Hard Rain

Hard Rain is a new campaign for Left 4 Dead 2. Hard Rain takes place after Swamp Fever and is set in the riverside town of Ducatel, Mississippi. At the start of the campaign, Virgil drops off the Survivors, with a mission to find and bring back gas for his boat. When they get off the boat and it rides away, the Survivors realize they had forgotten to bring any weapons with them, causing them to start the campaign with only pistols. They find a gas station, but it turns out to be empty, forcing them to walk 2 miles to the next gas station "Ducatel Diesel". To get to the gas station, they must travel through old sugar mill of the Ducatel sugar company and the company sugarcane fields. However, this is easier said than done, because Witches are naturally attracted to the smell of sugar[citation needed]. Once they have gasoline, it starts pouring down rain, forcing them to travel back to the dock in knee deep water while carrying the gas canisters on their backs. When they finally reach the docks to signal Virgil, they realize they have forgotten the gun bag, which contained the flare guns necessary to signal the boat. They climb to the roof of a nearby Burger Tank and turn on the sign, using it as the signal instead.

This campaign's Uncommon Common are the Worker Infected, that can take more damage and are not attracted to pipe bombs.

Behind the Scenes

 * In early development of the campaign, the design was to have the survivors travel much further than Burger Tank, which is very close, to get weapons. It was discovered that players often faltered before retrieving weapons in time.
 * According to Chet Faliszek at EuroGamer expo London, early builds of the campaign had the players turn on the lights of houses and other areas on the way to the gas station so that they will be lit on the way back, but players found this to be a menial task, and so the idea was scrapped. The lights turn on automatically now.

Trivia

 * This campaign contains a new weather gameplay mechanic. Lightning flashes signal that a downpour is coming, which will summon a horde.
 * In this campaign's poster Rochelle holds a scoped machine gun, most likely a MP5 Navy. This weapon is also in most Left 4 Dead posters, but is only in the German version of Left 4 Dead 2.
 * The name could be a reference to the film Hard Rain, which involved a town dealing with a flood.
 * This is the first campaign in which the Survivor's loss of equipment during the introduction is explained, as you start off with nothing but pistols or melee weapons unlike any other campaign.
 * Hard Rain is the second (or third, depending on how The Plantation is viewed) campaign to take place at daylight. It appears that it is morning in at least one chapter - though it can easily be mistaken for night when it begins to rain.
 * This is the only campaign to reuse the same levels, as they must go from the dock to the gas station, and then back to the dock. The only difference is the levels that are replayed are flooded by the rain from the first chapter, which eventually grows into a hurricane.
 * In an interview with Chet Faliszek, it was revealed that when traversing back to the boat, you will have multiple options on different routes to take (like roofs) to avoid water.
 * There is a sugar mill which consists of many Wandering Witches. The achievement 'Sob Story' can be earned by crossing the Sugar Mill without killing any of them.
 * A Burger Tank restaurant, like the one in the 3rd level of No Mercy, will be seen in Hard Rain.
 * Hard Rain's music.
 * In recent videos, saferoom doors change every chapter, so if you entered a saferoom where an unbreakable door was, in the next chapter, it would be a barred saferoom door.
 * In an interview about Realism Mode with Chet Faliszek, he said during the sugar mill, you would encounter 4 Witches and a Tank.
 * When a downpour comes your vision distance is greatly reduced and it seems that depending on your volume setting chat with other players can get drowned out.
 * Keep in mind that you are going to be coming back through the first two levels. Try to leave spare medkits, pills, and thrown items for the trip back.