

Trust us that you're going to notice its absence when you are killed by an especially powerful boss, or during a key set piece fire fight with a massive horde of Ridden.

The weapon upgrade mechanic in Back 4 Blood is one of its best features, but your AI teammates don't actually upgrade their gear alongside you, which should be a straightforward feature without much trouble. But there's no substitute for a human at your side. In fairness to Turtle Rock, video game AI is maddeningly hard to get right, and Back 4 Blood's AI teammates are more than competent. While you can play that campaign solo with bots stepping in as your teammates, this has its limitations, which you soon bump up against as you pass through the middle acts. The amount of care Turtle Rock Studios put into the online co-op campaign suffuses all four acts and every level within them, but it also highlights that this is a game meant to be played online with other people. Highly polished, aside from that bit of tarnish at the edges
