New Back 4 Blood trailer introduces the Cleaners and their special talents

The latest Back 4 Blood trailer introduces the eight playable characters, known as Cleaners, and their special abilities. 

Back 4 Blood is a four-player co-op game made by the studio behind Left 4 Dead that pits the Cleaners against the Ridden (AKA zombies). Where Left 4 Dead only had four playable heroes, Back 4 Blood has eight, and they all have different abilities and gameplay bonuses. That means that, unlike its inspiration, Back 4 Blood players will likely have favorite characters (or mains) based on their abilities. 

Here are the eight Cleaners, and what they have to offer:

  • Walker: Increases damage and team health, while precision kills will increase accuracy 
  • Doc: Increases healing efficiency and team trauma resistance, while adding a low health heal bonus 
  • Karlee: Adds a single inventory slot, increases team speed, and can sense hazards
  • Jim: Increases ADS speed and team weak spot damage, precision kills increase damage
  • Hoffman: Adds a single offensive item slot, increases team ammo capacity, spawns ammo with every kill
  • Evangelo: Increases stamina regeneration and team movement speed, can break out of grabs
  • Mom: Adds an extra support inventory slot, adds one extra team life, can instant revive
  • Holly: Increases damage resistance and team stamina, will recover stamina with kills

It seems like Back 4 Blood is taking the zombie-killing aspects of Left 4 Dead and adding a healthy dose of hero shooter, which will make facing off against its different enemy types even more interesting. The Ridden you'll be up against  include a the tank-like Breaker and the Snitcher, who acts as an enemy spotter. There's also the Ogre, who throws boulders, and the Hag who will eat you whole.
 

It seems like there's even more enemy types that have yet to be revealed, so expect Back 4 Blood to throw the zombie book at you. Back 4 Blood will release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, and PC on October 12. 

How Back 4 Blood is using a card system to be different from Left 4 Dead.  

Alyssa Mercante

Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesRadar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.

Read more
Three Specialists in Killing Floor 3 holding up their weapons
I had to break Killing Floor 3's first multiplayer beta in order to survive, but don't expect this strategy to work again
Elden Ring Nightreign character classe Guardian running alongside spectral bird in run intro cutscene
All Elden Ring Nightreign classes and abilities
Killing Floor 3 screenshots of a member of NIghtfall wearing a gas mask next to images of burning foes that surround the Big in 2025 logo
Killing Floor 3 is bringing us gloriously gory co-op FPS action in 2025, and Tripwire says it's "at its best when you are just barely surviving"
Dying Light: The Beast screenshot of protagonist Castor Wood fighting a zombie with a blade and torchlight next to the big in 2025 logo
Dying Light: The Beast is blending atmospheric horror with over the top co-op absurdity in 2025: "It's almost unachievable to keep the horror vibe and still have four players when one is teabagging a zombie"
The Eye in horror game Repo.
All monsters in REPO and how to beat them
FBC Firebreak hero image for Big in 2025
After Alan Wake 2 and Control, FBC: Firebreak represents a bold new frontier for Remedy: "It's time to expand the Remedy Connected Universe into shared spaces and brave something new"
Latest in Action
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Former Xbox boss says GTA: San Andreas and its infamously NSFW Hot Coffee minigame "signified a maturing of the industry" and put games "on par with movies and music"
Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
Death Stranding 2 pre-orders are estimated to go live this month, and will reportedly include a $230 collector's edition that I pray doesn't come with another creepy baby statue
Assassin's Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji expansion Naoe and Yasuke in Awaji forest
Assassin's Creed Shadows roadmap, DLC and future content
Grand Theft Auto 3
A GTA streamer is trying to beat every single 3D entry without dying, and in 33 hours he's made it as far as San Andreas but keeps getting caught in Vice City purgatory
The Last of Us 2
Naughty Dog has done it: it's remastered the PS5 controller with a Last of Us-themed DualSense announcement 24 hours after Neil Druckmann dashed our hopes for The Last of Us 3
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip