they either drop them, run out of ammo, or are disarmed, and so when the game opens they're just toting pistols. Additionally, this happens at the opening of each campaign as well.
* BerserkButton: Shine flashlight/walk up near/stare too long at/shoot gun near or at the Witch, and you have to deal with a fast zombie who can ''kill you dead'' in a heartbeat. Of course, after accomplishing that, she screams in horror and runs away.
** When playing on Expert difficulty, the Witch will [[OneHitKill one-shot]] you if her claw connects.
* TheBigEasy: The final campaign of Left4Dead2 takes place in "N'Awlins".
* BigNo: Any of Survivors' will let loose a Big No if attacked by a special zombie. ''Especially'' Louis.
--> '''Louis:''' Get it off me! ''Get it off me! '''GET IT OFF ME!'''''
* BodyHorror: The Special Infected have undergone horrible and probably quite painful mutations. Have you seen the concept art for [[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/left4dead/images/7/75/Spitter2.jpg the Spitter]] yet?
** Not to mention the new look for the Smoker in Left 4 Dead 2. Tongue out of neck = D:
** [[http://www.ripten.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/spitter.jpg The original concept art of the Spitter]] was much scarier and much more disgusting-looking.
* BoomHeadshot: It's possible to kill a witch in one hit with a shotgun to the head. But you have to be so close that if you fail, it is very likely she will drop you. This can be avoided on lower difficulties by spraying shotgun bursts into her while she stands up.
* BondOneLiner: If you walk over to the helicopter pilots body in Crash Course...
--> '''Zoey:''' ''Pilot's License.... Revoked! Dun Dun DUNNN!''
* BottomlessMagazines: The players must reload, but they've endless ammunition for their sidearms and supply caches provide infinite replenishment for your main weapons.
* BreatherLevel: Although it's definitely not on your side, the AI director does tend to give you a breather inbetween swarms of zombies or boss encounters, especially if you're just limping through.
** If you're playing on Expert level (the hardest), only in certain areas will you catch a breath. You get twenty seconds, tops, before a horde is spawned anywhere else.
** All difficulty levels have a breather section mid-chapter in [[spoiler: No Mercy Chapter Four while riding the elevator]] where the survivors have a short conversation before the level continues.
*** Except on Versus, where the hole in the elevator's roof suddenly becomes a bigger problem.
* ButtMonkey: Ellis, as of the newest trailer for Left 4 Dead 2. Jockey, Charger, and Smoker all want a piece of him.
* CaptainObvious: Ellis, upon spotting a statue of a horse in a park.
--> '''Ellis:''' HORSE!
--> '''Nick:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Nice observation, Ellis.]]
* ChainsawGood - One of the new weapons in ''[=L4D=] 2''.
* CharacterFilibuster - In the Crash Course DLC level, one of the notes on the wall of the safe room is a full-length PurpleProse-choked love poem by some woman to her dead lover. It takes up nearly half the wall. The other half of the wall is taken up by rebuttals either mocking her or telling her to shut the fuck up.
* CherryTapping: It's possible to kill even the special Infected just with the secondary melee attack. Just [[TooDumbToLive don't try it on the Boomer.]]
** In fact, some people encourage spamming your melee attack on Hunters and Smokers since you can keep juggling them to prevent them from attacking and it saves ammo. Of course, this doesn't totally work out in VS mode due to the melee recharge time.
* {{Chiaroscuro}}: Actually used by the developers to guide the players, after they noticed playtesters' [[DarknessEqualsDeath tendency]] to move toward the brightly lit areas.
*{{Circus of Fear}}: Dark Carnival in the second game.
* ClicheStorm: For zombie movies. Though this is probably [[{{Troperiffic}} intentional]] on the part of Valve. If you read the writing on the saferoom walls, many of them are somewhat mocking of the Zombie genre. Overall, Cliche Storms are acceptable in video games that are deliberately attempting to evoke the feel of a particular film genre.
* CloudCuckoolander: Ellis seems to be one of these. He's always got a story to tell, and and the other survivors have to remind him that now is not the best time for such things. He sounds like a kid in a candy store in Dark Carnival especially.
** Most of his stories focus on Keith, who, among other things, has drowned, suffered burns over his entire body twice, and been bombed by the army.
* CombatTentacles - The smoker's tongue, kinda.
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Mostly noticeable in VS mode where players on the Survivor side only use uzis and auto shotguns (sometimes assault rifles) and they will [[StopHavingFunGuys scream at or make fun of the people who dare to use pump shotguns or hunting rifles]].
* CoolCar: The escape vehicle at the end of "Crash Course" is a bus. That has undergone some [[TheATeam A-Team]] style modifications.
** While in [=L4D2=], the first campaign's escape vehicle is a Plymouth Superbird NASCAR racer on display at a mall.
* CoolOldGuy: Bill.
* CrazySurvivalist: The Survivors, although Bill and Francis probably qualify best.
** Arguably Zoey also qualifies, in that she apparently spent most of her college career watching zombie films, though given that it's AllThereInTheManual, her GenreSavvy nature is reduced to an InformedAbility depending on [[LeeroyJenkins who]] is [[ArtificialStupidity controlling]] her.
*** Zoey exhibits GenreSavvy traits in-game with a number of her voice commands, usually spotting trouble from abandoned cabins, creepy hospitals or suspicious moments of calm. And she complains at one point that they run. "I'm calling zombie bullshit on this! They're not ''allowed'' to be that fast!"
*** Overall, the virtues the game promotes, such as not splitting up and conserving/sharing health and ammo, are pretty Genre Savvy.
** Louis also spent most of his lunch breaks practicing at a nearby rifle range.
** The Church Guy could also qualify, at least in the crazy section. Also fitting in there, [=L4D2=]'s first campaign features a crazy gunshop owner who will only allow the survivors into his gun-filled safehouse in exchange for...a pack of cola.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted. When seriously injured, you run slower, jump lower, and if you're on pain pills or just brought up by teammate, your health is constantly sapped away. Also, when your health runs out, your character is stuck in one spot on the ground, only able to use their pistols.
** And when you're ''really'' in trouble (out of hitpoints and out of revivals) your vision goes black and white and your heart starts throbbing loudly.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Each of the four campaigns ends with a finale calling for a rescue vehicle to pick up the Survivors. As the vehicle arrives (or the fuel is pumped in the case of the airplane for Dead Air), the Survivors must defend themselves against waves upon waves of common and special infected and fight two different tanks. Once the rescue is ready, the Director throws everything possible at the Survivors to try to kill them before they can board the vehicle.
** For bonus awesome, get all 4 survivors to the rescue vehicle alive... after one of you stops to ''[[NoOneGetsLeftBehind turn around, drag your buddy back to their feet]]'', and mad dash to escape.
*** Not to mention that you face two Tanks almost simultaniously in Swamp Fever's finale.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The reactions to friendly fire is sometimes over the top but also funny at the same time with lines like "GOD DAMMIT, WATCH YOUR FIRE!" or "I can't believe you just shot me ''again!''" Some of the lines spoken in certain maps can also provoke laughter, such as this scene in the 4th map of Death Toll:
--> '''Louis''': Riverside's a bust. Let's just head to the river.
--> '''Francis''': That's better than my plan.
--> '''Bill''': What was that?
--> '''Francis''': I didn't have one.
** Of course, any dialogue involving the crazy church guy is also a barrel of laughs:
--> '''Francis''': I'm going to tear that bell down and shove it up your ass!
--> '''Bill''': The guy's nuttier than candy-bar shit.
** A lot of the new dialogue in Crash Course is hilarious, such as Zoey referencing "the latest issue of ''I Hate Everything''".
-->'''Francis:''' I hear a boomer! And it sounded Canadian!
** The song ''Re: Your Brains'' was confirmed to be a jukebox song in Left 4 Dead 2.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEJ-4a_8Y3Q&feature=popt14us06 Most of Nick's banter]] in Left4Dead2. Especially when it sounds like he's channeling Tourettes Guy.
*** Ah, tits!
** Any bit of setpiece commentary by Ellis. '''ANY.'''
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: In ''Left 4 Dead 2'', [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUINppvNso0 RE: Your Brains]] can be played on a jukebox. [[spoiler:It signals a Horde attack on the "But here's an FYI, you're all gonna die screaming" line.]]
** [[spoiler: While defending from the stage of a rock concert]], ''Left 4 Dead 2'' sends you [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpnARroePF8 One Bad Tank]] with the tank theme turned up to METAL.
*** As well as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk6n1o0YheM Midnight Tank]], which plays for the other Tank of the finale.
* TheDanza: Rochelle is voiced by Rochelle Aytes.
* DeadlyLunge: What the Horde does when it notices the Survivors' presence. Also, the Hunter's preferred M.O., which allows him to dash several yards in one swipe.
**In ''Left 4 Dead 2'', the new infected The Jockey does this also.
* DeadpanSnarker: Surprisingly, Francis, but seemingly in Crash Course only where he has variations of asking (or insulting) Louis (or SUNSHINE BEAMS) if he still feels positive after the helicopter crashed.
* DeadWeight: The Boomer, of course!
* {{Dedication}}: If you die during the finale you don't get to respawn, but as long as at least one character escapes, the credits will start with "In memory of [Player Name]"
* DeepSouth: ''Left 4 Dead 2'' covers the area between Louisiana and Georgia.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: After being downed and revived twice, you see the entire world in black and white, complete with blurry peripheral vision and red item highlights. If you're not healed, you ''will'' die. The developers included this because playtesters were frustrated when inexperienced players were repeatedly going down and delaying the group.
* DemonicSpiders: The Jockey, especially at the harder difficulties: it's small, so if it comes along with a horde you tend to shoot right over it, doesn't die outright when whacked off a survivor, and tends to scratch the survivors for massive damage. Hate. Hate hate hate.
* [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The Director Is A Cheating Bastard]]: Unusual, in that the Director is supposed to be continuously tweaking the challenge of the game up and down based on how well the players are doing. However, on Expert, it seems to only tweak it in one direction, where its response to you doing poorly is to punch you in the face, and its response to you doing well is to kick you in the balls.[[hottip:*:I don't care if you ''are'' a [[GamerChick girl gamer]], this game ''will'' find your testicles and kick them.]]
** This goes for the survivor bots too, as they have aimbot-like accuracy, and cannot cause friendly fire (being able to literally shoot through others). It works, as a half-decent human player is still more efficient overall (due to other factors like bots not being able to use grenades or any particular strategy beyond shooting things), yet a team isn't completely screwed if a player leaves mid-game.
** "Tweaking difficulty" generally, in this game, translates to the amount of pressure it keeps on you, or the amount of medkits and pain pills it grants. 20 points from a Horde attack, though, means you need to play -perfectly- or you won't live to see the extra pain pills and medkits..
** Not to mention on Expert, when you need the medkits most, only gives you pain pills, reserving the medkits for saferooms and the finale.
** The recent DLC Survival Mode has the Director being even more of a JerkAss; though that is the whole point of the mode. Two tanks? Same time? With no lull in fighting the regular zombies to heal up/rearm?
** The sequel takes this to ridiculous extremes. Who knows what the rest of you said about the Director's mother that pissed it off so badly. Three hunters within ten seconds, two chargers behind one door, and the survivor AI can't figure out the whole "run and shoot at the same time" deal (which, since that's what most of the crescendo events are based on, makes things more than a little unfair).
* DressedToKill: Nick's wearing a suit in the ZombieApocalypse, which he claims cost him $3000. [[UnreliableNarrator Then again, he is a con man]].
* DumbMuscle: Francis to some degree, but with the recent Crash Course DLC, Louis and Zoey make it more obvious how uneducated Francis is (one of Francis' lines has him think they're in Canada!)
** For the unenlightened:
*** ''I HEAR A HUNTER/BOOMER/SMOKER...[[http://www.mantaengie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dlc2canadaspecial01.mp3 and it sounded Canadian!]]
** [[CanadaEh Eh?]]
* DummiedOut: Many voice clips from the survivors, such as them warning each other of nearby Boomer or Smoker (not spotting them, just hearing their presence and they always vocally announce of a Hunter being around the corner.), never play in the game, but the sound files for them are present in the game's folders.
** They play all the time; many of them (as well as other dialogue pieces) are heavily dependent on many factors including other nearby survivors, location (and certain locations within a level), how many times they've been revived, and so forth.
** The splitscreen functionality from the console version is still present in the PC version, albeit only accessible with a little tinkering in the game's console.
* DungeonBypass: Guarding the doors and windows is all well and good, but sometimes the horde just crashes through a wall.
* EarWorm: The music that plays when you complete a level in Left 4 Dead 2 will stay in your head for '''days'''.
* ElevatorActionSequence: Not on the elevator itself, but on the fourth level of the first campaign requires holding off the horde while waiting for the elevator.
* EliteMooks: The sequel will have new normal zombie types with specific effects. For instance, zombies in Hazmat gear are immune to fire, whilst the "Mudmen" will blur the vision of the people they hit, and zombies who were infected wearing riot gear are immune to regular bullets from the front. And in the ''Dark Carnival'' level, you will be facing [[MonsterClown zombie clowns]]...
*EnemySummoner: The Boomer.
** Valve has also stated that the new Zombie Clown UCI will be able to do this also.
* EpilepticTrees: Nothing about the origin of the Infected is explained, leaving players to come up with absolutely every theory under the sun. Even off-screen supporting cast within the game itself fall afoul of this trope as they bicker among themselves on the various wall scribblings, etc.
** It is mentioned in [[AllThereInTheManual Kotaku interviews, game reviews and other non-in game sources]] that the zombies are infected with a super rabies virus, that the 4 survivors are immune to(thats why they die instead of becoming infected.)
* [=~Everybody's Dead Dave~=]: The only non-zombies you hear from in the game are the four survivors, the Church Guy (who quickly turns into a zombie), and the people that rescue you at the end of the campaign. There's hints left behind of other survivors that have passed by before (including the graffiti on the safe house walls), but you never see them.
** And then there was that [[NietzscheWannabe one guy]] (also presumably immune) who went down the path you follow through the Dead Air campaign, spray painting ''GOD IS DEAD'' everywhere. You find his body inside the airport, a pistol and spray can next to him -- presumably he shot himself.
** There is a woman you find who had been spraypainting about barricading the supermarket. When you get in, it's secure, but it's obvious she died fighting off a horde just outside of the safehouse.
** Slight aversion: You can hear ongoing firefights while traversing the urban environments. They might not be alive much longer, but there might still be other immune survivors out there.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Coach. Subverted somewhat in that he prefers to be called by said moniker rather than giving out his real name.
* ExplodingBarrels: Come in three flavors, propane tanks that explode when shot at, oxygen tanks that leak before exploding when shot at, and gas tanks that burst into flame when shot.
* {{Expy}}: Zoey looks a lot like Claire Redfield from the ''ResidentEvil'' series. It's even more apparent if you've ever seen ''Resident Evil: Degeneration.'' If Claire had Zoey's girl-next-door personality and her geeky knowledge of zombie movies, they would be indistinguishable.
** Louis acts a lot like Jim Chapman.
** Coach has been frequently compared to [[TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir Uncle Phil]]. Really.
** And Nick from the sequel looks nearly like Finn from ''TheClub''.
* FakeDifficulty: Type B. The Overseer sometimes throws out so many zombies it makes the game lag, usually resulting in teleporting somewhere you just walked by or being hit by a dozen zombies that weren't there a moment ago.
* FilmPosters: One for each campaign. You can see them [[http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15:all4posters&catid=2:news here]].
* FiveTokenBand: Well, ''four'' tokens, but there's a wide array of ages -- if not ethnicities -- presented here.
** In addition to being a Four Token Band, the cast preforms as a Four Trope Band. Observe:
*** Bill, the [[ShellShockedSenior grizzled war veteran]] who's been wanting something to get him back into a war.
*** Francis, the BadassBiker [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold with a heart of gold.]]
*** Louis, the [[ActionSurvivor ordinary guy who's barely dealing with this.]]
*** And Zoey, the ActionGirl who's [[GenreSavvy watched a lot of zombie movies.]]
** Would the special infected count as a Five Trope Band as well?
*** The Hunter, the freak who epitomizes [[JumpPhysics Parkour of Doom]]. Since he is extremely physical, I guess he'd fit the role of TheBrute.
*** The Smoker, [[CombatTentacles who is the afformentioned tentacle guy]]. Could also be TheBrute, or possibly the EvilGenius since his powers depend on environmental conditions, forcing a certain amount of [[TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty advanced combat techique]].
*** The Boomer, whose powers stem from his [[FatBastard bloated form]]. It's a stretch to hell and back, but he could serve as the EvilGenius, worst at direct combat, best at setting up for a combined boss/mook strike.
*** The Witch, whose [[EmoTeen emotional depth]] ranges from "sad" to "homicidally ticked off''? Definitely the DarkChick.
*** And the Tank, [[TheJuggernaut a boundless engine of power and rage]], who can also find concrete slabs to chuck at survivors, no matter where he is. Definitely TheDragon.
*** And the Director is of course the BigBad.
* ForegoneConclusion: the poster for the [[KobayashiMario Survival Mode]]-only level, The Last Stand.
--> It Doesn't End Well.
* FragileSpeedster: The Hunter can be bowled over with a single shotgun blast, and takes forever to slay a pinned survivor, but moves like a ninja on speed. Unsurprisingly, it's regarded as the hardest infected to play but also the most ''fun.''
** The Charger is pretty fragile as well, though he does a lot of damage and, true to his name, moves '''very''' fast.
**Although the Charger is the most durable out of the playable Special Infected (not including the Tank)
* FridgeBrilliance: The Dark Carnival finale. It bugged me the background music had lyrics. Then I realised ''that's the whole point of the set-up''. The Midnight Riders would have been miming their performances!
* GameBreaker: Corner camping. Have all survivors cram up in a corner of a wall or a small room and constantly melee the infected rushing in or shoot all at once. Aside from a Tank, nothing can break through this formation. This is so common that most infected players in VS mode wait it out until the survivor players move again and both teams will corner camp when it's their turn as survivors.
** The sequel Left 4 Dead 2 introduces the Spitter, which addresses this problem by hurling heavy damaging acid on the floor, and the Charger, which knocks down survivors in its path.
** Also in the sequel, many of the cresendo events now require that the players remain very much on-the-move -- e.g., running through a guantlet of zombies to press a switch, reach the rescue vehicle, scavenge for certain supplies, etc.
* GameMod: A soundpack one that changes all the sounds of the infected to [[ProfessionalWrestling Macho Man Randy Savage]] quotes. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqPG4S80bo&feature=related Hilarity Ensues]].
** TourettesShitcockSyndrome: There's also a Tourette's Guy soundpack for the Tank. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8bUjBGRioU&feature=related Watch it here.]] Also qualifies as a CrowningMomentOfFunny.
** And there's another that replaces all playable infected with the survivors, amusingly.
** On top of that, one can also replace the Tank's sounds with those of the Heavy from ''TeamFortress2''. Hilarity ensues as the Tank taunts the survivors (''"Who send all these babies to fight?!"'') berates the team for killing it (''"Little, little man!"''), runs around grunting and talking to its 'Sandvich', loudly exclaims that it is on fire when it is indeed on fire, and even calls for a medic when taking lots of damage from survivors. Sadly, the sound pack was pulled from some sites and cannot be found easily.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnuoeTz2vFg Scout zombies]], that is all.
** Some people have gone so far to change the Tank's music as well, like turning it into "Can Can", Benny Hill, and even Final Destination!
** Also, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTxTWMA9iew Johnny Bravo Tank]].
** [[RuleThirtyFour Nude Zoey.]]
** BILLYMAYS Tank.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwv8HTSiJfo YE]][[CSIMiami AA]][[TheWho AH]]!
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TqWENVeRZg Pee-Wee Herman Infected.]] Can you say NightmareFuel?
** If you think all the sound swapping is hilarious, try playing servers that allow ''up to eight survivors in the game''. That's right, you'll have multiples of the same characters running around and you will go WTF when you see messages like "Zoey saved Zoey." Even Expert becomes a bit easier with 8 people's worth of firepower running around.
**[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-db9qgn99o Teletubbies]]. Now you can be as afraid of them as Jerry Falwell.
** This game + [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ6nWjBT_Aw soundtrack]] from [[TwentyEightDaysLater 28 Days/Weeks]] = [[NightmareFuel Pure]] [[OhCrap terror]].
** ''Left 4 Dead 2'' is already getting mods as well, despite only the demo being released as of now. Such mods include [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7mgfJ0dMBE ''Don't Stop Me Now'' as a Jukebox song]].
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: beautifully averted in the opening cutscene. Furthermore the opening sequence shows off almost every gameplay element, so its like a tutorial.
** Partialy averted. In-game the writing on the walls suggests the saferoom has been in use for a few months (October to December) with our survivors always being the last pickup at a given area. The intro movie shows them getting onto the roof for the begining of the first scenario two weeksafter the first infection. Either gameplay split away right there or the survivors waited on that apartment roof for two and a half months without starving to death before trying to evac.
*** Who said they stayed there the whole time? It's more than possible they made some quick runs down to the street for supplies. The intro could have been them returning to their makeshift base after a quick food run (they probably only brought what the could fit in their pockets since they needed to stay armed) since they clearly knew it was safe on the roof.
*** As it happens, No Mercy doesn't mention dates at all. Given the campaigns happen in isolation, it's entirely possible No Mercy (and the intro) takes place a couple weeks after first infection while the others take place in the time after that.
* GatlingGood: You get the odd mounted minigun here and there. It's set up so that the gunner will have to be covered by the other Survivors, though.
* GenreSavvy: Zoey, who, as before, wasted most of her time watching zombie movies, [[OverusedRunningGag who at one point calls]] "[[OverusedRunningGag zombie bullshit]]" [[OverusedRunningGag on them being able to run so fast.]]
** Often memorably averted by the ''players themselves''. You know those stupid things you yell at people in a zombie movie for doing? Odds are you'll do at least one of them, and only realize it afterwards.
** The CEDA are quite genre savvy in the sequel, pulling their main operations back to where zombies can't get at them, establishing some very thorough checkpoints to 'screen' possible infectees and so forth. Unfortunately a number of their outposts seem to have been overwhelmed regardless.
* GlassCannon: As mentioned above, the Hunter is fast and fragile, but a perfectly timed pounce can knock off up to a ''quarter'' of a survivor's health before they even see it coming. The Boomer is even more fragile, but a skillful player can do even more to hinder the Survivors than with the Hunter.
* GoddamnedBats: The common infected.
** Especially if there's a Tank; the common ones ''will not'' let you move out of the way.
* GoodBadBugs: The game is almost filled with various glitches and exploits that make the campaigns almost laughably easy but can be a life saver on Expert difficulty. Most of these were patched for VS and Survival modes to keep the balance.
* GoombaStomp: Stepping on a zombie's head from above will kill them instantly and may possibly break your fall. Special infected are immune to head stomps and will, in fact, GoombaStomp ''you'' if they fall on your head while you're on a ladder[[hottip:*:a common tactic to prevent being overwhelmed by a horde is to leave a survivor blocking the ladder, with the others killing the common infected that are blocked on the ladder -- most useful when exiting the sewers in No Mercy]].
* {{Gorn}}: The new damage modelling in Left 4 Dead 2 borders this, if not outright landing inside it. Nothing bad about it per se, but seeing exposed spines, internal organs, etc, after playing the first game is rather surprising, or, in the case of zombies running at you while their bowels slowly roll out to the ground trailing a straight line, BloodyHilarious.
** "Nothing bad about it?" All but the weaker pistols and sub machine guns will tear away massive chunks of flesh, exposing tons of zombie organs, all of which are dropping buckets of blood and occasionally unraveled intestines onto the ground; pipe bombs toss around extremities like there's no tomorrow, and leave corpses which are blown rather messily in half... vertically.
** It could've been a lot worse; in the commentary, it's mentioned one of the artists kept a "nightmare folder" full of images of people suffering from horrific injuries, mutilations and infections. They ended up '''not''' using any of it as reference for the game because it was deemed too horrific.
* GravityBarrier: keeps you away from a zombie breeding ground and to keep you moving along to your safehouse.
* {{Griefer}}: Online is filled to the brim with them, whether you have people do team killings, steal and waste items, or do anything else to slow down your progress.
* GroinAttack: A OneHitKill on normal zombies, even with the pistol. Try it, it's fun. Though a shattered pelvis does tend to make walking rather difficult.
* GunsAkimbo: All characters can find and dual wield a second pistol for extra ammunition in the magazines. There is even an achievement called Akimbo Assassin. You can unlock it by using the dual pistols as your only weapons in a story campaign. You can still use molotovs and pipe-bombs, but not the mini-guns.
* HarderThanHard: Expert mode is Exactly What It Says On The Tin. Only experts can expect to survive. This doesn't deter people who should be playing Normal from playing only this mode, however, to the eternal vexation of anyone who wants to actually finish a level with all of their limbs still attached. The same applies for Advanced mode if the people you are playing with are still good, but not great at being zombie killing machines.
** As an example: Normal mode causes Horde attacks to take off 1 or 2 percent of your life. Advanced, you lose 5. Expert? 10(from behind) to 20(from the front). And the only thing that generally changes between the difficulties is generally the damage the Infected do.
** And the Friendly Fire damage. In Easy, you are [[strike:practically]] immune to this. In Expert, it does ''much more'' damage than the zombies.
*** To clarify, on Expert, you deal full damage to allies, who have 100 HP, which is the same amount of HP that the regular infected you slaughter with wild abandon have. The basic Shotgun does up to 240 damage.
** Expert also reprograms the Director, resulting in much more difficult situations and a genuine desire of a number of players to ''absolutely not linger in any given area'' (for those not in the know, staying in one area too long will make the Director angry, and he'll prod you to keep moving with zombie hordes, Hunters, Smokers and Boomers. On Easy, Normal and Advanced, you have some time to look in rooms for extra stuff, and backtrack if you think you missed something. On Expert, if you don't keep moving, you'll be overwhelmed ''very'' quickly).
**Accidentally confirmed for Left 4 Dead 2 is Realism mode. While not much is known about it, Valve has said it is supposed to be [[UptoEleven EVEN harder than Expert]].
***Basically Realism Mode removes all the auras around other survivors and items, make zombies take less damage when shot anywhere except the head, and if you get incapacitated you die. Its also able to be set to [[UptoEleven Expert mode,]] [[BraggingRightsReward and so far all you get is an achievement for it.]]
* HesJustHiding: Literally. Whenever one of the guys die, they're found later trapped in locked closets somehow. These closets serve as respawn points for player characters.
** According to the [[DVDCommentary Developer Commentary]], this is supposed to emulate the way other survivors would inevitably hook up with the main characters in an actual ZombieApocalypse movie.
** To add to this, if a character(s) dies along the way and the others reach the safe house, any dead characters will appear with everyone else in the safe house in the next chapter.
** Also averted in the final chapter of each campaign after the rescue vehicle has been summoned, any character killed during the setpiece finale stays dead (replacing "You'll be rescued soon" with "But your friends can still escape"). When the credits roll after any or all of the (live) survivors escape, instead of saying "the survivors escaped" it says "in memory of [dead players' names]"
* [=~Hey, It's That Voice!~=]: Most of the NPC Survivors are played by guys who also did voices for ''TeamFortress2''.
** Bill is [[{{Half-Life}} Father Grigori]].
** And Zoey is also [[{{Halo}} Cortana]] and [[SuperMario64 Princess Peach]].
** MikePatton, lead singer of FaithNoMore and freaky vocalist extraordinaire, created the Infected's vocalisations. You may notice their similarity with the voice of [=GLaDOS=]' [[{{Portal}} Anger Sphere.]] He did that too.
** Coach is [[TheWire Cutty Wise]].
* HideYourChildren: The Infected are invariably adults.
** Except possibly the Witch, but she's adolescent at best.
*** Have you ever looked at the witch's face? She's at least 30!
*** Thanks to the mutations, no doubt--hence the name "The Witch", as it makes her look like a hag.
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Many of the special infected, but especially [[http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/Gohma27/_12483202724341.jpg the Spitter.]]
** Not to mention this newbie Special: [[http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/The_Jockey The Jockey]]
* HitAndRunTactics: This is the second best way to deal with a Tank, provided you're not injured. The best is with [[KillItWithFire Fire.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The sequel features the "bile bomb," which allows the survivors to replicate the results of Boomer vomit, which causes a horde to target a splashed infected. [[WhatAnIdiot Until your teammate freaks out and throws a pipe bomb, anyway.]]
* HoldTheLine: A number of situations (such as turning on the power to open up a route or summoning the rescue vehicle in the final level of a campaign) summons several waves of zombies while the survivors have to hold out for a set amount of time until the route opens. The survivors are generally provided with health assets, additional weapons and ammo, choice of grenades, and a (generally completely useless) minigun in some situations to help fend off the horde.
** The minigun is only useless if the other players aren't watching the back of the person manning it. Effective team play makes it ''awesome''.
** The sequel changes this up a bit; many events now require you to start an event, run through an area, and stop it somewhere else.
* TheHyena: The Jockey's main "weakness" is that you can hear his constant, crazed laughter from a mile away, effectively killing any element of stealth he may have had.
* IdleAnimation: The infected alternate between facing the wall, barfing up their guts and killing one another. The survivors alternate between stretching, wiping their faces, or picking their noses.
* IncrediblyLamePun: Although the characters themselves rather like it.
--->'''Francis''': Hey Zoey, we're ''PASSING GAS''
--->'''Zoey''': Hahaha, farting.
** In the first game, Crash Course gives us this little number:
--->'''Francis''': Guys! Watch out for the Steam!
--->'''Zoey''': *sensual groan* Ooh I ''love'' Steam!
--->'''Francis''': Yeah, Steam's okay I guess.
** In the sequel, the new survivors are looking to continue the tradition. "Axe me a question" indeed.
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: The pipe bomb is one, but with good reason - its red light and high-pitched squeal attracts the standard {{Mook}} zombies, making throwing them less of a matter of where to, but a matter of when to.
* InterfaceScrew: If the Boomer throws up or explodes on a character, their field of view goes blurry and green and in the third person for several seconds, making it hard to defend themselves from the Horde that the bile summons. Also, music priority switches to Boomercide, meaning that a particularly skilled team can temporarily mask the sound of an incoming Tank...
** Boomer Bilevision also removes the "pinned-survivor" alert and that pinned player's red outline that shows up when a survivor is downed.
** The screen also turns to black and white if your character is downed 3 times (the next knock down kills them). This can make spotting some items [[strike:a bit difficult]] extremely easy as items retain their colored glow on a black and white screen. The colorless vision is also accompanied by a heartbeat, which can add to the tension if you lack first aid.
* IntrepidReporter: Averted in that Rochelle at first sees the entire thing as a story that can put her on the map, but turns out to basically be fighting for her life and totally unconcerned about the event itself.
* InvisibleWall: Only the Infected in Versus mode will run into them, and if you get close enough they stop being invisible... instead they become labeled "[[CaptainObvious wrong way!]]".
* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: ''Left 4 Dead 2'' will partially take place in TheBigEasy during the "Louisiana Festival."
* [[{{ptitlebqydd0u1moif}} It's Short, So It Sucks]]: The common cry of people who manage to blow through a round very quickly (40 minutes is fast for 5 maps while 1 hour is the average time). The short so it sucks complaint has become much louder with the new Crash Course campaign because it's only two maps long and it suited for a quicker VS game. The complaints for Crash Course being short rose up, despite the fact that most people already knew how short it would be months ago.
* [[{{Ptitleazynmzv9}} It's Quiet... Too Quiet]]: Because of the way the Director AI is programmed, Hunters, Boomers and Smokers will not spawn if there's a tank in the vicinity, and same goes for the random Hordes (the ones from scripted events still spawn, though).
* KatanasAreJustBetter - ''Left 4 Dead 2'' will feature a katana amongst the melee weapons. Cue fangasms.
** Averted in that the katana won't be any better than, say, a '''frying pan''' or a cricket bat. All the melee weapons are one-hit-kills against normal infected.
*** It's unknown if this will be averted or not...Valve has assured us that the melee weapons in the game will have differing properties re: draw speed, area of effect, etc. The ''[=L4D=]'' wiki claims the katana will have the widest effect range of any melee weapon in the game.
* KillerGameMaster: The AI director. Particularly on Expert mode, when he stops even ''pretending'' he doesn't hate your guts.
** AIIsACrapshoot: Is it just me, or has the Director become even ''more'' hateful recently?
* KillItWithFire: There are Molotov cocktails in the game. Cue screeching.
** Left 4 Dead 2 will feature incendiary bullets. However, certain zombies are now fireproof (they wear hazmat suits).
* LeeroyJenkins: When someone on your team insists they can take on a Witch (they don't ask, they just do it or excitedly say "Ohh let me take her!"), just sit back and enjoy the show.
** Tanks are also common targets for Leeroy Jenkinism.
*** This is due to the fact that everybody wants the "Man versus Tank" achievement, which is rather hard to accomplish especially when playing with bots. The latter situation is still manageable, if you know how to set it up and exploit the AI's weaknesses.
*** The sequal takes this to the next (and literal) step: not only does the game give you melee weapons that include fire axes, machetes, katanas and ''chainsaws'', the "Tank Burger" achievement calls for single-handedly killing a tank with said melee weapons.
* LeParkour: Players who are skilled at the Hunter can navigate walls and rooftops with ricocheting jumps.
* LighthousePoint: The Last Stand.
* LightningBruiser: The Charger, along with the Witch and Tank, although to a lesser extent.
* LoveItOrHateIt: "refreshingly straight forward, or short and repetitive with zero narrative"
** Apparently, the sequel will add narrative.
** Cue the fans screeching TheyChangedItNowItSucks
* LuckBasedMission: Depending on where enemies spawn and what types they are, you can either have a smooth sailing game or a nightmare of just trying to survive.
** VS is also the same where sometimes the infected spawn at bad spots in the finale or the Tank spawns while it's on fire or stuck in a window. At other times all it can take is one tank to wipe out the survivors. Of course one bad team can cut down on the luck factor.
* LudicrousGibs - Combined with PinkMist - a pipe bomb will turn the zombies right on top of it into unidentifiable pieces of meat, but mostly a blood fog.
** The sequel ups the ante; rather than simply causing them to disintegrate, a well-placed pipe bomb will send dozens of zombie limbs flying in all directions, littering the area with blown-in-half corpses.
* MadeOfIron: The Tank, The Witch less so, but still counts. The Survivors come close, too.
** Pain pills can also provide a temporary health boost to the survivors, who can therefore demonstrate some MadeOfIron-ness.
* MadeOfExplodium: The Boomer's death causes him to go off like a frag grenade. Don't stand too close, you dolts!
** It also shares one of Halo 1's grenade explosion effects.
** Close to the beginning of the third level on the first campaign, the survivors can blow up a gas station, potentially killing everything around...including themselves, if they're not careful.
*** The developers originally were going to have the Boomer be just like walking grenade, which would have caused instant death or massive damage to the survivors if shot too close. Thankfully, Valve opted to make the exploding Boomer just cover you in bile.
* MadeOfPlasticine: It's not uncommon for the basic infected to be graphically dismembered by a shotgun blast, a few stray bullets, or ''being bashed with a rifle butt.''
* MagicalDefibrillator: Capable of bringing players back from the dead in the sequel.
* MemeticBadass: A number of forums have taken a single graffito referencing a "Chicago Ted" (itself a ShoutOut to an old gaming website) and seem to be attempting to turn him into a Chuck Norris-esque zombie slayer.
** The wiki has him hammering a Tank from behind, a la ''ResidentEvil 3'', barefisted and barechested, allowing survivors to escape in a car. Not just hammering on it, but ''riding it like a horse while beating it in the face with a baseball bat with a nail in.'' Badass.
* MemeticMutation: "I hate hospitals." "I hate stairs." "I hate forests." "I hate small towns." "I hate lawyers." "I hate tunnels." "I hate vans." "I hate train yards."
** "[[TakeThat/VideoGames I hate]] AynRand."
*** And adding to the almost endless list is the fanmade Map, [[{{DawnOfTheDead}} Dead before Dawn]] is, predictably, "I hate malls".
** From the new DLC: "[[CanadaEh I hate Canada."]]
** "I miss the internet."
*** It should be noted that this line is unrelated to Francis' seemingly never-ending list of hated items, vests being the exception. It is, in fact, graffiti found on a safe room wall underneath a back-and-forth argument reminiscent of petty internet squabbles. With Crash Course now released, Francis now hates helicopters, flying, walking, sometimes steam, and birds. A [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] is hung over when Zoey says "Hey, Francis! They have the latest issue of I Hate Everything!" and Francis quips back with "I hate latest issues."
**** So is Francis by any chance related to [[TransformersFilmSeries movie Bonecrusher]], who also hates everything (and whose hatred is also a meme itself)?
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKu60YKqsvs "Grabbin' Peelz!"]]
*** Oh god, ''the'' best 12 seconds you'll ever listen to.
** [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=280 RAGE QUIT!]] Though this is spewed over anyone leaving over for ANY reason, even if there is no raging involved. Some people are now also shouting RAGE KICK over people who are too kick happy in forcing people to leave.
** New to Left 4 Dead 2, 1. bind "vocalize useadrenaline" 2. Play as Ellis. 3. Press that key over and over. 4. ??? 5. WUBUBUBUBUBU
** Chocolate helicopters and 'ficial instructions, both from Left4eadD2.
* MessageBoard: Saferoom graffiti really acts like this, although people who leave the saferoom probably don't return. Ever.
* MightyGlacier: The Tank is only RELATIVELY slow in the sense that it moves slower than the survivors. It is, however, far and away both the toughest thing in the game and the most dangerous.
** Unless you're injured, in which case there is little fundamental difference between being injured and being dead.
*** Also, in enclosed spaces, most survivors will shoot the tanks while running backwards. This makes it easy for them to get caught up on the scenery; and then they lose the speed advantage.
* MissionPackSequel: ''Left 4 Dead 2'', which was based on development that was originally supposed to be free download content for ''[=L4D1=]''. Created an InternetBackdraft of unbelievable size.
** [[http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2boycott Check out the member count.]] Take in mind that this group started during E3.
** Of course that is all pretty much WMG...
* MolotovCocktail: Lovely, lovely, molotov cocktails...
* MonsterClown: ''Left 4 Dead 2'' features [[http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/08/30/left-4-dead-2-cant-sleep-clown-will-eat-me/ zombie clowns]].
* MusicalSpoiler: Musical warning is given for when a horde appears, a tank appears, or when a witch is nearby. It also plays softly whenever any special infected are nearby, making those who know each one's theme music able to know one's nearby even without hearing them or seeing them.
** Always preceeded by a [[http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Left_4_Dead_%28Soundtrack%29 three to eight note musical gambit]]
* MostAnnoyingSound - Step 1: Bind a vocalization to its own key. Step 2: Press this key repeatedly. Step 3: BOOMER BOOMER BOO-BOOM-B-B-BOOMER
** If done online, most players will be quite eager to kick you off the team. With bullets.
* MythologyGag: Bill, during early development, shared his last name with ''HalfLife'''s Barney Calhoun.
* {{Narm}}: Any time one of the team dies (outside of a major battle), one of the characters, usually Zoey, launches into a short speech.
---> '''Zoey:''' ''(calmly; mid-battle)'' "It's not going to get any better, you know."
*** '''Louis:''' "Shit. Shit! ''Shit! '''Shit! SHIT!!'''''"
*** The best is when they see the body of a dead Survivor, and then his weapon. "Oh god, not Fr-HEY, WEAPONS HERE!"
** It's better when they interrupt the speeches. "I'm gonna miss that son of a PILLS HERE!"
---> '''Zoey:''' Do you think it's ever... gonna go back to normal?
---> '''Bill:''' (attempting to heal himself) I'll see peace back on earth if I (healing done, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything speech will now give way to suspiciously relaxed-sounding sigh]])
---> (two seconds of silence)
---> '''Louis:''' ''That's'' what I'm talkin' about!
** For some reason, Francis's screams while incapacitated sound hilarious to me. They remind me of Goofy.
*** That's because Francis screams like a bitch. So much for being the tough guy...
** The way Francis yells "Hunter on (whoever)!" when one of his teammates gets pinned is rather more "Dude, totally hot!" than "Oh, no!"
** ...what? No mention of Louis' scream as he falls off a ledge? Used [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aEGqatZFjY here]] to comedic effect.
* {{Nakama}}: Listen to any one of the survivor's speeches after a comrade has been downed and tell me you don't get this vibe. Then of course there is this...
--> '''[[NiceGuy Louis]]''': "Mister, if one of us dies out here, I will ''shoot my way in there'' and '''beat you to death with my gun!'''"
* NeverLiveItDown: In ''Crash Course'', Francis will not let Zoey forget about shooting the zombie helicopter pilot. Granted, it was at the beginning of the campaign, so it's justifiable.
-->'''Francis:''' They're comin'! Zoey, pretend they're all helicopter pilots!
-->'''Zoey:''' Zombies, Francis. [[ThisIsSPARTA He. Was. A. Zombie.]]
* NeverSplitTheParty: Seriously. Even on the easiest difficulty setting, if you split up you ''die'' - the game actively spawns a Hunter or a Smoker on you, which is inescapable if you don't have a party member to kill it with.
**Skilled players who spot them first can escape harm. However, attempting this is generally not recommended.
*** Even if the lone player doesn't get attacked, the other players will yell at the runner for leaving them behind as they get slaughtered.
* {{Nerf}}: In the original, players could "shiva stack" (wait in a corner or secluded room, all bunched up and repeatedly melee). This made it nigh-on impossible to extricate them with anything other than a tank. The sequel is going to make stacking less useful with new zombie types (such as the Charger, and recently announced Spitter).
** Players in certain areas, like the No Mercy finale, could hide in a closet and bottleneck an area as zombies flooded in, posing only a threat to Smokers, Tanks, and Witches. The new Special Infected in ''[=L4D2=]'' can ruin all this, with a little help from the upgraded Director.
* NextSundayAD: The death notices in the church state that the game is set a few months in the future. Value updates them every so often to keep the dates in this trope.
* NightOfTheLivingMooks: The game pretty much shuffles the Horde's character models at random.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: parodied, "X zombies were harmed in the making of this film." (Where X is the number of zombies killed during the campaign, which is usually at least one thousand zombies)
** In the sequel, the typical kill count per campaign is now over two thousand zombies.
* NonSequiturThud: One of the the openings of ''Crash Course'' has Francis talk about how much he loves helicopters, until Zoey reminds of his well-known trait of hating everything.
** More germanely, Bill will occasionally stutter "Wha -- who are ''you?!''" as another Survivor helps him up.
* NoodleIncident: Ellis brings up quite a few of these in-game before being told that telling these during a zombie apocalypse might not be the best idea.
* NotUsingTheZWord: Averted: During a quiet moment, Francis will occasionally complain about "the vampires" and Bill will correct him: "They're zombies, Francis."
** "Call these freaks whatever you want!"
** Mocked in one of the Safehouse graffiti notes. "[[strike:Move during the day they only come out at night]] THATS VAMPIRE'S[sic], MORON!!"
*** Thanks to the sequel, we know that moving during the day may be ''more'' dangerous. Witches are active during the day, crying and sobbing and slashing anything that gets in their path (but may be less easy to provoke, with hands shoved in her face)
***And let's not forget that Zoey calls "Zombie bullshit" on the game's antagonists (and their level of speed).
*** Also, Louis comments on Riverton, "If you ignore the crazy guy and the zombies, nice town."
* OffscreenTeleportation: How the Infected spawn in during a Versus game.
**AI controlled characters can teleport as well, probably a feature programmed in to make sure they couldn't get in the way of players and block them in room or corner, and also to hurrily save a player if there is a very far trek ahead for the bot. However, on some occasions they can even teleport when the player is looking right at them.
* OneHitKill: The Witch's first strike.
** Which is actually only a one-hit-kill on Expert difficulty. Otherwise it's just an incapacitation.
** Falling off a building is instant death, whether dragged off by a Smoker or hurled to your doom by a Tank. Very frustrating.
*** It gets ridiculous when you're glitched into it, and it's a ''three foot drop.''
** Melee weapons and [[CoolGun Desert Eagle]] dish those out in the sequel to ordinary infected.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Infected are not really undead, but rather, very, very sick people who have been severely taken over by the virus. As such, they have been programmed only to spread the infection and then die. Not to mention that the zombies don't even bite you. Instead, they will punch, kick, and claw the crap out of you.
** The Church Guy, however, who ''becomes'' an infected, claims that he was bitten, so it may be possible that the infected can tell the difference between standard humans and those that are immune.
* OutOfFocus: Unlike the other three survivors, Bill didn't get any new lines of dialogue in ''Crash Course''. If the player is paying careful attention, hoping to hear new dialogue, Bill's silence is noticeable.
** Rumor has it that when it came to doing the recording of the new script, [[OrSoIHeard Valve tried to contact Bill's VA, but there was no time left to keep calling since Crash Course was near release.]]
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Literally. ''Nothing'' will get you killed faster than leaving your fellow survivors behind and trying to Rambo your way through the next level alone.
* PaintingTheFourthWall: The ending to the Dark Carnival has you activate the stage effects for a band that was originally going to play. The next two Tank cues then have a very distinct rock feel to them over the original orchestral.
* RageQuit
* RealIsBrown: The first game was pretty dark and grey. The second will be brighter and more colourful. Presumably someone somewhere is [[TeamFortress2 crying some more]] about it.
* RespawningEnemies: Both the Director and boomer bile have the tendency to summon fresh hordes of zombies from previously cleared rooms with no obvious point of entry.
* ReplacementScrappy: The cast of Left 4 Dead 2 according to the boycott group, [[RuinedFOREVER after seeing the E3 trailer and reading small tidbits about them.]]
* RuleThirtyFour - Yes, Left4Dead has a porn parody, entitled "[[ParallelPornTitles Left 4 Head]]''. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find something dull and rusty to gouge my eyes out with... Not like [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] didn't warn you: "GUY WITH LONG TONGUE + HOT COLLEGE GIRL = {{IDEA BULB}}"
**"Oh god it's going for my pants"
** [[http://bar1scorpio.deviantart.com/art/Left-4-Dead-Witch-Zoey-106255633 For something slightly more SFW...]]
** There is now a (mostly) nude Zoey mod. The only surprise is what took them so long.
*{{Running Gag}}: Ellis in the second game, starts sprouting a long winded story whenever he reminded of something, only to be told it's not the time.
* TheScrappy: It seems like while at first the new cast were all "meh", Ellis, Nick and Coach soon warmed up to the fans. However, the same can't be said for Rochelle.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Francis to some degree. When he is being attacked while incapacitated, he will sometimes scream in a higher pitched and silly voice.
* ScriptedEvent: Possibly the most awesome one ever, on the runway--a 747 crashes ''right next to you'', erupting in a massive fireball.
**Also, when the gas station explodes if you shoot it in No Mercy
** Left 4 Dead 2 adds lots of new scripted events that kick ass. From the burning down hotel in Dead Center to the terrifying weather in Hard Rain.
* SeriousBusiness: Handfuls of people take the game very seriously and will scream at you or call a vote to get you booted if you do anything they don't like (not the TooDumbTooLive type player mind you). More noticeable in VS mode where people will yell at you for not saving them from the infected quick enough and/or yell at you if you don't do enough damage to survivors or just plain outright miss your attacks.
** In fact, in most VS games, when someone becomes the Tank, all the infected players put all their hopes on the Tank player and expect him or her to to kill the Survivors in one go. What most people don't realize that the Tank alone cannot kill the Survivors unless the players are extremely stupid and the Tank needs support from the other infected. If you're the Tank and get caught on fire or die without killing at least one player, expect most people to call you a fail Tank.
* SetAMookToKillAMook: The result of a zombie being hit by a Bile Bomb, including the Special Infected.
* {{Shipping}} - Some people make a very big deal about who Zoey is placed next to on the various official campaign posters...and now it's starting with Rochelle as well.
** There's quite a bit of fanfic out there that ships Zoey with the Hunter or the Witch as well. Yeah, I'm creeped out too.
* ShoutOut - Well, if Louis' clothing change from a sweater and combat gear to a [[ShaunOfTheDead white dress shirt and a red tie]] doesn't clue you in...
**Some of the graffiti (and one of the achievements) references the "Zombie Genocider" achievement of ''DeadRising'', which rewarded the player for killing 53,595 zombies.
*** ''Dead Rising's'' "Zombie Genocider" achievement was for killing 53,594 zombies, thus the ''Left 4 Dead'' achievement ("Zombie Genocid'''est'''") requires one more kill than ''Dead Rising''. {{Take that}}, ''Dead Rising''!
**** It appears that this has caught on; ''{{Prototype}}'' has a "Trail of Corpses" achievements, for killing 54,596 infected. Difference being that the ''Prototype'' Infected are explicitly '''not'' zombies.
***** Valve have introduced a new twist -- the "Littlest Genocide" achievement, which requires you to kill 5,359 zombies on the Crash Course DLC campaign.
** There are clues that the game takes place in Pennsylvania (the cars have license plates like Pennsylvania's, there is a Mercy Hospital in Pennsylvania, a Riverside, PA, the fourth campaign takes place in the Allegheny National Forest, and in Crash Course Zoey has a line telling Francis that they're in Pennsylvania). George Romero's movies were all set in Pennsylvania.
***The commentary for No Mercy also says that the buildings were based on the Philadelphia skyline.
***The game mostly appears to take place in the Pittsburgh area, however. I'm a college student there, Mercy Hospital is one of the U. Pittsburgh Medical Centers. Our street signs are blue like the ones in the game (Philadelphia street signs are green), Allegheny National Forest is near Pittsburgh, and from No Mercy it's clear the city is surrounded by mountains like Pittsburgh. The only thing that clearly is NOT based on Pittsburgh is the airport, which appears to be within the city limits, Pittsburgh International Airport is about half an hour out of the city (due to the mountains, there isn't much level ground to build an airport).
***Also:
--->'''Zoey''': Oh, nice, [[EvilDead a cabin in the middle of nowhere.]] [[KillEmAll I know how this movie ends.]]
***However, news vans marked "NBC 10" are seen in Chapter Four of Death Toll. NBC 10 is Philadelphia's NBC affiliate.
** Not to mention the countless shoutouts to zombie movies, ranging from things Zoey says to a room where you can see the remains of a zombie killed by a lawn mower.
*** The messy [[ChainsawGood lawnmower]] scene in Blood Harvest is a {{Shout Out}} to the zombie movie ''Braindead'', which was directed by Peter Jackson.
** Aside from references to specific zombie movies, some which are mentioned above, the game itself is a homage to the entire zombie movie genre. Each campaign is presented as a movie, with a theatrical poster at the beginning and a credits sequence at the end. All in-game graphics are shown under a subtle film grain filter (the subtlety of which can be changed in the options menu, at least in the PC version), and musical cues are used to highlight certain situations. Various zombie movie tropes are referenced, lampshaded, played straight, or subverted (sometimes all four!). And of course, the placement of enemies and items being controlled by an AI ''Director''.
** And, of course, a most brilliant reference to a completely non-zombie movie: "[[{{Ghostbusters}} He slimed me!]]"
*** And then there's the Hunter, who looks quite similar to the protagonists of the ''[=~Assassin's Creed~=]'' and ''{{Thief}}'' series and is very stealthy at times as well.
** The Dead Air campaign features a ShoutOut to Nietzsche. [[NietzscheWannabe A man spray-painted "God Is Dead"]] (a phrase made famous by Nietzsche himself) on the walls at several points before he apparently killed himself.
---> '''Zoey:''' "Oh no, the Zombies killed God!"
---> '''Francis:''' "God's dead, huh? Well, join the damn club."
** Upon picking up an SMG, Louis might say, "This is just like in ''{{Counter-Strike}}''!"
** "[[{{Alien}} Game over, man! Game over!]]"
** The escape vehicles in ''Crash Course'' are clearly modeled on the zombie-smashing buses from the ''{{Dawn Of The Dead}}'' remake.
** If the criterea is met, Zoey will say "[[EvilDead Groovy.]]"
*** Usually triggered by Zoey picking up a shotgun right after Francis does; Francis has a similar line:
---> '''Francis:''' Groovy! ''(either Louis or Zoey snickers audibly)'' What? It ''is'' groovy!
** Some of the scenery has remarkable similarities to movie scenes, such as the hospital storey that is still [[DieHard under construction]] or the [[DieHard2 luggage conveyor room]].
** Based on the new trailer released for Left 4 Dead 2, one scene shows Coach eating a chocolate bar and another scene has Nick make fun of Coach by trying to convince him to go up the stairs faster saying that the escape helicopter is made out of chocolate. This could be a possible reference to [[PunchOut Doc Louis]] who also had a heavy preference to chocolate.
** In the first map of The Parish, a jukebox can be played in the bar and has a few songs selected at random, one of them being ''[[{{Portal}} Still Alive]]''.
*** And by the same singer "Re: Your Brains."
**** The melee weapons in ''Left 4 Dead 2'' are all Shout Outs to various sources. The [[ShaunOfTheDead cricket bat]], for instance. One would suspect the [[DeadRising katana]] is as well. Then, of course, there's the [[HalfLife crowbar]]...
* Dark Carnival may be a shout out to ''HouseOfTheDead: OVERKILL'''s "Carny" level.
** Or possibly the Dark Carnival level from ''{{Blood}}'' (a game that was also brimming with shout-outs). Or, for that matter, any of a dozen horror movies that have used [[CircusOfFear circuses and theme parks]] as settings or set pieces.
** Don't forget, the gnome you win for getting 750 points at the shooting range game is ''the exact same model'' as the gnome from HalfLife2 - Episode 2.
* SinisterSubway: The second level of No Mercy goes through a subway.
* SoundCodedForYourConvenience: All the boss zombies make a distinctive noise when nearby (although not directional, unless if you have surround sound) boomers give off a grotesque bubbling noise, smokers hack and cough, hunters growl and give off a loud screech when pouncing, the tank pants when not moving and thumps around when moving and the witch cries. Additionally, every single boss (and other events, like a zombie swarm) has their own distinct musical cues (the Tank's especially, which continuously plays from the point it [[strike:spawns]] notices the player until after it dies), to the point where it is possible to anticipate bosses up to a minute ahead of time by listening to the orchesteral score.
** Left 4 Dead 2 will have different sound cues based on the new southern US setting. For example, the Horde's arrival is now indicated by a fiddle. Who doesn't want to mow down a mob of zombies to the tune of a fiddle solo?
*** Amen to that. Can I get a "Yee-Haw!"?
*** ''Yee-Haw'', buddy![[hottip:*:*is from deep in rural PA*]]
*** [[YourMileageMayVary Suddenly, the thought of 30+ rabid, frothing zeds doesn't scare me like it used to...]]
*** The fiddle version plays in the swamp levels. They may classify as {{Psycho Strings}}. Left4Dead2 has much more variety of horde music now.
* {{Squick}}: One theory suggests that what the smoker shoots at you isn't his tongue- it's his ''intestines...''
** Another theory suggests the same thing for the Boomer where the belly button would be.
**Don't forget that theory concerning the Witch and her [[spoiler:fetus claws]]!
* StopHelpingMe: The survivor AI when it comes to healing. They will do their damn best to keep you going, but will usually do so at the wrong times. Shooting a horde of zombies? Here, take these pills, but don't swallow them too fast! Tank on your ass? Let me use my first aid and heal you anyway!
* StopHavingFunGuys: Very noticeable in VS mode. Using the Hunting Rifle somehow makes you hinder the team, regardless of your skill, getting heavily damaged by the zombie players makes you a sucky player, and missing your attacks as a special infected also makes you the worst player ever. Unless you use the same guns they do and never screw up in a VS game, everyone will want you gone and they will vote you off if they really hate your "poor" skills.
* StupidSexyFlanders: Ellis. OrSoIHeard.
** The always wonderful Accelagirl is [[http://accelagirl.deviantart.com/art/Left-4-Dead-2-Zoe-Replacement-141502375 already on top of it.]]
* SuperDrowningSkills: Any map that has a river in it in Left 4 Dead 2. Unlike the first game where being underwater too long would drain your health eventually, being submerged in the second game will instantly kill you.
* SuperpoweredMooks: In addition to the aforementioned Special infected, the second game features "Uncommon Commons," who all act like the common infected, but have little perks to help protect them. CEDA workers in hazmat suits are protected from fire; clowns screech and call hordes; swamp men crouch low and obscure your vision when they hit you; sugar mill workers have helmets to protect them from headshots and noise cancelers to prevent them from running at pipe bombs; and riot officers wear armor that can only be efficiently damaged [[BackStab from the back]].
* SuperPowerLottery: The special zombies, who randomly received super-powers to go along with their new hunger for flesh. Particularly the Tank... let's face it, if you ''must'' be a zombie, wouldn't you rather be a ten-foot tall killing machine that can withstand multiple shotgun blasts to the face and throw cars around one-handed?
** Or Survivors off of tall rooftops, if the Director is feeling particularly assholish.
* TaintedByThePreview: The complaints of the ''[=L4D2=]'' boycotters mentioned above and below were all based on what little footage is there at E3 2009 (Some did say their boycotting of it was because Valve went back on their promising free updates to the first game which the sequel would inevitably have).
* TeamDad: Coach. As much as he gripes about them, he appears to genuinely care for the rest of the crew and attempts to keep them out of harm's way.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Zoey is the only playable woman in the first game; Rochelle is the only playable woman in the second.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Nick in the sequel; when Rochelle dies, sometimes Nick will say "There goes repopulating the Earth."
* TheTetrisEffect: Play the game for a good hour or so. Close your eyes. See the zombie horde rushing towards you?
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The reaction of both the players and the characters anytime anything happens to draw the Horde. The moments that fit the trope most are those where you have to make a metric asston of noise to advance.
* ThisIsSparta: There are undoubtedly other examples, but the trailer for the sequel gave us a prime example.
--> '''Coach''': ''[whilst beating Zombie ass]]'' '''THIS USED! TO BE! A NICE NEIGHBOURHOOD!'''
* TokenMinority: The sequel has two-out-of-four black characters instead of the one in the original: Coach and Rochelle. Rochelle is still makes the game follow TheSmurfettePrinciple, though.
* TooDumbToLive: For the online co-op. If you have someone on the team who just keeps making dumb decisions, you'll shout this trope name. May also cross with a LeeroyJenkins.
* TookALevelInJerkass - Francis snarks at Zoey and others throughout Crash Course.
** And Louis to Francis during Crash Course as well on at least two occasions.
--> '''Francis''': Why are you still wearing that stupid tie? Got a meeting to go to? *laughs*
--> '''Louis''': That's funny, Francis. Why don't you take your mustache, your chaps, and your vest and go find yourself a parade?
--> '''Francis''': *Grumbles* I don't see what's wrong with vests...
** In ''No Mercy'':
--> '''Bill''': If I start to turn, shoot me.
--> '''Francis''': What if just your beard starts to turn? Can I shoot that?
* TooGoodToLast: The result of the [=L4D2=] boycott group. While the founders of the group created the group with the intention of getting Valve to keep the support for the 1st [=L4D=] alive after the sequel was released and would boycott if they didn't do so by the 2nd game, many of the people that joined the group only done so for the sake of "boycotting" and not paying attention to what the founders were trying to do and they also joined the group to just troll Valve. On top of that, when the founders were invited by Valve to personally play test [=L4D2=] and was told by Valve that they had more content planned after Crash Course, many of the group members called the leaders complete sellouts. While the group did get near 40,000 members and lasted for 5 months, all the constant bickering and trolling within the group became one of the major reasons why the founders decided to shut the group down.
* TooSoon - A writer for the Houston Chronicle accused Valve of this for setting a game in ruined New Orleans.
* UnpleasableFanbase: It's a '''''long''''' story, trust us.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: There is just something so fun about jumping on top of a lone survivor as a Hunter, laughing in delight as you tear him or her apart, knowing they're completely and utterly helpless.
** This epitomizes why Versus is so great. You know these morons you scream at for running off by themselves and getting killed because of their own stupidity? Now you can do the killing when they lag behind their team as you pounce as a Hunter or grab them as a Smoker.
*** Same for survivors who decide to rush ahead. Nothing spells cruelty and humiliation more than incapping and/or killing someone by the safe house.
* VideogameSetpiece: Most prominently in the last stage of Dead Air, when the survivors leave the saferoom to see a plane on approach go out of control, impact the ground, and slide in on fire before ''exploding''.
* TheVirus: If you're [[strike:un]]lucky enough, you turn into a constantly crying, always-guilty Witch, an exploding fatass, get Gene Simmon's tongue, become an flying Parkour expert or turn into the [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]].
** [[NightmareFetishist About that third one...]]
*** Oddly, this fetish is now confirm thanks to [[http://kotaku.com/5159105/left-4-dead-reaches-ultimate-milestone-parody-porn this]].
*** And, uh, [[http://yellowfeather.deviantart.com/art/Zoey-Gone-Tank-139632317 this]].
* VisualPun: The boxart is a zombie's ''left'' hand holding up ''four'' fingers, with the thumb ripped off. Same thing in the game's intro.
* WallJump: The hunter can do this, with practice. In fact, this is the only way to get to certain places without using the noclip cheat.
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: If there are any bots on the team, you'll have to start the level over again if all the human players are dead, regardless of if there is a bot player alive. It becomes a WallBanger when playing against a team of bot Survivors in versus mode and they are capable of moving through the level on their own without the guidance of a human player.
* WhatTheHellPlayer: Shoot one of your fellow survivors, and they'll yell at you. Bill has the best example, actually using the trope name.
-->'''Bill''': "What the hell are you doing, Francis?" "Secure that weapon!" "God damn it, ''watch your fire!''"
-->'''Francis''': "Nice shot, Louis; that was my ass!" "Watch where the hell you're shooting!" "You do that again, you're gonna be firing that thing out your ass..." "'''Stop -- shooting -- me.'''"
-->'''Louis''': "Whoa! Hey! Don't shoot, it's me!" "I'm gonna shoot you ''back'' next time..." "''DO I LOOK LIKE ONE OF THEM?!''"
-->'''Zoey''': "Ow! That's not funny!" "Why would you ''do'' that to me?" "Aagh! ''Damn'' it, Bill!"
* {{Whoring}}: Players could get minimal damage from hordes and the Hunters by constantly spamming the melee attack button, which created problems for VS mode. Valve have made a {{Nerf}} for it where melee attacks now require a quick cool down before being used again. Luckily, this does not apply to the co-op mode. Aside from that the only way to break through melee whores was with a Tank.
** The sequel is addressing this with a new boss type, the Charger, whose purpose is to knock over anybody not smart enough to get out of it's way.
*** Also recently announced is the Spitter, who can spit area denial acid which causes severe damage.
* XtremeKoolLetterz: Left. 4. Dead. (Probably meant to be a nice little poke at the number of Survivors, though.) And the number of full campaigns, the number of playable special infected, the maximum size of each team, and oh no I've gone cross-eyed.
* YouALLLookFamiliar: At least the developers tried to avert this - there are twelve different variations for every single model, which number to around one-hundred.
** Developer commentary reveals it is MUCH more complicated than that. Each model variation for things like zombies and cars can be altered with the use of a "filter", which doesn't change the look, but does change things like dirtiness and bloodiness, as well as general clothing or damage level. As a result, each singular model in the game can be modified into dozens of different looks.
** Played straight with the Special Infected, presumably to simplify gameplay.
*** Except in the sequel, maybe; there's [[http://img5.abload.de/img/left_4_dead_2__005_xj37.jpg a screenshot]] showing a Boomer that looks somewhat the same as in L4D1, except for a different hairdo.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Special Infected which are stuck or otherwise unable to catch up to the Survivors will occasionally be killed off by the Director, with the death noise often being faintly audible to human players.
* YourHeadASplode: Shots to the head of regular zombies with primary weapons leave only their neck and a PinkMist.
* ZergRush: The AI director will send these at you at random, when a boomer vomits on you, in pre-programmed Crescendo Events where you're forced to make a ton of noise to continue moving, or if you accidently set off a car alarm, [[ZeroPunctuation or whenever he's bored, which is]] ''[[ZeroPunctuation all the time]]''. The normal infected also like to rush pipe bombs because of the smoke detector alarms rigged to them.
* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Zoey Is About To Shoot You!]]: Several of the campaign posters.
* ZombieApocalypse: [[CaptainObvious Duh.]]
** What's relatively unknown, however, is the scale of the epidemic and whether or not it's confined to America. The military seems to be relatively intact, having the capability to launch rescue missions and bombing runs, implying the chaos hasn't spread across the entire United States.
* ZombieGait: How individual zombies walk until they see you.
* ZombieInfectee: Not only does he turn into a zombie mutant just before you can open the door, but he also calls a horde of zombies with a church bell just before that, the bastard!
** Better safe than sorry...
*** Better safe than sorry. [[MadnessMantra Better safe than sorry.]] [[RoomFullOfCrazy Better safe than sorry.]] [[TooDumbToLive Who's there? Is there someone there?]] [[SixthColumn Don't make me use this bell!]] [[{{Narm}} Ding dong! Ding dong! Dinner's served! Come and get it!]] [[ZombieInfectee Better *growl* than *growl*...]]
** Also implied by one of Bill's lines in the Death Toll campaign: ''"Poor bastards barricaded themselves into the city. All it must have taken was one infected."''
** Originally, the Helicopter Pilot from the No Mercy finale would imply that he had been bitten, and the next campaign would begin at the helicopter crash site. Testers complained that it ruined their sense of accomplishment at having survived, therefore Valve removed the dialogue. The recently announced DLC campaign ''Crash Course" will reinstate this, as it begins at the helicopter crash, and ends where the Survivors start in Death Toll.
** One wonders what happened to the armoured bus...
----
<<|FirstPersonShooter|>>

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>