Left 4 Dead 2: Map Secrets: Swamp Fever

In most L4D2 playthroughs, you’ll head straight from one safe room to the next without really paying attention to the map itself. As such, there’s oftentimes plenty of small details and hidden areas that you end up missing.

This is part 4 of a series of guides focusing on the many secrets in L4D2s maps. This guide relates to Swamp Fever, and future guides will each relate to a different campaign.

Remember, most of the details will be story or lore related, and in many cases the exact story that’s told is open to interpretation; there is often more than one answer that works or makes sense.

The crashed helicopter is visible behind the train carriages, to the left of the carriage you start in.

A train naturally derailing in this manner is technically possible, albeit highly unlikely. However, the significant damage the carriages have sustained from every side suggests that it might’ve been a Tank that attacked it. The train itself may have also been transporting a Tank, similarly to the one in the sacrifice.

The I-10 is one of the longest interstates in the US, running through many of the southern states. Considering Dark Carnival likely takes place in Griffin, and Swamp Fever takes place somewhere near Louisiana, the survivors would’ve been able to travel several hundred miles via helicopter.

The price of fuel increased exponentially once the outbreak happened. With no new supplies being delivered, reserves in isolated towns like those seen in Swamp Fever would run out quickly.

This banner is likely a reference to the way in which isolated communities prefer to remain isolated, rather than being interfered with by the government. It’s possible that CEDA may have attempted to set up quarantine zones in the area but were driven off, or the locals heard news of CEDAs failures in other areas and set up the banner as a preemptive warning.

An infected that was hit with a melee weapon until it was well and truly dead. For a single dead body, there’s a lot more blood than in other campaigns, suggesting that the inhabitants of Plank Country likely dealt with them in a more violent fashion.

A makeshift sign at the station confirms that they have run out of gas. Curiously, certain items in the area still have power, such as the jukebox in the restaurant. It might be that the Plank Country residents still had a supply of gas for themselves, and put up the signs to turn away any outsiders looking for fuel.

There’s quite a large explorable area behind the station, though there is nothing noteworthy there.

Ammo upgrades, as well as certain T3 weapons like chainsaws and grenade launchers, can be found very frequently throughout Swamp Fever. Not only is this a reference to Southern gun culture, but it also supports the theory that the residents dealt with the infected in fairly violent ways.

Certain buildings throughout the campaign lack doors, windows and in some cases walls. Whether they were like that before the outbreak or have since been destroyed by the infected is debatable.

This building just before the main part of the village has an upper area that’s quite defensible, and contains a few beds. With only one entrance, it makes beating the crescendo event quite easy provided you can make it back there in time.

The general store has been picked clean. In most campaigns throughout L4D2, cash registers and ATMs are untouched, presumably because the survivors realise how useless money is in their current situation.

The village is called “Earls Gator Village”. A sticker for the village can be found in Dark Carnival on the Midnight Riders instrument case.

The restaurant is lit by a single lantern, serving as evidence of the gas shortage.

Most of the restaurants menu items are seafood related. Being near large bodies of water, fishing would’ve been a major source of food for the community.

As evidenced later in the campaign, some residents attempted to evacuate down the river in boats. Somebody may have been attempting to load this pirogue onto the van, but was interrupted by the infected.

The only remaining item in this store is what looks to be a bottle of drain cleaner or bleach.

The debris suggests that an infected broke through the roof from the outside to attack whoever was in the building.

A small toy gator can be found in the water. There are also still various boats docked at the shore, implying not everyone was able or willing to evacuate.

This sign warns of deep water and gators, a possible explanation for why the survivors die instantly upon entering it.

This dead Charger has been strung up on a frame, perhaps as a trophy or as a warning to both the infected and other survivors or CEDA. In either case, handling a dead infected probably would’ve just spread the infection more easily.

“Village Des Marais” is French for “Swamp Village”.

Frogs, crickets, gators, flies, and various other animals can be heard frequently throughout the campaign. Considering no mutant animals are found, they are likely immune the infection.

Further evidence of gator related aggression.

Based on the nearby weapons and sleeping bags, some evacuees likely camped here on their way to the Swamp Village before being overrun.

More camp sites can be found on the ground, right next to the gator infested water.

It makes sense for the safe house symbol to be so universal; it symbolises exactly what it appears to be, a house and a plus symbol (which is used to indicate first aid and safety).

This heavily damaged car is potential evidence of a nearby tank.

The crude nature of these walkways, as opposed to the more permanent structures earlier on, suggest that they were only constructed recently to aid with evacuations. Alternatively, this area of the swamp may simply not be travelled through that often.

Another derailed and heavily damaged train. Again, it might be as a result of a rampaging tank.

This safe room lacks graffiti. Whilst this usually indicates the room was either set up recently or wasn’t stayed in for long, in this case it’s likely due to corrugated iron not making a great writing surface.

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This dead paratrooper raises quite a few questions. Firstly, there is what looks to be a gunshot wound on his head. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for him to have committed suicide, since he could easily cut free from the parachute. In that case, it might’ve been the locals who shot him while he was stuck. But if they did, why not take his weapons from him? The paratrooper can also be carrying a pipe bomb, which suggests he wouldn’t be a part of the military.

This makeshift stove consists of bricks, a metal plate, and a blowtorch. The makeshift stoves in other campaigns typically use a coiled tungsten wire or cooking element connected to a car battery.

It’s possible to climb on top of the downed plane, and hold out on the tail. The added cover and height advantage makes the event much easier.

In some cases, campfires will still be smouldering slightly. This one being extinguished suggests the camp has abandoned for quite some time.

Considering that some supplies are inside this house, it might not have been flooded until very recently. It’s possible that a nearby dam wall or riverbank was damaged in some way and caused the local water level to raise. The damage might even be the result of the downed plane.

This may have been the driver of the armoured truck, who succumbed to their wounds after fighting off a small horde.

A makeshift wood and barbed wire barricade. It seems as if the villagers had plenty of time to set up defences.

Another barricade, with plenty of dead infected outside it. With all the locals working together to defend the swamp village, its no wonder they outlasted so many other places.

The safe rooms contains a lot of interesting graffiti. These lines point out the villages limited resources and unwillingness to work with outsiders, as well as the plans to evacuate using boats from the plantation house. There’s also suggestions that cowardice was heavily frowned upon, which would make sense given that many villagers likely lost their lives defending the area.

Another reference to the plantation house, as well as to the mudmen.

This graffiti memorialises several deceased family members and friends. The most interesting part however is the mention of Virgil Dugas. It’s possible that this is the same Virgil who rescues the survivors at the end of the campaign. The dates mean that the Virgil referred to here would be 56 years old; based on the in game Virgils voice and demeanour, this seems like a plausible match. Some of Virgils voice lines state that he hasn’t heard from any other survivors in 3 days, which was when his wife became infected.

All things considered, one possibility is that Virgil was helping to evacuate the locals with his boat, right up until his wife became infected. When she did, he remained out on the water for a while to keep his distance from the infected. Since he wouldn’t have returned in some time, the other local survivors may have assumed that he died, potentially having been killed by his wife if she was on the boat with him, and wrote the graffiti in his memory. At a later point just before the L4D2 survivors arrive but after every surviving villager was either dead or infected, Virgil returned to shore, set up the radio to contact any remaining survivors, and then anchored off shore again for safety.

Several dead infected are in the back up this pickup truck. It may have been used to transport the dead bodies from the village to a mass grave, or potentially to help with the evacuations. These people might’ve been unknowingly infected whilst being evacuated to the village.

Many of the structures in the village are in a sorry state. Some sections may have been torn down for resources to construct the walls around the village perimeter.

A still functional bug zapper. Note that both the light and zapper are powered and working. The zapper isn’t wired to the house, meaning it would likely operate off of a rechargeable battery. The battery in a bug zapper doesn’t last as long if both the light and zapper are being used; in this case, it would’ve had to have last been turned on at some point within the last 5-10 hours, which gives a rough timeline as to when the village was overrun by infected (likely within the last 4-8, turning on a bug zapper probably isn’t of the utmost importance if your village is being attacked by zombies.)

A massive amount of blood, but with no body in sight. It even extends under the bed, which is a bit unusual and makes it seem like someone was critically injured, tried to hide under the bed, and was dragged away once they died.

A mass grave for zombies and cattle alike. There’s also many severed limbs and gibs nearby; yet more evidence of the Swamps inhabitants using any means necessary to deal with the infected.

There’s a tray of bloody surgery instruments in one of the houses. There may have been several waves of zombie attacks, with the residents having time to recoup in between.

You can stand on the balcony of this house to the left of the bridge. There’s no items, but you do get a nice view of the water.

All the water in Swamp Fever flows in the direction you’re intended to travel, which can be helpful for new players who might get lost.

The nearby fly screen has been torn down, and there’s plenty of blood inside the house: an infected likely broke in and was killed with a melee weapon, or shot more than enough times with a gun.

A pistol next to some fly screen with small holes in it: potential evidence that someone was taking potshots at the infected from this balcony.

A blood splatter on the wall next to a bath, with a gun nearby. It could’ve been a suicide, or perhaps a known infected individual was killed whilst in the bath.

This generator is wired into the local power grid, providing enough electricity to run some smaller lights, but not enough for every house.

This hazard fence is in stark contrast to all the other fences on the map. Given that the houses on the other side of the fence have sunken into the ground, it might’ve been set up before the outbreak to keep people away from a flooded or silty area.

This windows can be broken, but the wire on the outside prevents the infected from entering. It’s a fairly secure position to hold out.

There’s a somewhat hidden path to the right of the house full of supplies. You can walk straight and you’ll eventually get to the next crescendo event. There’s no real benefit to taking this route though; you miss out on a lot of items, it isn’t any faster, and you’ll be slowed down a bit by the water.

A likely suicide victim, as well as the lower half of an infected. The upper half is nowhere to be found.

The drawbridge can be stopped if you stand on it as its moving. With the right timing, this gives you access to the roofs, and makes the event a bit easier. Otherwise, it’s best to simply let it lower all the way: walking on it too early might mean you don’t have enough room to get through the doorway.

A pile of dead infected, with a bloody machete to boot. Whether they were killed here, or simply being stored in the house to be dismembered at a later point is unknown.

This sunken house contains a grenade spawn. If you fall off the walkway during the event, it’s worth grabbing the grenade to make it easier to get back up.

This safe room lacks graffiti, and as such was probably only stayed in briefly for the evacuees to heal up and restock on ammo. There’s also some large gaps in the back wall that you can look out of, and see that the previous area has completely changed.

Swamp Fever is the only campaign in which the time of day changes in a meaningful way; Blood Harvest changes from night to day as the survivors are escaping, but it doesn’t impact the gameplay. Hard Rain has the storm to make the map darker, but the time of day is still technically the same. In Swamp Fever, the time change allows for improved visibility during the finale, and adds some scale for how long the survivors have been travelling for.

Sundries are defined as smaller items that aren’t important enough to mention individually, meaning this was probably a general store of sorts. It could also be referring to sundried foods, such as tomatoes.

Most of the houses in this area are unfurnished or even empty. They might be recent constructions, or the area may simply be abandoned.

A dead infected on a roof. All the nearby windows are intact, and based on the nearby ammo this person may have been a survivor who climbed up for safety, but eventually died to the flu.

This tractor is based off of real world John Deere tractors, as it has the same colour scheme and design.

You can climb up on this fence before the plantation house to see a road blockade and the edge of the map.

Some Teddy bears lined up against a wall. They may have belonged to a child evacuee, or they might be a simple memorial for some deceased survivors.

Several wheelchairs are present in the plantation house. Transporting a crippled person across a swamp in a wheelchair would be almost impossible, so these chairs are likely from before the outbreak.

A large number of survivors camped out in the plantation house together. The area was also treated as a safe house of sorts, with lots of graffiti present.

NOLA refers to New Orleans, showing that many other survivors had the same idea as the L4D2. Bossier City and Shreveport are two neighbouring cities in Louisiana, and likely aren’t too far from the swamp. Some other survivors also chose to instead take boats down the river to evacuate, and there’s also notes from the same survivors who wrote in the other safe room.

A kill contest between 3 survivors, who clearly held out in the house for quite some time. Leon also serves as more evidence that cowardice was heavily frowned upon, and survivors were expected to stay and fight.

This is a massive amount of damage to the roof that would only be caused by the house being very old, or possibly by a tank.

This mounted gun is used by Rochelle in the intro, though it’s located on the ground floor. Its current position isn’t very useful: the gun doesn’t rotate enough to cover all the infected spawn points, and you’re highly vulnerable once they get too close. It can also only fire for 15 seconds, before requiring a full minute to cooldown. Between the guns position changing, and the double tank fight, Valve may have had some difficulty balancing Swamp Fevers finale.

Falling from the balcony can cause severe fall damage. To drop down safely, land on the railing of the ground level fence.

Virgil had set up this radio to contact any remaining survivors. Considering he is anchored roughly 10 minutes away, he might’ve set up more in other locations to cover as much ground as possible.

It’s possible to climb on the hedges by first jumping on the stone wall. This position makes it much easier to deal with the common infected.

Virgil blows up the main gate to get the survivors attention. Based on the sound effect, he seems to be using an RPG similarly to how Whitaker blows up the tanker in Dead Center.

Virgil has several large barrels on his boat, which likely contain clean drinking water. This would explain how he was able to survive offshore for several days without returning for supplies.