Back 4 Blood’s Fort Hope Should Have Been More Than A Glorified Menu

While Back 4 Blood‘s narrative and card system are welcome changes to the co-op zombie shooter genre, Fort Hope, the game’s hub, should’ve been more than just a glorified menu. In other games such as Destiny or Mass Effect, the hub was a place to relax, possibly level-up characters, visit vendors, or mess around with newfound emotes (in the case of the former). However, the hub added a level of immersion and narrative weight to the game above all else.

In the beginning, Back 4 Blood wastes no time in introducing the player to the world, the stakes, and the enemies, the Ridden. Through a tutorial set of missions, the card system in Back 4 Blood comes into play, and the player is encouraged to experiment with their collection of starter cards. Deeper in the missions, the narrative is given more weight through the mutated special Ridden who have led an all-out assault on one of the last bastions of humanity actively fighting the Ridden, Fort Hope, and its outlying settlements. After securing the area, most of the opening missions or “runs” are to re-establish supply lines or rescue survivors, with runs ending back at the hub. However, the hub lacks the narrative weight and immersion, becoming stagnant throughout the remainder of the game.

Spawning into Fort Hope is jarring at first; the hub sports a firing range (that enables friendly fire upon entering), a boxing arena, and a jukebox filled with songs that underline the melancholy tone and theme of the game. Among the interactive activities, the hub is dotted with a few main characters that provide in-game features, from building a deck through the game’s nuanced card system to establishing supply lines in Back 4 Blood to get more cards, cosmetics, and character icons. However, while the hub seemingly welcomes exploration, it is entirely optional to interact with the characters.

Back 4 Blood’s Fort Hope Needs Some Menu Changes

The player can easily access the upgrading menus, and all of the game features through the pause menu. Within the hub itself, while there is dialogue exchanged between characters and various NPCs, the hub remains primarily quiet, with the atmosphere feeling sanitized despite being set during an active mutant-zombie apocalypse. Fort Hope in Back 4 Blood becomes nothing more than set-dressing meant to be a quick stop rather than a reprieve from the action wasting the opportunity to add some elements to the storytelling or immerse the player more.

In the Destiny hub, The Tower was a constant reminder of the player’s mission and what they were fighting for. The Normandy, SR-1, and SR-2 in Mass Effect was a place to reflect on previous choices from the perspective of crewmates. The hub can be an opportunity to inject some storytelling that would otherwise be impossible during an action-packed run, mowing down droves of Ridden. The hub and each underutilized feature in Back 4 Blood has a distinct purpose other than simply an interactive menu. It breathes life into a game, adding weight to the narrative while immersing and rooting the player within the world.

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