A new option that was shown at the recent Left 4 Dead 2 press event in San Francisco may kick the difficulty factor up a notch for Left 4 Dead 2. 1UP noticed an option simply called "Realism Mode" during their hands on time with the game.
To us, the term "realism mode" screams that it will be a single life affair for a campaign. Once you're gone, that's it, there's no respawning. However, this is just idle speculation on our part. Once Valve is ready to reveal the full details on "Realism Mode" we'll be sure to pass along the news.
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."
To us, the term "realism mode" screams that it will be a single life affair for a campaign. Once you're gone, that's it, there's no respawning. However, this is just idle speculation on our part. Once Valve is ready to reveal the full details on "Realism Mode" we'll be sure to pass along the news.