So, I've tried this game in 2024 after all the fixes and drama died down.

Honestly? The game gets a bad rep, even today people tell you to "just play Left 4 Dead 2" when I was researching if it was worth it.
If you judge the game by today's version, I'd say it hits all the right notes.
Let's talk about the card system for example which I enjoy immensely.

There's two parts for this, one for your campaign and one for your character.
The campaign one is like a Director playing and randomizing cards against you, the more you advance, the more cards and different modifiers you get for a specific level.
This level has exploding ridden (zombies), nastier Stalkers and what's this? Smaller health pool and a regenerating health for everyone? Interesting. How about the whole map being covered in razorlike worms? It changes the gameplay and makes it very replayable, forcing you to stay on your toes. I enjoy the randomness of it, especially on higher difficulties.

Then how about the cards for your cleaners? (survivors)
You can make custom decks to personalize your experience. Want to be the group's healer? Maybe find more grenades? Maybe disable ADS, stack some run speed and play with hipfire? A combination of all of these?
You can, and I enjoy it immensely, there's even cards that apply to the whole group. The customization you do pre-campaign and during the campaign by buying upgrades, new cards to add to your deck and attachments to your favourite weapons, it's what I always wanted from a team survival shooter.

Look, I'm not a purist, I'll be forever grateful to Valve for releasing L4D2 but I needed something with fresh ideas, roguelite elements and a more involved gameplay. I'm enjoying this game a lot more than I thought I would and I keep finding new ideas the devs keep throwing at me and say "Wow that's really cool! That's original! Why didn't this game have more success??".
I would argue L4D2 is an almost perfect design in balance and casual gameplay, but if you're willing to overlook the negativity and try something new, there's a pretty cool and original game here that you might enjoy.
Shame that we will probably never see B4B2.

So, I've tried this game in 2024 after all the fixes and drama died down. Honestly? The game gets a bad rep, even today people tell you to "just play Left 4 Dead 2" when I was researching if it was worth it. If you judge the game by today's version, I'd say it hits all the right notes. Let's talk about the card system for example which I enjoy immensely. There's two parts for this, one for your campaign and one for your character. The campaign one is like a Director playing and randomizing cards against you, the more you advance, the more cards and different modifiers you get for a specific level. This level has exploding ridden (zombies), nastier Stalkers and what's this? Smaller health pool and a regenerating health for everyone? Interesting. How about the whole map being covered in razorlike worms? It changes the gameplay and makes it very replayable, forcing you to stay on your toes. I enjoy the randomness of it, especially on higher difficulties. Then how about the cards for your cleaners? (survivors) You can make custom decks to personalize your experience. Want to be the group's healer? Maybe find more grenades? Maybe disable ADS, stack some run speed and play with hipfire? A combination of all of these? You can, and I enjoy it immensely, there's even cards that apply to the whole group. The customization you do pre-campaign and during the campaign by buying upgrades, new cards to add to your deck and attachments to your favourite weapons, it's what I always wanted from a team survival shooter. Look, I'm not a purist, I'll be forever grateful to Valve for releasing L4D2 but I needed something with fresh ideas, roguelite elements and a more involved gameplay. I'm enjoying this game a lot more than I thought I would and I keep finding new ideas the devs keep throwing at me and say "Wow that's really cool! That's original! Why didn't this game have more success??". I would argue L4D2 is an almost perfect design in balance and casual gameplay, but if you're willing to overlook the negativity and try something new, there's a pretty cool and original game here that you might enjoy. Shame that we will probably never see B4B2.