Hard Rain

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Hard Rain
Tagline	"Come Hell and High Water."
Creator	Valve Software
Chapters	The Milltown The Sugar Mill Mill Escape Return to Town Town Escape

"Get some gas for Virgil's boat, but be careful on your way back. Come hell and high water."

Hard Rain is the fifth (fourth if you do not have The Passing DLC) campaign in Left 4 Dead 2, taking place after Swamp Fever. It is set in the riverside town of Ducatel, Mississippi (referred to as Milltown in the chapter title) as a hurricane approaches. At the start of the campaign, Virgil drops off the Survivors with a mission to find and bring back diesel fuel for his boat. The mission is to travel to the Ducatel Diesel gas station through the abandoned town of Ducatel, the Witch infested ruins of the Ducatel Sugar Company mill and a cane field populated with Infected. Once they have the diesel, the hurricane hits and the area immediately floods obliging the Survivors to retrace their steps through knee-deep water, squalls of wind and rain and failing visibility. When they finally reach Ducatel they signal Virgil to return and pick them up by switching on a nearby Burger Tank roof sign: thereby triggering the campaign's finale.

This campaign features the Worker Infected who are denoted by yellow safety helmets and reflective vests. They can take more damage than Common Infected and are not attracted to Pipe bombs because they wear ear protection that prevents them from hearing this grenade's distinctive sound.

Achievements

See Main Article: Achievements

	WEATHERMAN	(20G)
	Survive the Hard Rain campaign.

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	SOB STORY	(30G)
	Navigate the sugar mill and reach the safe room without killing any Witches.

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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

Common Infected in the rain.

• Initially the Survivors had to travel some distance into the initial chapter to get weapons. During play testing it was found players were hesitant to do this, thus failing to get to up-graded weapons in time. This problem was overcome by putting weapons and supplies in the nearby Burger Tank.
• 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.
• At first, the survivors were going to use flares to signal Virgil (and start the finale) and he would sail back to pick them up. The idea of firing off a flare gun was later dropped in the final version and its sole legacy is a brief and occasional exchange between the survivors at the start of Hard Rain campaign when Nick is accused of leaving a "gun bag" containing the flare pistol behind on Virgil's boat.

Notes

A map of the campaign which spans from The Milltown to The Sugar Mill.

• This is the only campaign that explains how the Survivors are left without their weapons from the last campaign; Nick supposedly left their bag of guns and signal flares on the boat.
• This campaign contains a new weather game play mechanic. Lightning flashes signal that a downpour is coming, which will summon a horde.
• In this campaign's poster Rochelle holds a scoped M4A1, if you look more closely the stock is that of an M4A1 and the magazine is actually half covered by the A in the title of Hard Rain.
• "Hard rain" is a term used to describe rainfall heavy enough to cause flooding. It is also the name for both a 1998 action film and an album by Bob Dylan.
• The Dobro Riff heard in Hard Rain's theme is used in the Zombie Survival Guide Left 4 Dead 2 trailer.
• Hard Rain's music.
• The Hard Rain's music is also heard in the game's intro.

Death Toll poster hidden under Hard Rain poster.

• When a downpour comes, visibility is greatly reduced and it seems that, depending on the volume settings, chat with other players can get drowned out by the rain. The downpour also causes a flood, which can cover up something nasty, like a Witch.
• On the loading screen, Bill's arm from the Death Toll poster can be seen just left of this poster.
• Hard Rain seems to have the fewest Crescendo Events in the game, having only the elevator in the Sugar Mill, and the finale. However this is compensated for by the hurricane and its ability to call up a horde, as well as the huge number of Witches.
• Although the campaign features normal red Gas cans, players must still go out and get green diesel cans from the safe room at Ducatel Gas Station. Game play factors aside, this requirement is most likely due to Virgil's boat having a diesel engine.
• Hard Rain is the only campaign in either one of the two games to have altered models of the Survivors, namely the green gas cans strapped to their backs after they make it to the Gas Station.
  • Due to the gas cans, first aid kits are not visible on the Survivors and guns strapped to their backs go right through the can.
• The fact that a large portion of the campaign is set in a sugar mill may be a reference to the 1932 film 'White Zombie', which is largely regarded as the first feature length zombie movie and features zombies (zombies based on voodoo rather than undeath or infection) being forced to work in a sugar mill.
• The campaign's tagline "Come Hell and High Water" is a reference to the popular phrase "Come Hell or High Water". It is also a live performance CD and DVD by the hard rock group Deep Purple

Lagniappe, Virgil's boat and rescue vehicle

• When Nick asks how they are going to signal Virgil, Ellis will respond with "Oh, there's flares in the gun bag". There was originally a flare gun in the game but it was subsequently scrapped.
• At the bottom of the poster for this campaign it says "Based on the novel by: Edmund Ducatel". "Ducatel" just so happens to be the name of the Sugar Mill and the brand of diesel collected in this campaign. In fact, canon states that the town's name is Ducatel, Mississippi. This can also be seen on the poster for The Passing.
• At the beginning of the finale, the portable illuminated street sign may read "Caution! Zombies ahead". This is a reference to a real life sign that was reprogrammed by students in Austin, Texas and led to a small scale panic.
• Strangely enough, there is a bug inside the top floor of the built house right after you pass the playground. If you open the door to that room, the door to the porch will open as well, same as if you close the door.
• There is a programming glitch in game. When the "squall" comes, Survivors will start making comments. They will say to stick together, and nobody wander off. However, when it comes the Survivors (such as Coach), will say "Shit. Can't see two feet.", even though they are in a building that gives them regular sight.
• The last safe room should also give Survivor regular sight. But when the rain comes, the sight is still as if you were out in the heavy rain.
• If a Survivor dies with the gas can on their back, the gas can disappears, and reappears when they are rescued or defined.
• Hard Rain have the largest amount of Witches which is not spawned in by the help of Console Command.
• There are few ammo upgrade packs; make careful use of them.
• Compared to other campaigns, Hard Rain is possibly the most difficult campaign to play in Realism mode. With the lack of glows and the constant downpours, locating other survivors will be extremely difficult should the group be separated.