Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead

Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead is based on the Valve game Left 4 Dead, which is a first-person shooter, while the Pixel Force demake is a top-down shooter. The game adapts all four launch campaigns as well as featuring the same cast of characters: Zoey, Bill, Louis, and Francis. These maps have five areas each. In addition to standard zombies, the game features zombies called the Special Infected.

It features multiplayer for up to two players and two difficulty modes. Players are tasked with making it through these levels while killing infected that stand in their way. Along the way, they can upgrade their weaponry to make the task easier.

Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead was developed by independent video game designer Eric Ruth under Eric Ruth Games. It was his first attempt at creating an 8-bit-styled remake of a previously existing title, regarding Left 4 Dead as a game he cherished. The idea of making an 8-bit remake of Left 4 Dead originally took form when he suggested to his friend the idea of remaking Left 4 Dead as a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game to his friend, who liked the idea. Ruth was the sole developer of the game, while friends provided quality assurance.

While developing another game called Mean Kathleen and the Great Quack Machine, he began working on sprites for the four survivors and special infected from Left 4 Dead for fun. They turned out well enough that he decided to expand the sprites. The composition of the music was the most difficult part of the game's development for him, due to Valve's Left 4 Dead's composition, citing "heavy string sections, brass, digital choruses, and more". This made it difficult to adapt it to only four channels of sound, two square waves, a triangle wave, and a noise channel in order to reproduce the NES' sound limitations.

Before its release, Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead received mostly positive reception for its trailers. In response to the first trailer, Kotaku writer Owen Good felt that the infected were too docile and the game seemed too easy. GameSpy writer Tyler Barber thought it was cute, though felt that a fast-paced action game like Robotron 2084 would fit Left 4 Dead better. However, he still intended to download it.

Retronauts' Bob Mackey called it "impressive", noting that while the first trailer was disappointing, the more recent one showed its ambition. com writer Chris Pereira also found it impressive due to it being made by only one person. Rock Paper Shotgun writer Alec Meer thought the game looked "lovely".