Back 4 Blood was released in 2021 and quickly disappeared into the abyss, but Turtle Rock may be working on a sequel…

Turtle Rock Studios emerged as one of the most promising American development teams in the medium in the 2000s. With their work on Counter-Strike and their jump into Left 4 Dead, which they co-developed with Valve, it seemed like they had a sure future. However, that path has been cut short over the past decade. Now, after the failure of Back 4 Blood, Turtle Rock is aiming to make amends, and there are several rumours that they are working on a sequel to the latter game.

Turtle Rock’s Achilles heel, indeed, was Evolve back in 2015, a project that started with results far below expectations and led to a re-release called Evolve Stage 2. But the shutdown of the servers sealed its fate. As a result, the release of Back 4 Blood, which seemed to mimic the studio’s early work under the Valve label, became one of the most anticipated games of the year.

Although it produced good numbers and received several GOTY nominations, such as in the “Best Multiplayer Game of 2021” category, the title did not live up to expectations and was a huge flop.

Could “Gobi 2” be a sequel to the Turtle Rock game?

Now, with the support of Tencent, Turtle Rock seems to be looking to revive the IP. It may already be working on Back 4 Blood 2, which we can know by the working name “Gobi 2”. The most telling hint comes from the resume of actor and stuntman Jesse Hutch, who participated in the motion capture work on the first Back 4 Blood. His work experience mentions a project called “Gobi 2” that is associated with the studio. This connection has generated speculation, as SteamDB entries show that “Gobi” was the codename for the first game, suggesting that “Gobi 2” would logically be its sequel.

The domain back4blood2.com was registered back in May and is still active today. Furthermore, the name “Gobi” holds special meaning for the studio, as it was the name of their mascot, who passed away in 2018. While initial speculation suggested that it was a possible sequel to the studio’s other title, Evolve, this theory is unlikely, given the game’s limited commercial and critical success.

While Turtle Rock Studios has not made an official announcement, the clues support the theory that the team is working on expanding on the cooperative formula popularized with Left 4 Dead. For now, fans of the studio and their games will have to wait for official confirmation.

Source: istunt.com