Death Toll

Death Toll is the third (originally second prior to the release of Crash Course) campaign in Left 4 Dead.

Death Toll was released for Left 4 Dead 2 on September 16th, 2011. Weapons and enemies from Left 4 Dead 2 were carried over into the original version together with various amendments to the way the campaign is played: refer to the requisite section for specific details.

Story
Spanning five chapters, Death Toll is set in and around a small (cf. road side population sign) town named Riverside where the Survivors believe the military may be holding out. The chapter takes place after the Crash Course campaign in which the survivors head to Riverside and their motivation for striving to reach the town center is based on no more than a vaguely expressed notion that the military may be holding out in Riverside, and a shared awareness that they have no other realistic option.

On their trek to Riverside, the Survivors must find a way over a broken highway, enter a road tunnel (which Francis actively dislikes), get through a drain system, traverse a creepy old trainyard (which Zoey and Francis actively dislike), attend a rousing evening service at the Riverside First Church, navigate their way through the overrun remains of the once-pleasant rural town containing a van (which Francis actively dislikes), commune with nature at the local picnic spot and finally catch a ride on a small fishing boat operated by a rather suspect couple named John and Amanda Slater (refer the 'Notes' section below and The Sacrifice comic).

Of note is the fact that Valve has spoken the least of this challenging and enjoyable campaign, leading many to conclude that its original primary design objective was to accentuate the gameplay experience players first encountered in Mercy Hospital.

Below is a complete list of video walkthroughs of the 5 levels:


 * 1) The Turnpike
 * 2) The Drains
 * 3) The Church
 * 4) The Town
 * 5) Boathouse Finale

Please know that the gameplay videos are on each campaign's information page not on each map page.

Left 4 Dead 2
With the Cold Stream DLC, Death Toll was edited and ported over to Left 4 Dead 2. Thus it included all the new Infected, items and weapons giving a whole new experience. Video walkthroughs show all the map changes in Left 4 Dead 2. This ported version of this campaign was released on September 16, 2011. The developers made the following changes (in addition to weapons and supplies porting): cosmetically amended maps for The Drains and The Town chapters, more randomised spawning of supplies (including ammo), larger horde sizes generally, the introduction of a Gauntlet Crescendo at the end of The Town (on account of the continuously sounding forklift warning horn; the Minigun was removed in the process). Grenades, gas cans, propane tanks and pills spawn in volumes well above those seen in the original campaign. Enemy damage graphics also appear to have been enhanced.
 * 1) Maps 1 and 2
 * 2) Maps 3 and 4
 * 3) Map 5

Zoey's unique animations were restored in the remake in response to a myriad of harsh, negative comments on the forums regarding her animations as though she were Rochelle (this was due to the fact the former re-used the latter's animations prior to the release of this campaign for the sequel).

Scene transition and event dialog remain unchanged; Survivors speak their campaign exclusive lines normally as in the original version. An interesting feature of the remake is that it comes with updated talker files for the original Survivors, which in turn have fixed notable issues experienced in-game prior to the campaign's release such as Survivors being silent upon spotting pills, first-aid kits, grenade-type items, among others. Along with this update, Survivors now re-use lines upon being targeted by the Spitter, the Jockey and the Charger as opposed to using their respective pain sounds prior to the update.

Originally, the Church Guy just vanished after the Crescendo Event at the church. With the release of an update he can transform again, but still only into one of the three Left 4 Dead Special Infected, a Boomer, a Hunter or a Smoker.

Official description
Shoot, shove and sprint through a nightmare suburbia consumed by the Infected horde. The Death Toll campaign has your team of Survivors making their way down a turnpike littered with abandoned cars to the nearby ghost town of Riverside—the site of a failed stand-off between the last of humanity and a limitless swarm of undead. Fight through the ruins of a small American town to the waterfront nearby, where a rescue party can take you upriver to safety.

Graffiti
Several safe houses throughout the campaign have writings of times of death and plans to move to other places such as Mercy Hospital and the airport.

In one safe house, someone has spray-painted the words "Exodus 9:15". This is a Biblical verse which reads "For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth." This Bible verse, taken in context, is a message to Moses from God, telling Moses that he must warn the Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The plague was sent down and everybody who didn't heed the warning was killed.

The Graffiti in the church is mostly birth and death dates. According to these writings, the game takes place in 2009, although it was made in 2008. The identities featured are understood to be those of individuals employed to work on the Left 4 Dead development project.

Behind the Scenes
Death Toll is the only campaign that was not featured in pre-release materials. The only graphic of any sort of the beta Death Toll is an early picture of the Boathouse Finale in the game's files.


 * In the beta version of Left 4 Dead, the five chapters of Death Toll were different:
 * 1) The Caves
 * 2) The Drainage
 * 3) The Ranchhouse
 * 4) The Main Street
 * 5) The Boathouse.