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Left 4 Dead 2 is a great cooperative first-person shooter and zombie game. It’s very easy to jump into, get the hang of, and enjoy. The concept is simple; shoot zombies and try to stay alive. With numerous game modes, mutations that mix up the gameplay, and the AI Director which ensures no two playthroughs are ever the same, it offers plenty to see and do, delivers a unique experience every time, and is always a lot of fun. And that’s just the vanilla game. The PC version supports mods and Steam Workshop and there’s a plethora of fan-created content available helping to keep the game alive and players coming back. While the big draw of Left 4 Dead 2 is its cooperative element, it can also be enjoyed solo with AI teammates or bots. But the problem with this is the bots suck. If you stick with them, you can get through campaigns relatively easily depending on the difficulty but I find that their behavior is lacking. They don’t attempt to complete objectives so you have to do all the work, they don’t throw anything, and, overall, they can leave you wanting other people to play with. Luckily, as of this review, the multiplayer scene is still active so finding other players was never a problem for me. Still, it would be nice if the bots were improved for a better single player experience and that’s exactly what someone has attempted to do with the release of the mod, Left 4 Bots.
For this review, I played Left 4 Bots 2, an updated version of the Left 4 Bots mod and from the same creator. These mods can be found on the Steam Workshop and both require the Left 4 Lib addon which is also used in the creator’s other mods, Left 4 Fun and Left 4 Grief. Left 4 Bots 2 also requires the NavFixes addon which includes more bot friendly nav meshes. If you install Left 4 Bots v1, you may want to also install the Bots T3 addon which is from the same creator and allows bots to pick up the M60 and grenade launcher.
The goal of Left 4 Bots is to improve bot behavior. You can just subscribe to the mod and addons in the Steam Workshop, launch Left 4 Dead 2, and enjoy but you really should read the descriptions for these things and check out the links they send you to because there’s actually quite a bit you can do with Left 4 Bots. It’s customizable. In fact, you can set up a single player Versus match against bots. So I’m going to put it bluntly, Left 4 Bots significantly improves bot behavior and what you can do with it is impressive. It’s not perfect and doesn’t mimic what it would be like to play with other players exactly but it does make single player a lot more enjoyable.
I’m going to start by listing some of the improvements. Bots can pick up and use defibrillators, throwables, melee weapons, deploy weapon upgrades, and one of my favorite features, scavenge for items like gas cans for example. They react faster, aim better, will give you items, and the last bot into the safe room will close the door. To be clear, Left 4 Bots does not make the bots invincible or unable to make mistakes. They can fail at things, startle Witches, fall and die, but they’re much more competent teammates than their vanilla counterparts.
You can get granular and modify different aspects of bot behavior by editing certain files and a big feature of Left 4 Bots is the command system. You can issue commands to all the bots at once and to each one individually. Commands can be issued through the Orders menu and through the chat window which is primarily what I used. There’s a large list of commands to make the bots do different things and it can be overwhelming. You can find a list in the Steam community as well as on GitHub and you can view a list of commands in-game if you forget one or want to browse through them. I do recommend binding keys for commands you use often. I binded keys for “lead”, “follow”, “use”, and “heal me”, among some others. You can also order them to move to certain locations, carry items, give items, attempt to kill a Witch, and so much more. There’s even commands with switches to automate certain actions. Scavenge is one of them. The only real downside to the command system is simply the sheer amount of commands at your disposal. Remember, commands can be issued to all bots or each one individually. That means separate commands for each individual bot.
As I was playing, I wanted to see how much work I had to do as the only actual real player. My goal was to use the bots as much as possible so even if it was easier for me to interact with something, I would command them to do it. I have to say I was impressed with their behavior, the command system, and just their combat performance in general. Once I got the bindings down, I was pretty much able to sit back and watch them work. Sometimes they would rack up more infected kills than me in a level which was never the case in my vanilla Left 4 Dead 2 single player experience. I would often command them or one bot to lead at the start of a level and I found that they will actually lead the way and shoot infected but never stray too far from me. I love that they can scavenge for items and will actually fill up things like the car with gas. Left 4 Bots makes the bots help you so you don’t have to do everything yourself. It’s fantastic.
I did encounter some quirks and oddities with Left 4 Bots. Like I mentioned earlier, it isn’t perfect. For the most part, the bots seem to navigate around the levels without any issues. There was only one instance where I witnessed two bots get stuck in a pattern of moving back and forth. It was only after I moved from where I was that they got back on track. As cool as it is to see the bots scavenge for items, they can take their time which will drag things out. For example, they will carry gas cans and then drop them when threats are near. This behavior actually makes sense but in certain situations, an actual player could find away around threats without having to drop the item and other players could potentially cover them. After the threats are eliminated, the bots will pick up the cans and continue on, but in certain levels this stop and go behavior can go on and on until they finally reach their destination and use the cans to fill up whatever it is. This is how the automated scavenging seems to work based on my experience. That is without player intervention. You can probably issue certain commands to speed up the process. My biggest complaint with Left 4 Bots is that sometimes the commands I issued didn’t seem to register or were delayed. Like I would issue the command and the bots wouldn’t comply at all or finally comply after a certain period of time. Usually several seconds. Enough to notice there’s a delay.
I had a great time with Left 4 Bots. In fact, it makes me wonder why the developer didn’t do more with the vanilla bots. I’m well aware Left 4 Dead 2 is primarily a cooperative experience but if you’re going to include a single player with bots, I think you should at least try to make them competent. Or at least more competent than they currently are. Make them do more than just the bare basics. Left 4 Bots shows that bots can do better without ruining the experience. By that I mean they can make mistakes and die. Yes, their improved behavior make things a little easier but I can’t say it ever felt like they were cheating. I would go so far to say the improvements make the single player better reflect a true Left 4 Dead or Left 4 Dead 2 cooperative experience. Left 4 Bots makes it so the bots do more to help you than just keeping infected away, healing you, and helping you up when you fall. They do all of that and actually work with you (or at least the mod gives you that illusion). They can complete objectives, scavenge for items, and you can command them to do all kinds of things. It’s impressive. The mod has its quirks, sure, but I think it makes the single player experience so much more enjoyable.
I absolutely recommend the Left 4 Bots mod. You might be wondering why even bother when the multiplayer scene is still active. Well if you prefer a single player experience or have no friends or hate people or have spotty internet or whatever your reason is for not wanting or being unable to play with others, I would suggest installing the Left 4 Bots mods. Left 4 Dead 2 may be a cooperative-focused game but it does come with a single player option which, unfortunately, doesn’t reflect how much fun the gameplay can be with competent teammates. Left 4 Bots rectifies this problem. It’s not perfect but it is one of the best bot mods I’ve ever experienced. Definitely check it out.