Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 is a purely cooperative shooter in which a quartet of survivors makes its way across the infected American South from one shelter to the next, while hordes of infected pour down on them. The structure is simple and brilliant: each campaign has several maps, at the end of which rescue awaits, and in between the game combines exploration, weapon collecting, and sudden surges of hundreds of enemies. You won't get far without cooperation, because a downed player needs help, and a lone player is almost always a dead player.

A central role is played by the so-called AI Director, a system that tracks how the team is doing and places enemies, health kits, and ammo accordingly. Thanks to it, every playthrough of the same map is different, and the game never slides into pure memorization. Alongside regular infected lurk special types, from the choking Smoker to the roaring Tank, which force the team to instantly change tactics. The second installment added melee weapons, new campaigns, daylight, and a mode where human-controlled survivors face off against human-controlled infected.

Technically the game runs on the well-optimized Source engine, so it runs on practically anything and can put a large number of characters on screen without slowdown. Visually it leans on the cinematic stylization of B-movie horror, including posters introducing each campaign. Sound is a core gameplay mechanic: the distinctive sounds of individual special infected let the team know what's coming before they even see it. Critics received the game excellently, and the community still keeps it alive with its own campaigns. Thanks to them and its flawless playability, Left 4 Dead 2 still ranks among the best choices for an evening with three friends. The game requires no learning of complex systems—everyone understands the rules within a few minutes, yet it still offers plenty of room for tactics and personal heroic moments. Its influence is visible across a whole wave of later cooperative shooters that borrowed its campaign structure and the idea of a director controlling the pace.