Update: Valve has confirmed that the cinematic is not associated with Left 4 Dead or any ongoing project at the company.
As far as unexpected leaks go, a complete cinematic video appearing to be for an unannounced Left 4 Dead 3 project ranks up there. Yet nonetheless, that’s exactly what’s happened. A two-minute long video was uploaded to a new YouTube account named Clusterflu961. The video is, for all intents and purposes, a cinematic teaser trailer for Left 4 Dead 3. While most likely a fake trailer created by a fan, the quality of the video is undeniable.
The trailer follows a meandering camera as it moves around an abandoned gas station. At the back of the shop is a “safe room” with a map on the wall and notes about the local area spread around. The shop itself is torn apart and covered in gore. There’s even a zombie’s head sitting on a sheld, decapitated by an axe that remains embedded at its neck. Outside the station, a vehicle’s headlights turn on and reveal the desiccated hand of a corpse with its fingers outstretched. As the trailer ends, the hand moves, leaving just three fingers raised.
Visually, the trailer stands apart from what many would expect from a fake video game trailer. While the only actual in-trailer movement is that of the zombie hand at the end, the lighting alone would take an editor with impressive talents. That said, tonally the trailer seems a departure from what the Left 4 Dead franchise is known for. The trailer highlights the zombie head and hand in uncomfortable detail, where Left 4 Dead’s gore tends to be acknowledged but left in the background.
The general conversation regarding the trailer assumes it to be fake. For one, a real leaked Left 4 Dead 3 trailer would be pulled off of YouTube by publisher Valve in a matter of seconds. But otherwise, the tone of the trailer, the lack of dynamic action, or anything actually related to Left 4 Dead beyond the hand at the end, makes the chance of this video being an official leak very unlikely.
No one would ever deny that Valve has one of the most dedicated fanbases in the video game industry. Despite Half-Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead not receiving new sequels in many years, fans still hope for them. Some fans go a step further.
While this “leaked” video is more than likely a project from a talented fan of Left 4 Dead, it still deserves to be recognized for the impressive piece that it is. And who knows, maybe Valve will pay attention and rethink whether to make the next Left 4 Dead 3.
Left 4 Dead 3 is an unannounced game that Valve has yet to confirm the development of.
