The Riverbank

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Chapter 1 The Riverbank
Campaign	The Passing
The Passing Chapter Chronology
Chapter 1 The Riverbank Chapter 2 The Underground

"Hello down there! Sorry, but we can't lower the bridge!"

―Zoey

"Man, I hope we don't see a Tank in a tuxedo."

―Coach

The Riverbank is the first chapter in Left 4 Dead 2's The Passing campaign.

After escaping from Savannah in Jimmy Gibbs Junior's stock car, Ellis, Nick, Rochelle and Coach find their way blocked, as the Rayford bridge has been raised by the original Left 4 Dead Survivors at the end of The Sacrifice campaign. In true soap opera style, Valve seeks to blend original and spun-off story lines and to underscore the irony of an act that saved one team now serves to place another in jeopardy.

In the opening cut scene, Zoey or Francis issues a briefing to the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors below, the gist of which is that the Left 4 Dead 2 team must (by implication) use an under-river tunnel to get to the other side of the river and refuel a generator that will then enable the original Survivors to lower the bridge, thus allowing the new Survivors to bring their car across and continue towards New Orleans.

The rest of the chapter is concerned with the Left 4 Dead 2 team's battle through Infected overrun stores, seedy office-apartments and a rain-swept wedding reception―complete with a distraught Witch bride and Infected groomsmen and guests.

Strategy

Also see: Tactics

All campaign walkthroughs are done on Normal difficulty in single player, and are meant to give tips on what to do and generally point out things that might otherwise be missed.

There are, of course, a few key things to always remember:

• Stop, look, and listen.
  • Being observant might alert you to something nasty ahead of time, like a Witch, Special Infected or Tank, and allow you to prepare yourself.
• Teamwork.
  • This cannot be stressed enough. Left 4 Dead is supposed to be a cooperative game. Communicate with your teammates, if you're playing with others, or if you're by yourself with the AI, point out things they might otherwise miss. In all cases, watch out for each other and take care of each other. You are not going to survive the zombie apocalypse by yourself.
• Be ready for anything.
• Don't panic.

Following the advice of fellow Survivors, you make your way across the small town full of Infected with the goal of reaching the generator for the bridge on the other side.

Campaign

The Survivors start near Jimmy Gibbs Junior's stock car in front of the raised Rayford bridge. Either Francis or Zoey will issue a greeting (of varying cordiality depending on which Survivor responds) and, after some suitable conversational by-play, the Left 4 Dead character will outline a briefing of the situation ending with clear instructions to "get to the other side of the bridge" and refuel a Generator so that the bridge can be lowered.

Grab the pistol provided at the trunk of the car; it can either be a Magnum or P220 Pistol and two melee weapons on the ground. A large number of infected are nearby, though they will not notice the Survivors unless alerted of their presence. The Fallen Survivor, an Uncommon Infected exclusive to this campaign, typically spawns near the starting point. A melee weapon is recommended to kill him instantly, as he has an unusually large health pool.

While at the boardwalk, try not to get dragged into the sea by Jockeys or Chargers, or you will fall into a watery grave.

Continue to the other side; you may encounter a Tank, which can be highly problematic since you only have weak pistols and melee weapons to fight him. If he does spawn, fall back and try to use the environment to dodge the Tank. Run into the buildings nearby, where you can grab some Tier 1 weapons; not exactly strong, but good enough at the moment. Search the rooms for various supplies, as Foot Locker is very likely to appear in the building.

Leave the building and you will find yourself in a long alleyway. Caution is advised as there are usually two alarmed cars, either on the lower or upper level. Move up to the upper level and when you reach the end of that level, go into the buildings to the left, where you will find Tier 2 weapons and perhaps an M60 in there. Once you grab better weapons, go across the walkway into the park.

In the park, a Witch will always spawn in front of the gazebo (regardless of difficulty). She serves as the chapter's "Crescendo Event"; upon being startled and/or killed, a horde will descend on the player. Players can skip past her, but this is unfeasible on Expert because of the increased startle time and will leave the team a player short if she manages to kill someone against the ensuing horde. Shoot the wedding chairs to pile them, as they can be an annoyance and slow the player down as they move past her.

Players can startle the Witch by angering her, shooting her or by activating the soundset on the tent to the right. Once this soundset is activated, music will play which will anger the Witch regardless of the team's distance from her. When sufficiently angered, she will become startled and attack the player responsible for turning on the music (also starting the Horde). If players wish to kill her, either cr0wn her on lower difficulties or throw a Molotov when reasonably far away and run away.

Once the incoming horde is disposed of, proceed past the gazebo and there will be two tents, which you can search for supplies. Go across to the road, make a turn to the right and near a bus at the other side of the road will be the safe room.

Survival

See also: Survival Mode

Hoping to get to the other side of the Bridge, the Survivors are forced to pass through a now abandoned wedding. To their horror, their path is blocked and they have nowhere left to go. Now an angry mass of Infected are converging on them, why did they go to the wedding? Now they know why the priests says "Till death do you part", how long can they survive?

Overall Tips

• Teamwork is essential to long-term survival.
• In this mode, most of the popular choke points, closets and easily defensible corners are removed. Even if you find one that has not been removed, it is not recommended that you fight from there as The Tank will quickly defeat you when he arrives.
• You have an infinite amount of time to prepare. Use this to your advantage. Take as much time as you need to set up gas cans, propane tanks, oxygen tanks, and to find a good place to fight from.
• When searching for a place to fight from, remember that you need a location that not only limits where the horde attacks from, but also gives you a fair chance against the Tank. You either need to be able to fall back and deal with the Tank easily, or have a good enough vantage point to kill him before he can get too close.
• Ammunition is a problem. Unless you are being overrun with Infected or fighting a Tank, try to use your pistols as much as possible. Conserving ammunition should be a priority, as trying to get more during a horde attack can often be fatal. When you do head out for ammunition, remember to take at least one teammate with you.

• One of numerous effective strategies include standing on the tents. They are easy to reach: just use the boxes scattered around on the ground nearby. The M60, auto shotguns, or AKM are definitely not weapons of choice in this situation; use of multiple sniper rifles proves to be more effective for this strategy. With the exception of the occasional Common Infected, you will not be attacked from behind, and the Infected can be shot from a distance with ease. However, due to the lack of ammo piles nearby, it is possible to be forced to run through numerous dangerous infected to refill your ammunition. Don't panic, and try to do your best fighting off the swarms of infected. If Common Infected are getting in your way on an ammo run, don't hesitate to throw a pipe bomb. Try to cover those who go for ammo. Melee should not be used unless you have trouble dealing with common infected during ammo runs. Instead, use the Magnum or Dual Pistols to conserve ammo and reduce the frequency of your ammo runs.

• Another good yet obvious spot is to hold up where your starting spawning point is

and with a good enough team, you can get a gold medal there.

• An advantage to The Passing Maps is that there are fallen survivors which bring you more supplies. It is recommended to take their dropped supplies if possible, to extend the amount of time you can survive before your supplies are exhausted.

Notes

• Zoey and Francis from Left 4 Dead return in this chapter―but only as Survivor Bots.
• Depending on which Left 4 Dead Survivor is met at the beginning (Zoey or Francis), there are several different possible sets of dialogue that can play throughout the rest of the campaign.
• Zoey or Francis appear randomly to brief the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors. Louis will never appear as he is injured and resting on the far side of the bridge.
• Zoey and Francis in this chapter are not affected by Workshop addon re-skins and therefore their model remains same no matter what mods were installed.
• The music at the start of the campaign does not have a Southern tone like the rest of the game music. Rather, the music is based on that of a party or night club―presumably so as to be consistent with the setting of Rayford as a "swinging nightlife" city.
• The instrumentals for the Midnight Riders song that plays on the radio at the wedding gazebo bears a striking similarity to the instrumentals for the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, "Tuesday's Gone". It also has some similarities to the instrumentals in the song "Remember A Time" by Story of the Year.
• Most of the Common Infected in the park are wearing wedding clothes. There is a Witch bride, who spawns on a small platform or gazebo during every game.
• There is a spot near the beginning of the map that is accessed by hopping on the white van next to Jimmy Gibbs' car, and then jumping onto the fence right next to it. After this, get down to the middle of the tree next to the fence. In this area, infected cannot path-find their way to you. However, be warned that once a player is there further movement of any sort is impossible.
• The Witch music that plays when a player encroaches on the Witch bride's personal space is a mixture of the original theme and a sinister version of the common wedding song "Here Comes the Bride".
• The Witch bride appears to become more easily startled if the weather is storming at the time and is consistent with the folklore notion of Witches disliking storms. This stimulus-response phenomenon is similar to that displayed by the Witches in Hard Rain during storm events.
• Attemping to spawning The Witch during this chapter will crash the game.
• The M60 may spawn in the first building entered, though this is very rare. If found this early in the chapter, a player needs to think carefully about taking it, since this weapon cannot be reloaded and is really only most useful during the sewer-based gauntlet crescendo events appearing late in Chapter 2, The Underground.
• Similar to The Concert, a player can stand near the microphone near the end of the chapter and use vocalizations which will be heard through the speakers.
• There is a way for both Survivors and Infected to get under the map in the first chapter, this will give you a huge advantage in versus as Infected. A demonstration can be shown here.
• There does not appear to be any actual way for Jimmy Gibbs Jr's car to get to the bridge, as the road is blocked in both directions and even if the bridge is lowered, access is closed off by a very large concrete wall.
• In a land filled with automobiles, it is strange that the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors do not simply climb across the bridge and find another (more comfortable, suitable and survivable) vehicle on the other side. Stock cars are simply empty shells equipped with single seats, rollcages and minute fuel tanks―they are not cross country battle wagons for four people.
  • However, considering Ellis's admiration of Jimmy Gibbs Jr. and his stock car, the Survivors' choice not to leave the car behind might be due to Ellis's adoration of the stock car's association with a hometown hero.
• If Francis appears at the beginning, he may try to imply that the original Survivors are cops. This is a sort of running gag in Left 4 Dead where Francis attempts to get other people to help them faster―the Church Guy, John Slater and the Military.
• This map utilizes the heavy rain storm effects used from Hard Rain. However, it lacks thunder and lighting and the Survivors do not tell each other to stay together to avoid being split up. In co-op play, microphone use will be less effective outdoors during the storm because the noise has a tendency to drown out voice chat.
• Since an unknown update, the Survivors do not use any chapter-specific lines when approaching the wedding and simply use their generic lines (for example, when spotting the Witch bride).