The developers admit that they were inspired by Left 4 Dead. What’s promising is that they plan to expand the game after launch in a way that benefits players.

In 4:Loop, you and three friends must save the world from a devastating alien invasion that turns 99.99% of humanity into glass. Suddenly, a massive mothership appears above Earth and strikes the planet with a powerful energy beam, leaving humanity frozen in time. You’re one of the “lucky ones” who escaped being turned to glass, and you must now find a way to stop the invasion and save the world. Of course, there are many mysteries to unravel, including why you were spared.

At the heart of 4:Loop is the Probability Map, which uses a combination of alien technology and human ingenuity to predict the immediate future and plot the best path forward for defeating the invaders. Each node of the Probability Map represents a distinct mission type with its own risks, rewards, and surprises.

Players vote on which node to start from, bearing in mind that each node links to specific routes. You must look ahead and decide on the strategy that your team thinks is best. As you progress, the game will throw increasingly bigger curveballs, raising the stakes. Seasoned players discover creative ways to use the Probability Map to their advantage, setting their team up for more epic runs. Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Once you’ve chosen a node on the Probability Map, your team teleports into the mission. You may have to hack alien technology, collect critical mission resources, or rescue survivors who can provide your team with powerful upgrades, all while evading alien forces that are constantly sending drop pods of Killbot squads to stop you.

As long as at least one person from your team survives and reaches the Escape Zone, the run continues. Anyone who dies during the mission is “reprinted from backup” at your Homebase. However, being reprinted after dying means incurring a broken bone that can only be healed by a medic at a Rest Stop. If everyone fails to survive a mission, the entire run ends. Each section of the Probability Map culminates in a boss battle. There are currently three very different bosses in 4:Loop. Check which boss you’re up against and choose your loot carefully. Each boss is designed to promote team cooperation in a unique way, testing your team’s mettle. After surviving a mission and defeating a boss, you return to the Homebase, where the Probability Map operates. There, your team can readjust strategy, evolve your loadout, and select rewards from a growing selection of powerful gear and upgrades.

You may also encounter The Shop during your run. This is another key place to acquire valuable items and gear. Each visit gives you a new chance to spend the cache you’ve collected, find missing equipment, or change your play style. There are many different weapons, items, and abilities in 4:Loop that players can combine in creative ways to improve combat, intel gathering, movement, stealth, hacking, and healing abilities. It all comes down to the choices you make during each run. Should you pick a jetpack or an SMG? There are so many items to choose from, and the combinations are infinite. Once you’ve made your gear and Probability Map selections, it’s time to head back out and take on the invasion.

The world of 4:Loop has been carefully crafted and is filled with surprises and exciting ways to play. The talented level designers and artists at Bad Robot Games create the environments, but the starting location, mission objectives, enemies, and the appearance of loot are always unique. The time of day and weather are randomly generated as well, which changes how the missions unfold. The various enemies, creatures, plants, weapons, items, and mission objectives are designed to interact with each other in dynamic ways, creating emergent gameplay and endlessly replayable chaos. This means that your decisions matter, and creativity and improvisation are key. No two runs are ever the same.

The third-person shooter 4:Loop has been announced for PlayStation 5 and PC, but a release date has not yet been announced.

Source: Gematsu