In Return To Townthe Survivors must make their way back to the boat through a storm flooded Ducatel in the midst of a hurricane of driving wind and rain.
The Survivors have two main choices as to the route they follow. Firstly, they can take to the rooftops of houses on the right hand side of the street. This has the twin benefits of being faster than wading through the flood water at street level and conferring a natural high-ground combat advantage over the many Common Infected loitering at ground level. Survivors taking this option must however be on guard against Special Infected (especially Smokers) who are lurking in ambush. Secondly, players can be more conservative and stay at ground level (perhaps going up onto roofs on an opportunistic basis). Wading through the flood water and dealing with Infected at the same time is a slow business. Fortunately the water also slows down the Infected and gives players time to form up to receive their attacks.
On account of the medium and long ranges present in this Chapter preferred primary weapons will tend towards any of the various classes of rifle. However individual players must feel free to experiment with different options and settle on those that work best given their team mates and game play experience.
When the hurricane hits with full force (as it does from time to time), microphone chat can be severely affected due to the way the audio channels layer; this is likely an intended effect by Valve in order to maintain an aura of realism. While the microphone can still be used, a player must not assume that team members can hear messages clearly or at all sometimes. This effect is lessened when a co-op team is indoors.
The chapter begins in the safe house occupied earlier on the outward trip to the gas station. On looking outside the door it is immediately evident that the hurricane has flooded the community.
Immediately after leaving the safe room Nick tips the player off by saying "get to higher ground!": thus indicating that taking to the roofs to avoid the flood water (as outlined above) is Valve's preferred option. This is indeed true in game play because traveling by roof will take at least three minutes of elapsed time out of the reckoning relative to wading through the flooded streets.
The route across the various house roofs is relatively intuitive and survivors must not be reluctant to jump short distances from one ledge to the other. For example, part-way along is a dumpster filled with dirt that makes for a convenient way to get from one roof to the next by jumping.
Once the survivors reach the end of the street a house with a lit porch light will loom out of the gloom on the left side of the road. This is an obvious "through here" marker and will lead players to a leading navigation point: the garage sale. Bearing in mind the ground combat to come, it is essential to restock on supplies here.
After getting supplies, the survivors continue down the street at ground level. Soon enough the playground (the second major navigation point in the Chapter) will come into view and Nick will underline this fact with dialog. Once through the playground and after bearing right in the parallel street, the welcoming light of a safe house will make its welcome appearance. The Survivors must not relax at this point since this is a favorite area to spawn a Special Infected such as a Charger or even a Witch.
General Advice:
Watch out for Hordes. They are a nightmare in the deep water and poor visibility.
Jockeys are small enough to become partially invisible underwater.
Remember to stock up on ammo and health kits at every opportunity.
Holding a Pipe Bomb or Boomer Bile jar in reserve is a good idea for the start of the next Chapter.
If a Tank spawns, do not panic and run. Side step into line formation and cone him with concentrated gun fire (which is another reason why rifle class primary weapons are worthy of selection in this Chapter). Be aware that Molotovs and water do not mix well; meaning the flames on a burning Tank will be extinguished if he stands in water for more than a second.
Strategy
Campaign
All of the supplies needed are in the safe room. Whatever items you took on your first trip through will not be there now. There are always two health packs in the medicine cabinet, even if taken the last time around. A good idea is to grab a Sniper Rifle, and snipe off most of the Infected that have spawned outside the room, making your first leg relatively easy. You exit the safe room and down a small set of stairs. You can travel through two different routes here, take the rooftops, or stay alone the street. Both routes have advantages and disadvantages, but take whatever works for you. There are sometimes items inside the house, so feel free to check. Continue through the house with the porch light (or go around it). Go through the tag sale and past the tree house. There is a house elevated above the water near a pile of dirt and a Dumpster, there are sometimes pipe bombs on top of the kitchen counter. Check inside the ambulance for a First Aid Kit, Pain Pills, Adrenaline, or a Defibrillator. Continue past the ambulance, taking a left, and retracing your steps until you reach the playground. You're almost safe! Past the playground is the saferoom, with a porch light indicating where the room is. Get in, shut the door, and you made it.
Now that humans are controlling the Special Infected, things can only get harder. However, they can't spawn until you leave the safe room. That doesn't mean that you should let them have a good chance to find just the right spot, though! Hurry up and get your supplies, and get running!
Throughout the level, remember that you are playing against human players. They will not wait for you to come to them, and if they do, it's because they have an ambush location that could be deadly to you and your team. With this in mind, you need to keep moving. However, moving blindly could be your downfall - move quickly, but with caution. Also, under all circumstances: stick close to your team.
This level is relatively short, but you should still stick together. Smokers, Chargers, and Jockeys can easily separate you and your teammates. As with all levels, when you know you're near the safe room, make sure you are with your teammates before you make a dash for it. If you make a break for it alone, it is not unlikely that a Hunter or a Smoker will be waiting for your arrival and possibly kill you before the others can reach you. No one can survive the infection alone. Teamwork is essential.
The Infected
Boomers: Use your surrounding area for camouflage. When the rain falls, it is nearly impossible for the Survivors to see 10 feet in front of them. Hide in houses, behind cars, and on top of buildings for your opponents to walk by, then give them a good vomit. Once you vomit, try to hide and get ready to spew anew. Or, go suicidal and explode all over them. If you can manage to cover at least three Survivors with vomit, try teaming up with another teammate and let them attack the only Survivor with vision. If there is a Witch, hide in front of her. If one foolish Survivor pops you, they also startle the Witch behind you!
Smokers: The roofs are your best friend. If all the Survivors are on the roofs, try to pull one off. This will force a teammate to either jump down or try shooting you from the roof. This will slow that one Survivor down, making them a perfect pray for one of your teammates to attack! If most of the Survivors are on the ground, try ensnaring them from atop the roofs. The rain will make it difficult to see, causing a perfect attack. And don't forget, teamwork.
Hunters: Again, roofs are your best friends! Throughout the level, there are many tall houses, use them to pounce from. The greater the distance you pounce, the more damage dealt (25 damage the most). Try to attack the lone Survivors, for it will take a while for the Survivors to get to them due to the flood. If a teammate has a Survivor in their clutches, wait for their teammate to come help, then pounce!
Jockeys: Drag Survivors away from their teammates! Make them waste as much time as possible for your teammates to attack/spawn. Dragging them around houses and inside them can waste a lot of time. Remember, always try to ride them backwards, never forwards. This will get the enemy team more points, and make them rush ahead to try to save their teammate.
Chargers: The best thing to do is to try to separate them from the team. When inside the hallways of the houses, a perfect charge could ram all of the opponents at one time! Charging them off roofs could also cause some fall damage if high enough. And of course, team work is always the best thing to use.
Spitters: When their are Survivors in the houses, a nice spit in a closed area can cause a lot of damage. If a foolish Survivor crawls inside the ambulance, a spit inside could render them useless because they are crouched and will move slowly through the spit. Spitting in front of the Survivors is also a good idea. If they cannot go around it, they will have to wait for the spit to disappear, unless they are stupid enough to run through it. As always, when there are incapacitated Survivors, spit on them!
Tanks: If you happen to be the tank, rush in and attack! If the Survivors are on the street, hitting one of them with a car will instantly incapacitate them. Don't be afraid of molotovs, the flood and rain will make little use of them, as it will also put out the flames on you. Remember to keep an eye on the pressure meter, stay with the Survivors and keep them nervous, and get a couple of good punches in there too.
Notes
If you get incapacitated inside of the speed boat halfway through the level, and the AI come to save you, they won't be able to exit the rims of the speed boat. This is probably because the developers didn't code the rims of the speed boat to tell the AI to jump over them, but sometimes the bots will teleport to your location if you get far enough away.
In the starting safe room some of the floor is flooded by water, as the flood has gotten worse since the Survivors have gone back to the boat after they get the fuel.
When you reach the town you can see that the flood water has reached through most of the woodwork of the houses and most of the houses are
The limited vision due to the storm
flooded except for the ones that are built higher above the ground.
In the Xbox 360 version, the game audio will come out of the TV, and if you are using headphones then all you would hear are your fellow Survivors and you can communicate with ease.
All of the item spawns in this level are transitioned from The Milltown. This means that weapon spawns will be carried over, along with any throwables, medical kits, defibrillators, ammo packs, pills, or adrenaline shots that were not picked up. Anything that was picked up will not respawn. Dropped items are not carried over. Try to remember where the more valuable item spawns are, especially if you were lucky enough to find laser sights. (However, in versus you can pick up everything and there will still be new items)
Regardless of difficulty, the Director will always make sure there are at least two med kits in the safe rooms.
The safe room at the end of this map is the only one in the entire game that is always closed when you approach it. This is due to the house acting as the safe room having its doors and windows boarded up and safe room doors are revealed after the storm blows the plywood off.
The safe room doors in this level swap places. This may be because every safe room on every level has the barred door as the exit to the next level, and the solid door as the entrance to the room.
There is a space between the table and boxes in the starting saferoom whereby if the player jumps in between that space holding crouch and then releasing at the right time, they will hear their character's scream and sustain fall damage or even die instantly.
