Screamer

The Screamer was a prototype Special Infected formulated early in Left 4 Dead ' s development. As such, he is the progenitor of Special Infected like the Witch and Boomer. He was presented as a human figure encased in a restraining psychiatric-style straight jacket (refer illustration).

The idea of the Screamer was for him to lurk in different areas (much like the Witch) paying no attention to his surroundings until coming in contact with a Survivor whereupon, if sufficiently agitated, he would run off to hide and thereafter let out a scream which would attract a horde - thus foreshadowing the later Boomer bile concept. Since The Screamer was under physical restraint, he did not have the ability to mount a direct attack on Survivors. It was therefore important to kill the Screamer as quickly as possible before it ran off and hid.

As stated in the Developer Commentary, the Screamer and Boomer models co-existed for time during development, at which time all the Boomer did was to explode when killed, dealing damage to nearby Survivors. Ultimately The Screamer was cut from the game because he was deemed too difficult and confusing for Survivors to spot and track him down amongst a crowd of Common Infected. The Boomer was then given its bile attack and new bile splash death effect.