New Left 4 Dead 2 modes revealed

Scavenge mode challenges players to compete in round-based games of up to 8 players (Survivors vs. Infected). The Survivors must battle both the Infected and the clock as they collect gas cans to refuel a generator located in each map. Every can the Survivors pour into the generator scores their team a point and adds time to the clock.

On defense, the Infected team plays as the boss Infected (including the new Spitter, Jockey, and Charger). They must keep the Survivors from fueling the generator by attacking them, destroying the gas cans, or running out the clock. During a round, each team gets an opportunity to play both sides, with the round going to whichever team successfully delivers the most cans.

But, as we wrap up our playtime, David Ellis notices a mysterious option in the menu as we wait for a new match to start: "Realism mode." I ask Faliszek, and he coyly comments, "that's a special modifier that we forgot to hide for this demo." We then ask Valve VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi, and he quips that it's something for the super hardcore player, and slightly elaborates, "Take Portal for example: We had our best internal players who could blow through that game in about 30 minutes, but within weeks of launching it we had people on YouTube beating [the testers'] times by 10 minutes or more. Realism is for those players."