The Passing

"The Passing will become the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story, as all the Survivors are being called together in one campaign."

- Doug Lombardi

The Passing is the first Downloadable Content (DLC) campaign for Left 4 Dead 2. It was released on April 22, 2010. It includes a new campaign and "new co-operative challenge modes of play." It also introduces a new firearm, the M60; the Golf Club, and a new Uncommon Common Infected called the Fallen Survivor.

The Passing takes place between Dead Center and Dark Carnival, in the suburban town of Rayford, Georgia. One of the main features of this campaign is a meet-up between the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors and three of the Survivors from Left 4 Dead. Note that the original Survivors are not playable. The original Survivors appear in the campaign's first chapter, where they meet up with the new Survivors. They appear once again near the end, to help Coach, Nick, Rochelle, and Ellis escape. The campaign is playable in all of the current game modes, as well as the newly featured ones. It is free for PC, and 560MSP on the Xbox 360.

The DLC is called "The Passing," which could be interpreted in several ways. It may simply be referring to the passing of the two parties. It could also refer to the idiom "The passing of the torch", which is referenced in the achievement unlocked upon completing the campaign. But it may refer to the death, or "passing", of Bill, who gave up his life to save the others. The death of Bill and the appearance of the Fallen Survivors are also why the tagline is "Nobody survives forever." To explain how this happened, Valve will be releasing DLC for Left 4 Dead, in which the players play through a new campaign, leading up to the event, ending with one player giving up their life to let the other three Survivors escape. A digital comic book will also come out to show what happens to the original Survivors after the events of Left 4 Dead.

Released in The Passing

 * The Fallen Survivor.
 * The M60 machine gun.
 * The Golf Club.
 * A new song by the Midnight Riders.
 * A new Bride Model for the Witch.
 * New Achievements.
 * 2 New Avatar Awards. (Left 4 Dead 2 baseball hat and Gnome Chompski prop. Xbox 360 only.)
 * New Common Infected Models: Midnight Riders fans and Wedding Guests.
 * New Survival Maps.
 * New Scavenge Maps.
 * New weekly game modes dubbed "Mutations".
 * Foot Lockers containing an infinite quantity of usually limited items (Molotovs, Pipe bombs, Bile bombs, pills, Adrenaline)
 * The Baseball Bat now randomly spawns within all maps alongside other melee weapons including at the start of campaigns and inside safe rooms. Baseball Bats always being at the start of a campaign are still limited to people who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2.

hNotes

 * The silhouettes of the original Survivors in the background of the poster are just the Survivors' mirrored pose from Death Toll's poster.
 * An upcoming comic will tell what happened to the Left 4 Dead Survivors after they got rescued by the military, and an upcoming DLC will show what happened to them after the events of the comic book.
 * In the level, The Underground, a suitcase filled with pistols has been seen in the same building as a Midnight Riders poster. This is a possible reference to the Midnight Riders song, One Bad Man, as part of the lyrics state "a suitcase full of pistols and money". Sometimes when Coach passes this easter egg he will sing the lyrics to the song.
 * The Passing, alongside Swamp Fever and Dark Carnival, is one of the only campaigns to feature two unique Common Infected. These are Infected who seem to be dressed in Midnight Riders attire, and wedding guests, dressed in tuxedos, dresses, and other formal wear. They have no special characteristic and act the same way cops, patients and doctors from Left 4 Dead did.
 * If played in Realism and Versus, the original Survivors won't show up, yet the dialogue that plays in response to them will still play. This was most likely done so that the Survivors wouldn't appear in the finale, making it fair for the Infected team and not too easy for Realism players. Also, the original Survivors will not appear in the Scavenge version of the port, probably for the same reason.
 * In Versus mode, Foot Lockers do not appear.
 * The Midnight Rider's tour bus may be seen speeding down a road during the second chapter, as seen here:
 * A room in a bar has walls covered in graffiti. These scrawled notes humorously reference a variety of zombie video games and movies, including:
 * "Otis: Out of film. No helicopters. Zombies too fast. Not going to make it. Frank West." - Dead Rising
 * "Went to save my dog. If not back in 15 minutes, drop everything and come save me. Nicole." - Dawn of the Dead (2004)
 * "Roger, went to the mall. - Francine" - Dawn of the Dead (1978)
 * "Ed is king of the zombies" - Shaun of the Dead
 * "Come to me if you want M60 - Crazy Dave" - Plants vs. Zombies
 * "Repent. The end is extremely ****king nigh" - 28 Days Later
 * Francis confuses Jimmy Gibbs Junior with "the taco dog," referencing Gidget, the Taco Bell Chihuahua from the late 90s.
 * You can see where Bill made his last stand, in the generator room right under where the original Survivors are in the third chapter.
 * Throughout the various points in the game the Left 4 Dead Survivors hint at their fates after escaping from the military at the end of Left 4 Dead. Francis at multiple points says that he has had "Enough of the military" and Louis at the end says "Should we have told them?". The latter quote may be about the blocked highway at Dark Carnival, as the original Survivors may have come the opposite way, or a similar route or what the military plans to do with the new Survivors when they reach New Orleans.
 * It is possible to give the Survivors items, by meleeing them (as long as you are within distance); meaning that they are bots and not NPCs as originally thought.
 * This is the only campaign between both games to be three levels long.
 * Like Hard Rain, storm effects come into play in The Passing, although they do not summon hordes. They do aggravate the witch though.
 * The new Midnight Rider's song, "Save Me Some Sugar", may be a reference to the Witch's liking to sugar and it's melancholic tune can be played at the wedding. Hence, startling the Witch and attacking the Survivor who started the music.
 * It is possible for two Tanks to spawn at once.
 * The Passing is bugged when it comes to full caption subtitles. When a horde is coming, the musical cue plays but the captions do not appear. It only appears if the Bride Witch is startled.
 * The Midnight Rider's song "Save Me Some Sugar" references to the ride to New Orleans, in the lyric: "Sweet Georgia fades away, We'll be pulling down Louisiana by the very next day"

Video Walkthrough
The Passing Expert Realism: Part 1 | The Passing Expert Realism: Part 2 | The Passing Expert Realism: Part 3 The Passing Expert Realism: Part 4 | The Passing Expert Realism: Part 5