Safe House
Riverside is looking less like a safe haven considering the welcoming party your team encountered at the church. But you’re only on the outskirts of town.
There may be more survivors somewhere else. Plus, you can’t stay in the church forever. The last occupant of this room seemed to go crazy, writing “Better safe than sorry” all over the walls.
Climb the ladder to the upper-level attic. This is where all the weapons, ammo, and first aid kits are located. While moving through the town your team will advance through several streets, alleys, and some interiors.
So take along a sniper rifle, two assault rifles, and one auto shotgun to balance out your team’s firepower. Also, make sure everyone is completely healthy before moving out—you can’t afford to have someone lagging behind.
Once your team is ready to move out, open the safe house door and step out onto the church’s roof. From this elevated position your team can survey the immediate surroundings—and things don’t look good. Dozens of infected wander the streets and businesses below.
Target any infected around the church grounds, but avoid engaging every single visible target. The director continually spawns new infected, so it’s impossible to clear this area completely.
So make sure the church grounds are clear, then climb down the ladder on the right and prepare to enter the street.
Quik Buy
After descending from the church’s roof, race past this delivery truck crashed outside. Sidestep around the back of the truck and watch for infected waiting to surprise your team.
There’s usually a fuel can in the back of the truck. Shoot it to create a large wall of fire at the back of the truck, engulfing any infected that try to race toward your team. Once the fire dies down, make a break for the Quik Buy parking lot.
Advance through the Quik Buy convenience store parking lot toward the makeshift barricade of buses. While it’s possible to enter the convenience store, doing so puts your team at risk, with minimal reward. It’s best to keep moving down the street.
Look for this low sandbag barricade between one of the buses and a white delivery truck, not far from the convenience store’s entrance. Simply hop over this low wall and continue down the street.
Alternate Path: Convenience Store
If you choose to enter the convenience store, do so carefully and with the full support of your team. Don’t let anyone wander off alone inside.
There are likely several common infected inside, and maybe even a few bosses looking for easy prey. If you want to stock up on ammo, there’s a stash in the office near the counter. An auto shotgun usually lies on the floor nearby.
A narrow alley behind the convenience store provides access to a small warehouse. Don’t bother investigating this area. While there may be a few supplies inside the warehouse, they’re not worth the risk of encountering large swarms of infected.
Entering the convenience store or warehouse doesn’t get your team any closer to the end of the level. These are just dead-end side paths. So think twice before moving in this direction.
If you need ammo, raid the office in the convenience store and get back to the parking lot.
Poppy Field Florist
Once past the barricade by the convenience store, continue moving down the street straight ahead. Engage all infected along the way but avoid stopping. When you near this bus, look for a parking lot on the right side of the street.
The street ahead is blocked by a chain-link fence, but you can continue your progress by moving through the Poppy Field Florist.
The florist’s rear entrance is accessible from this parking lot. But be careful when maneuvering past this bus on the way to the parking lot.
Blast any infected on top of the bus first, to prevent them from leaping down on top of your teammates as they pass.
More infected loiter in the parking lot by the florist. Clear the entire parking lot before entering the florist. You don’t want any infected sneaking up on your team and attacking from behind once you enter.
Swarm attacks can also be a threat in the parking lot, with infected attacking from all directions. If this occurs, stay together and stand back to back with each teammate covering a different direction.
This not only allows you to cover multiple angles, it also prevents you from shooting each other—a common problem during chaotic swarm attacks.
A Smoker on the other side of the fence can target and drag one of your teammates up against the fence to be constricted and then possibly pummeled by common infected. Simply keeping your distance from the fence will prevent such attacks from occurring.
Enter the florist’s rear entrance from the parking lot and make sure your flashlights are on—it’s dark inside. It looks like the building has been abandoned for some time, even before the onset of the outbreak.
However, you can pick up some supplies in the front room, including a fuel can and some pipe bombs. These can come in handy later or right now. Sometimes infected attack through the florist’s front window.
If this happens, toss the fuel can outside and blast it to create a fiery barrier between your team and the infected. But while focusing on the front entrance, be sure more infected don’t sneak up behind your team from the rear parking lot.
Even if you cleared the lot earlier, the director may spawn more undead.
Parking Lots
Don’t hold out in the florist too long. Exit through the front door to enter another parking lot. Turn left and advance toward the street. Make sure everyone stays together while moving through this lot.
There are likely several common infected as well as a few bosses hiding among the vehicles here. If your team comes under heavy attack, consider tossing a pipe bomb to draw the common infected away from your team.
Exit the florist’s parking lot and move toward this big rig in the street. In this area houses line the left side of the street and businesses are on the right. None of the houses can be entered, so ignore them and keep moving through the street.
To the right of the big rig is a small office and garage. This can be a good place to stop if any of your teammates need to heal. Avoid stopping in the street as infected can swarm your team from multiple directions.
After passing the big rig, turn right to enter this large parking lot behind a few businesses. While clearing this area note the white van parked in the corner.
Your team must climb atop this van to reach the next area. But bypass the van for now and head toward the light-brick building with the satellite dishes on the roof.
Enter the building’s doorway near the van. It’s dark inside so make sure your flashlights are turned on. There may be a few infected inside, so hold at the doorway and clear out any hostiles lurking in the corners.
When it’s clear, enter the building, close the door, and turn right to find some ammo resting on this table. Reload your weapon, then grab some ammo.
Make sure everyone gets a chance to stock up before moving out. The adjoining room may hold some more supplies, like molotovs or pipe bombs.
Once your team has stocked up, return to the parking lot and move toward the front of the white van. Jump up onto the van to reach the upper-level walkway to the right. Follow the walkway to an open door leading into a second-floor office.
Office
Enter the office and close the door behind you once all your teammates are inside. A mix of common infected and bosses may inhabit this building, so stay on guard, particularly while sweeping the room filled with cubicles.
Don’t get separated checking all the side rooms. Stay together and sweep the office for infected. Also, watch for infected rushing through the same doorway you entered.
Even if you closed the door, the infected can still break in and attack your team from behind. Consider having one teammate cover this door while the rest of the team sweeps the office.
After clearing the room with the cubicles, enter the adjoining conference room. Out the window to the left is a ladder leading down to an awning. This is the only way out of the office.
Make sure your team is together before climbing down. Before leaving, fire down on any infected wandering the street below. Once it’s relatively clear, climb down the ladder, one after another.
Downtown Riverside
After climbing down the short ladder, turn left and watch for infected moving toward your team. The awning has collapsed, creating a makeshift ramp to the sidewalk below.
This provides an easy way to reach the street without taking fall damage, but it also gives the infected a clear path to your team as it exits the office.
So as soon as you descend the ladder, establish a defensive line, blasting any infected that rush up the ramp. Once everyone is out of the office, rush down the ramp together.
At the bottom of the ramp, turn right and head down the street toward the theater. In the middle of the street a table and a couple of crates hold ammo and weapons. Take a few seconds to stock up and change your weapon load-out.
For the next phase of this level your team is best equipped with assault rifles and auto shotguns—two of each. Now’s a good time to heal, too. Your team should be at full health before triggering the swarm attack farther down the street.
Share first aid kits and pills as needed to make sure everyone’s health bar is in the green zone.
Beyond the theater another barricade blocks the road. A forklift on the left sidewalk holds up an awning above the barber shop.
By interacting with the forklift you can lower the awning, creating a ramp to the other side of the barricade. But the sound of the forklift triggers a swarm attack, so make sure your team is ready to hold off a large swarm before you even touch the forklift.
The nearby mini gun aimed toward the barricade can come in handy for mowing down the incoming horde. Consider setting up a defense around the mini gun, with one teammate operating it while the others cover the flanks.
Once three teammates are in position at the gun, elect someone to activate the forklift.
If you’re in a hurry, sometimes it’s best to push through the swarm attack by hopping onto the awning as soon as the forklift is activated. From the awning your team can fire down on the infected as they climb the barricade.
This sort of aggressive approach can help prevent your team from getting surrounded at the mini gun.
By holding on this elevated position all your team has to do is cover both ends of the awning and the barricade while keeping your backs pressed up against the building.
Once the swarm attack has subsided, cross the awning to reach the other side of the street. But the street dead-ends near the bus and diner, blocked by another barricade. So turn left at the dead end and move toward this alley.
Before entering, make sure everyone is together and in good health. You’ll need everyone to stick together while moving through the alley toward the safe house.
Anyone lagging behind due to injuries is a liability, so share any pills or first aid kits to heal your teammates.
Alley
Enter the alley and make an immediate left at the first corner, moving toward this arched passage. The alley is surrounded by a few side rooms. Don’t get sidetracked by checking all of them.
There are rarely any supplies inside. Still, as you pass each doorway, stop long enough to blast any infected inside.
A chain-link fence blocks your team’s path at the end of the alley, but there’s another way around. At the fence, turn left and dash up the steps to reach an upper-level room—sometimes this room contains pills or a first aid kit.
From the upper-level room, smash one of the two windows and carefully cross these wooden planks spanning the alley below.
Once on the other side, maneuver through the small room and out onto the adjoining rooftops, dropping back down into the alley once you’re past the chain-link fence.
This little obstacle course can really slow down your team, so make sure you know the fastest way through this section.
Otherwise your team can get pinned here for several minutes trying to find the way to the safe house, becoming easy prey for the infected. For this reason, the most experienced player should lead the team through this section.
If your team moves quickly and sticks together you can navigate this area in a few seconds.
Alley Safe House
Once you’re on the other side of the chain-link fence, turn down the alley and race toward the safe house door. Throw it open and provide cover while the rest of your team files inside. Watch the area around the chain-link fence for Smokers.
A Smoker on the opposite side of the fence can snare your teammates as they rush toward the safe house. Be ready to assist if this occurs, striking the Smoker’s tongue with melee attacks before your teammate is constricted up against the fence.
Get inside the safe house and slam the door shut once everyone is inside to prevent further last-ditch attacks by the infected. It’s time to get out of town!