Bracing for Impact: Swamp Overview
Emerging from the Safe Room culvert, you’re greeted by a sizable swamp to be navigated once its inhabitants have been culled. These include a small, disgusting wretch known as the Mudman . Battle toward a rowboat, then through the nearby gap that allows access through a hedge to a forested area of swampland.
Pass under the remains of a parachutist, a building husk, and thickets of brush until you encounter the remains of a crashed aircraft (Area 4). After a frenzied battle on the plane, press onward through more fetid waters, passing more abandoned building shells and small wharfs to a large and half-submerged shack where furious combat occurs (Area 5).
Scramble out of the swamp and follow the lighted road to the relative tranquility of a Safe Room cabin.
+ Although seemingly vast, use the guide map to plot a direct course to the plane, then the submerged hut, with minimum deviation.
+ Unless they are skeletal, buildings are an asset to your team; hide inside or on top of them to hinder an Infected onslaught.
+ The open landscape rewards a team of Survivors that constantly watch each other’s backs and keep moving!
- Wandering off is even more of a problem, as the water impedes your progress. Stay close, but not on top of each other.
- The wilderness is easy to get lost in, especially as you have no compass. So use the morning haze (find where it is brightest), and head that way.
- Separating on either side of the plane is a tactical disaster, as is fighting on the wing or wading in water.
The Covered Culvert
When you’ve all gathered your desired equipment, unlock the door and peer out into the gloomy swamp. You’ll spot various shambling forms. This exit is a reasonably advantageous area to cut down the initial waves of enemies.
Start
Have two teammates stand at the door (picture 1), while two more exit and move to the dry ground on the right. You can effectively mow down any foes you see before slowly edging forward (picture 2) toward Location 4A.
Rowboat and Lantern
Although you can spend time wading through the swamp water, it’s a safer bet to skirt the muddy mire and remain on the dry ground to the right. Blast through enemies (picture 1) while heading forward into the gloom until you spot a small, moored boat with a lantern on it, near a fallen tree trunk.
4A
You can stay dry and hop across the trunk onto the boat and then up through the gap in the hedgerow. Make a quick dash toward Location 4B, pausing only to grab anything that may be resting on the boat.
The Doomed Parachutist
4B
Dash through the hedge gap and then fan out (but remain ideally on dry ground). Watch for Special Infected attacks (such as Smokers lashing and grabbing you back into the undergrowth).
Head forward through the middle of this copse of trees, toward the gloomy sunrise in the distance. Follow the dry path between the two sections of water, toward the remains of a parachutist still dangling after his doomed fall on a tree above you (picture 2).
Search his corpse for some (usually) handy items. Check the guide map for two other possible routes: around the left or right perimeter, both of which offer a less direct path to Location 4C.
Gloomy Sunrise
The swamp dissipates slightly and the trees thin out as you reach Location 4C. You’ll find the ruins of a cabin and a small jetty with a variety of items on it. Some of the jetty items (such as Propane Tanks) can be carried and thrown, or used during combat when you reach the downed aircraft.
4C
If progress has been going well, expect a Special Infected (such as the Witch shown) to hinder your team between this point and 4D.
Plane Approach
There are three possible pathways to Location 4D, but all involve maneuvering through both dirt ground and swamp water. Expect some Special Infected to impede your progress, so keep your teammates close and actively watching for ambushes.
4D
Follow the scattered plane wreckage, seats, suitcases, and other debris as you draw near to a large passenger plane that has crashed into the swamps. Before you storm the plane and unleash a Horde, pick off any Infected swaying in the swamp. Then approach the fuselage.
On a Wing and a Prayer
The plane fuselage has been broken into three separate pieces, and you can board the plane’s interior from any direction—near the cockpit, tail, or (picture 1) through the gap where the left wing ripped away.
The only way onward into the swamp is to open the hatch inside the plane, but the tremendous “clunk” the hatch makes as it opens (picture 2) attracts the Horde. Therefore, you have to plan for survival accordingly.
Although the hatch opens, allowing you access onto the plane’s intact wing, this isn’t the most tactically advantageous position to be in (picture 1).
4E
You’re almost instantly swarmed by Infected from all sides as they clamber up onto the wing and climb the fuselage to surround you, and you’ll take damage attempting to fend them off.
Even worse, it is difficult (almost impossible in fact) to backtrack to the initial entrance of the plane (Location 4D). Either back up through the hatchway, or maneuver over the tail section.
As your team’s safety is likely to be compromised, have one teammate open the hatch and wait at the doorway with a melee weapon to tear apart anything trying to squeeze into the plane from the wing; this is an excellent tactic. The rest of the team can retreat back to Location 4D, ideally onto dry land.
Then spread out, training your weapons on the Infected that leap over the plane’s structure. As the Infected have ground to cover, they are easily culled before they reach you. Careful aiming and constant checking on your teammates helps fend off any Special Infected.
If you must lark about in the water, inject yourself with Adrenaline so you can move through the murk at speed. Continue the battle until everything non-human is bubbling its last breath in the swamp waters.