Dark Carnival

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Dark Carnival
Tagline	"You must be this tall...TO DIE!"
Creator	Valve Software
Chapters	The Highway The Fairgrounds The Coaster The Barns The Concert

"Reach the concert and set up the rock show for a helicopter rescue."

Dark Carnival is the third (originally second) campaign of Left 4 Dead 2 that takes place at Whispering Oaks carnival in Griffin County, Georgia. It starts off on a highway with the Survivors heading towards search lights in the distance, passing through the Whispering Oaks Motelcomplex, and eventually reaching the Whispering Oaks Amusement Park. It was the third Left 4 Dead 2 campaign to be announced by Valve.

Achievements

See Main Article: Achievements

	MIDNIGHT RIDER	(20G)
	Survive the Dark Carnival campaign.

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	CL0WND	(15G)
	Honk the noses of 10 Clowns.

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	FRIED PIPER	(15G)
	Using a Molotov, burn a Clown leading at least 10 Common Infected.

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	STACHE WHACKER	(15G)
	Prove you are faster than Moustachio.

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	GUARDIN' GNOME	(30G)
	Rescue Gnome Chompski from the Carnival.

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	CRASS MENAGERIE	(20G)
	Kill one of each Uncommon Infected.

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	THE REAL DEAL	(35G)
	Survive a campaign on Expert skill with Realism mode enabled.

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	STILL SOMETHING TO PROVE	(35G)
	Survive all campaigns on Expert.

Behind the Scenes

Originally, The Coaster was planned as a monorail and the Survivors supposed to climb roofs and jump to monorail from there. A barricade was planned at some point, but scrapped entirely.

In the sound files, the Survivors (mostly Nick) are arguing with a driver who has the Midnight Riders tour bus to pick them up. The Concert was the same except the driver smashes a door and pick them up.

Notes

Gnome Chompski

• Though ostensibly set in Griffin County , if you look carefully at the license plates (on trailers, etc), they are all DeKalb County plates. (DeKalb County is bordered by Fulton County, Gwinnett County and Rockdale County, east of Atlanta, Georgia)
• Dark Carnival's poster is the first poster to feature an Infected, as well as the first to be in landscape position, as opposed to every other campaign poster.
• The infamous Gnome from Half-Life 2: Episode Two makes an appearance in the poster, just between Ellis' legs. He has been given the name Gnome Chompski and serves the same purpose as in Half-Life 2: Episode 2: an achievement that unlocks an avatar reward. It requires the gnome to be won from one of the mini games in the carnival and carried by the Survivors to the rescue vehicle. Carrying the gnome can make this campaign a lot more difficult, so it is advised to try the run on easy. Every person gets the achievement, regardless of who carried the gnome to the rescue vehicle.
• Gnome Chompski is also a nod to famous American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and political activist, Noam Chomsky.

The Gnome on the Poster

• The tagline in this campaign obviously refers to the height check carnival operators perform on people to make sure they can ride on certain attractions (especially roller coasters) safely. This tagline may have been influenced by suggestions made on the official forums.
• In the dialog at the beginning of the campaign, it reveals that it was Ellis' idea to go on the highway, and Coach used to go to Whispering Oaks as a kid. It is later revealed that Ellis and Coach really liked the place when they were young, because as you go through areas, they will talk about the carnival.
• When you confront a Clown Infected in the Fairground, Ellis reveals he hates clowns. Additionally, in The Concert Finale he may say after killing Clown Infected that he has never been so scared of clowns.
  • Also, when going through the air ducts in the Tunnel of love on the third chapter, when a player is playing as Ellis, he might say "One thing video games have taught me, good shit is always in vents", which is clear reference to another Valve's game, Half-Life.
• This was the campaign used when Valve revealed Scavenge Mode.

  

  Blood Harvest poster hidden beneath Dark Carnival poster.

• Dark Carnival's music.
• While loading the campaign, you can see the edge of a corner of the poster for Blood Harvest on the right that has been covered up by the Dark Carnival poster. On the left is a band poster for the Midnight Riders.
• The helicopter pilot that picks you up has the same model as the helicopter pilot in the original Left 4 Dead, and ends in a similar fate.
• In all the chapters, the music that plays during horde attacks is a Musical saw tune.
• All of the Crescendo Events in the campaign are Gauntlets, except the finale.
  • This campaign has the most Gauntlet Crescendos in game, as of The Barns' Crescendo counting as a Gauntlet, because it never stops until the Survivors reach the safe room.
• Dark Carnival, alongside Swamp Fever and The Passing, have unique Common Infected; these are staff workers with Whispering Oaks Staff shirt on them. They have no special characteristics, acting just like any Common Infected in the Left 4 Dead series.
• Looking at each chapters' length, this is the longest campaign in Left 4 Dead 2.
• Dark Carnival and The Passing are the only Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns that take place entirely during the night.
• Dark Carnival and The Passing are the only campaigns in which the Magnum can spawn in every chapter.
• This campaign's name is a reference to both where it takes place, and from "dark" often replacing ominous, which a carnival full of Infected is.
• This is the only campaign where the rescue vehicle can appear in different spots; the rescue helicopter can appear in either the right or left side of the stands.

  

  Fireworks going off at the finale.

• On the campaign poster, one can see "Original music by the Midnight Riders."
• At the beginning of The Fairgrounds and The Coaster, a player can stand in front of the right side of the safe room door causing the Special Infected to spawn. In Versus, doing this will give human Infected to chance to spawn. However, the game counts this as leaving the Safe Room and since the time limit for staying in the safe room expires (when the door opens and Special Infected are able to spawn) when you are supposed to leave the Safe Room, the Survivors are able to 'camp' in the Safe Room for as long as they like. This gives Infected players a chance to plan an attack.
• In the Dark Carnival menu background, an infected with glowing yellow/orange eyes can be seen holding onto the side of the small entrance booth and poking its head out.
• On Easy, Dark Carnival is the only campaign in which a Tank spawns normally in every chapter.
• In the concert, when Coach or Ellis walks up to the microphone on the stage after the lights are turned on and before the music is activated, they will sing parts from "One Bad Man" or "Midnight Ride", which are both songs by the Midnight Riders band, which Coach and Ellis admire.