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HardRain
Hard Rain
Tagline "Come Hell and High Water."
Creator Valve Software
Chapters
  1. The Milltown
  2. The Sugar Mill
  3. Mill Escape
  4. Return to Town
  5. Town Escape


"Get some gas for Virgil's boat, but be careful on your way back. Come hell and high water."


Hard Rain is the fifth (fourth if you do not have The Passing DLC) campaign in Left 4 Dead 2, taking place after Swamp Fever. It is set in the riverside town of Ducatel, Mississippi (referred to as Milltown in the chapter title) as a hurricane approaches. At the start of the campaign, Virgil drops off the Survivors with a mission to find and bring back diesel fuel for his boat. The mission is to travel to the Ducatel Diesel gas station through the abandoned town of Ducatel, the Witch-infested ruins of the Ducatel Sugar mill and a cane field populated with Infected. Once they have the diesel, a hurricane arrives and the area immediately floods, obliging the Survivors to retrace their steps through knee-deep water that impedes their progress and squalls of wind and rain that reduce visibility and make hearing difficult. When they finally reach Ducatel, they signal Virgil to return and pick them up by switching on a nearby Burger Tank roof sign, thereby triggering the campaign's finale.

This campaign is unique in a few ways: it features the aforementioned weather mechanics, which make visibility and hearing difficult. It also features the survivors backtracking through previous maps once they collect the diesel, with the weather changing the terrain and making the return trip take different paths; this means, unlike other campaigns, all items spawned will be where they were even during the return trip, allowing the survivors to conserve items and pick them up when returning.

This campaign features the Worker Infected who are denoted by yellow safety helmets and reflective vests. They can take more damage than Common Infected and are not attracted to Pipe bombs because they wear ear protection that prevents them from hearing this grenade's distinctive sound.

Below is a complete list of video walkthroughs of the 5 levels:

  1. Part 1 (The Milltown & The Sugar Mill)
  2. Part 2 (Mill Escape & Return to Town & Town Escape)

Please know that the gameplay videos are on each campaign's info page.

Achievements[]

Main article: Achievements

Weatherman
WEATHERMAN (20G)
Survive the Hard Rain campaign.

Confedaracy of crunches
CONFEDERACY OF CRUNCHES (30G)
Finish a campaign using only melee weapons.

Sob story
SOB STORY (30G)
Navigate the sugar mill and reach the safe room without killing any Witches.

Crass menagerie
CRASS MENAGERIE (20G)
Kill one of each Uncommon Infected.

The real deal
THE REAL DEAL (35G)
Survive a campaign on Expert skill with Realism mode enabled.

Still something to prove
STILL SOMETHING TO PROVE (35G)
Survive all campaigns on Expert.


Behind the Scenes[]

Screenshot01

Common Infected in the rain.

  • Initially, the Survivors had to travel some distance into the initial chapter to get weapons. During play testing, it was found that players were hesitant to do this, thus failing to get to upgraded weapons in time. This problem was overcome by putting weapons and supplies in the nearby Burger Tank.
  • According to Chet Faliszek at EuroGamer Expo London, early builds of the campaign had the players turn on the lights of houses and other areas on the way to the gas station so that they would be lit on the way back, but players found this to be a menial task, and so the idea was scrapped. The lights turn on automatically now.
  • At first, the Survivors were going to use flares to signal Virgil (and start the finale) and he would sail back to pick them up. The idea of firing off a flare gun was later dropped in the final version and its sole legacy is a brief and occasional exchange between the Survivors at the start of Hard Rain campaign when Nick is accused of leaving a "gun bag" containing the flare pistol behind on Virgil's boat.

Notes[]

Hard Rain Map Complete

A map of the campaign which spans from The Milltown to The Sugar Mill.

  • This campaign contains a new weather gameplay mechanic. Lightning flashes signal that a downpour is coming, which will summon a horde.[1]
  • Compared to other campaigns, Hard Rain is possibly the most difficult campaign to play in Realism mode if the players do not have good communication. With the lack of glows and the constant downpours, locating other Survivors will be extremely difficult if the group is separated.
    • When the hurricane arrives, visibility is greatly reduced and it seems that, depending on the volume settings, chat with other players can get drowned out by particularly heavy squalls.
  • In this campaign's poster, Rochelle holds a scoped M4A1, despite no such weapon appearing in-game.
    • Everyone also seems to carry their weapon of choice minus Ellis, who is holding an AK-47 instead. Nick and Rochelle carry an Assault Rifle and Coach a Combat Shotgun.
  • "Hard rain" is a term used to describe rainfall heavy enough to cause flooding. It is also the name for both a 1998 action film and an album by Bob Dylan.
  • The bottleneck Dobro guitar samples in Hard Rain's menu theme and other soundtracks related to this campaign are bottleneck slide arrangements produced by Reggie Miles.
    • The Dobro guitar heard in Hard Rain's theme is also used as the background music in the Zombie Survival Guide Left 4 Dead 2 trailer. Hard Rain's music
Death Rain

Death Toll poster hidden under Hard Rain poster.

  • On the loading screen, Bill's arm from the Death Toll poster can be seen just left of this poster.
  • Hard Rain has the fewest Crescendo Events in the game, having only the elevator in the Sugar Mill, and the finale.
    • However, this is compensated for by the hurricane and its ability to hinder the player's screen and the large number of Witches.
  • Because the gas cans are strapped to the Survivors' backs, first aid kits are not visible and firearms clip through the can.
    • If a Survivor dies with the gas can on their back, the gas can disappears, and reappears when they are rescued or defibrillated.
      • This disappearance might be explained by the remaining survivors retrieving the deceased player's gas can, possibly needing all four to reach New Orleans.
  • The fact that a large portion of the campaign is set in a sugar mill may be a reference to the 1932 film White Zombie, which is largely regarded as the first feature length zombie movie and features zombies (zombies based on voodoo rather than undead or infection) being forced to work in a sugar mill.
  • The campaign's tagline "Come Hell and High Water" is a reference to the popular phrase "Come Hell or High Water". It is also a live performance CD and DVD by the hard rock group Deep Purple
  • At the bottom of the poster for this campaign it says "Based on the novel by: Edmund Ducatel". "Ducatel" just so happens to be the name of the Sugar Mill and the brand of diesel collected in this campaign. In fact, canon states that the town's name is Ducatel, Mississippi. This can also be seen on the poster for The Passing.
  • At the beginning of the finale, the portable illuminated street sign may read "Caution! Zombies ahead". This is a reference to a real life sign that was reprogrammed by students in Austin, Texas and led to a small scale panic.[2]
  • The last safe room should also give Survivor regular sight, as in other buildings, but when the rain comes, the players' sight is still as if they were out in the heavy rain.
  • The sedan and hatchback parked outside the Burger Tank changes colors when you play The Milltown and Town Escape chapters. In the first chapter, the sedan is red and the hatchback is blue, and when you return to the Burger Tank the sedan changes to black and the hatchback changes to white.
  • One arena in the Sugar Mill became the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map Sugarcane (de_sugarcane). Some assets were reused, and the general layout and structure is identical, but the flow through the arena was overhauled to accommodate CS:GO's needs.
  • This is the only campaign where it starts at the finale location.

References[]

  1. New weather effects are added. The storm mechanic is apparently to compensate for having only one crescendo event in the entire campaign, save for the finale. http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/left4dead2/video/6237479?hd=1
  2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4518092/Zombies-ahead-warns-electronic-road-sign.html
Campaigns
Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2
Achievement Mercy Killer No Mercy
The Apartments / The Subway / The Sewer / The Hospital / Rooftop Finale
Achievement Price Chopper Dead Center
The Hotel / The Streets / The Mall / The Atrium
Achievement Crash-proof Crash Course
The Alleys / The Truck Depot Finale
Achievement Torch Bearer The Passing
The Riverbank / The Underground / The Port
Achievement Toll Collector Death Toll
The Turnpike / The Drains / The Church / The Town / Boathouse Finale
Achievement Midnight Rider Dark Carnival
The Highway / The Fairgrounds / The Coaster / The Barns / The Concert
Achievement Dead Baron Dead Air
The Greenhouse / The Crane / The Construction Site / The Terminal / Runway Finale
Achievement Ragin' Cajun Swamp Fever
Plank Country / The Swamp / Shanty Town / The Plantation
Achievement Grim Reaper Blood Harvest
The Woods / The Tunnel / The Bridge / The Train Station / Farmhouse Finale
Achievement Weatherman Hard Rain
The Milltown / The Sugar Mill / Mill Escape / Return To Town / Town Escape
Achievement Supreme Sacrifice The Sacrifice
The Docks / The Barge / Port Finale
Achievement Bridge Burner The Parish
The Waterfront / The Park / The Cemetery / The Quarter / The Bridge
Non-Canon Campaigns
Achievement Last Stand The Last Stand
The Lighthouse
Achievement Stream Crosser Cold Stream
Alpine Creek / South Pine Stream / Memorial Bridge / Cut-throat Creek
L4D Random Map Cropped Dam It (unfinished)
Orchard / Campground / Dam
Achievement Still Standing The Last Stand
The Junkyard / Lighthouse Finale
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