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 similar in concept to The Bridge from The Parish. For this reason a fast-firing and hard hitting Tier 2 weapon like an auto shotgun or AK 47 backed up with a melee weapon or Dual Pistols is strongly recommended. Laser sights are highly useful here.

The players use a radio in the safe room to call for help. After this, they must fight their way to waiting News Chopper rescue helicopter hovering over a forest recreation facility once occupied by CEDA. 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 contains Explosive Barrels against the downstairs 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. (Note that it is unnecessary to enter this building to complete the chapter and it can be safely by-passed.)

Exiting the storage building, teams follow an arrow sign nailed up on a tree. All this while, a steady stream of enemies will be flowing towards the team. At this point a good melee weapon (e.g. Katana, Axe, Cricket Bat) is very useful in the hands of the team member taking point to clear the path for the team following on closely behind.

Pushing forward, the team reaches the lip of a steep-sided canyon (note that a Chain Saw may spawn close to this location) 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 with additional supplies and Tier 2 weapons in the water nearby. Immediately after jumping off into the creek, however, the finale kicks up a notch as a Tank spawns almost directly in front of the survivors. Players must fight this Tank in the midst of various other Infected also trying to attack them. Once the tank has been dispatched, players can take a side trip up the canyon wall on the right to access top-up supplies before returning to the stream bed and moving onwards towards a cliff with a river tunnel at its base. After hopping over a fallen tree trunk, teams move down the tunnel in the face of yet another horde. At the end of this tunnel is a staircase which players climb to emerge in an forestry service and recreation area that was previously taken over by CEDA.

This is relatively complex area and takes the form of a CEDA processing facility that must be traversed in a way that is reminiscent of the Gauntlet Maze encountered at a self-same facility in Left 4 Dead 2, The Park. Various buildings are scattered across this area, some of which contain supplies. The area is densely populated with Infected.

Hovering above a central concrete tower is the News Chopper rescue helicopter. That is the good news. But the bad news is that Common Infected spawning rates intensify and at least one Tank arrives on the scene. To survive the finale, players must charge hard to the chopper. By throwing a Bile Jar or Pipe Bomb, valuable time will be gained as the team scrambles across to the tower where salvation awaits. Thereafter, players must dash up a staircase, before finally reaching the top of the tower and access to the helicopter's ladder. Once everyone is aboard, a closing cut scene rolls depicting the chopper flying away, ending one of the most challenging finales in the game.

Pre-update
Many aspects of the map were altered or removed for the July 6th update of Cold Stream.


 * When answering the radio at the start of the map, a cut sceen originally rolled, showing a military helicopter responding to their call but crashing en route.


 * In the original finale, teams simply ran through a forest to a second rescue chopper (the first one was shown crashing). Although the remains of the aforementioned crashed helicopter can still be seen, the finale has been substantially revised to feature an entirely different, more creative and challenging gameplay experience.


 * The original finale prevented the player from getting into the helicopter without crouching (though even in this situation the player could escape and the finale would end if all other players were incapacitated or dead).


 * More items, such as Boomer Bile and Pipe Bombs, spawned in the original map.
 * The number of Special Infected (e.g. Chargers, Spitters and Jockeys) has been substantially reduced.