Cut-throat Creek

Cut-throat Creek is the final chapter in the Cold Stream campaign which was released as a DLC in March 2011 in beta format.

This chapter is best thought of as a single continuous finale.

The players use a small handheld radio in the safe room to call for help. A cut sceen rolls showing a military helicopter responding to their call but crashing en route. (Note that the radio can only be used once all the team is ready, meaning they are all in the departure room together. When playing with AI Bots some patience and "herding" is thus necessary on the part of human players.)

On leaving the safe room, players find themselves in an open woodland area with a storage building to the left. This building has two doorways and on entering four Explosive Barrels will be seen against the walls. By climbing up onto a second floor, some minor supplies will be found on one of two tables. Enemies will begin to trickle into the storage area below and, if a player is lucky a Special Infected will appear so that a pair of Explosive Barrels can be set off and enable that person to win an Achievement.

Exiting the storage building, teams follow an arrow sign nailed up on a tree towards a picnic table laden with Pipe Bombs and Bile Jars. All this while a steady stream of enemies will be flowing towards the team.

Pushing foreward, the team reaches the lip of a steep sided canyon containing a fast-flowing stream with an unending horde of Common Infected interspersed with Specials jumping down from the bluffs on both sides. After dropping down into Cut-throat Creek, the team presses forwards fighting all the way. (A good tactic is to slow down to tackle a mob of enemies and to move forward in quick bounds during the momentary pauses between their attacks.)

A waterfall is soon reached which the team can simply jump down to the creek below without fear of injury. At the base of this feature is a sunken boat containing an ammo pile whilst supplies are nearby. At around this point a Tank will spawn on the canyon lip. Once he is dispatched, since the creek is blocked at its far end, players must follow a line of red road flares set out on a rough path leading up the canyon wall. After a short run along the top of the canyon (ammo and health supplies may spawn up here) players drop back down once again to a canyon floor densely packed with a never-ending stream of Common Infected.

Thereafter players must push forward down the last stretch of the canyon until they reach a point where the stream finally enters a barred mountain tunnel. Since this is the end of the stream and canyon, they take a steep incline to the right to climb up out of the canyon onto a forested ridge (an ammo pile may spawn on this slope).

Once up the top, the finale kicks up a notch as a second rescue helicopter arrives (denoted by the usual "light bulb" symbol and rescue has arrived announcement appearing on the screen). Common Infected spawning rates intensify and at least one Tank arrives on the scene. To survive the finale, players must charge hard through the forest in the direction indicated on the screen. By throwing a Bile Jar or Pipe Bomb, valuable time will be gained as the team scrambles around the burning remains of the first rescue helicopter until a wire ladder suspended from a second helicopter hoves into view. Thereafter it is necessary to get up the ladder as fast as possible to get to the helicopter. (Note the only side of the ladder that is climbable is the one facing the normal direction from which players will approach it - something to remember if a player has taken a circular route or got disorientated.)

In addition, a glitch (or maybe a deliberate design feature) results in a human player being unable to enter the helicopter until the AI Bots have either been killed or sucessfully entered the chopper. In the interim, the human player is left to play "door gunner" by standing on an exaggerated skid outside the helicopter and firing down at the gathering enemies below. Infected, including Tanks, are able to climb the ladder up to the helicopter and so it is therefore possible for a Tank get to the top and knock a Survivor to their death, even if that person was effectively already on the chopper. Once everyone is aboard, a closing cut scene rolls depicting the chopper flying away, leaving the forest in flames (and a perhaps Tank suspended in mid air over the scene).

Early indications are that an optimal weapon combination for a human player is the hard-hitting AK47 (preferably with laser sight for accuracy and range enhancement) and Katana or Dual Pistols since this helps conserve Tier 2 ammo and is effective in close quarter battle against massed enemies.