Like a horde not dissimilar to the undead kind needing to be culled, fans of the iconic horror monster descended upon the beta for Turtle Rock Studio’s latest game over the weekend to get an early taste of what the full experience will have to offer later this year. Back 4 Blood, a spiritual successor to Valve’s Left 4 Dead series, isn’t due to hit retail for a few months as yet, but early impressions coming out of early access appear to be overwhelmingly positive.
What has raised more than a few eyebrows, however, are instances of the co-op shooter’s rank-and-file enemies seemingly yelling racial slurs at the top of their lungs while charging headfirst at survivors. You needn’t take our word for it, either: as reported by Kotaku, several Twitter users have posted video footage of the word in question being uttered, each time resulting in the player being left dumbfounded by what they’ve just heard. Check out the clips for yourselves down below.
Clearly a case of unintentional resemblance to an offensive term, publisher Warner Bros. has nevertheless been keen to address the situation. A spokesperson for the company revealed to Kotaku in a statement that the audio heard above is purely coincidental in its resemblance to the N-word and a result of “two different Ridden growls that are playing simultaneously” which, when played in proximity, sound like the slur.
Accident or not, however, the statement goes on to confirm that the team at Turtle Rock is working to rectify the issue. A patch could go live as early as later this week to coincide with the beginning of open access for the Beta or, failing that, in place for full launch in the fall.
Back 4 Blood releases October 12th for Xbox One, Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and PC.