At PAX, new details about Left 4 Dead 2 have emerged in the latest reveal of the Dark Carnival chapter. The most important one is the announcement of a new special infected, the Jockey. The Jockey lives up to his name, hopping onto the back of a survivor and steering him whereever he wants. The player loses control during this moment, and yes, this could go horribly wrong for survivors. We’re unsure how to eject the jockey (shooting him off seems a bit dangerous) at this time.

For more details on the Dark Carnival campaign, the campaign is subtitled “You must be this tall… TO DIE!” and it has survivors starting on a highway, headed to the Ferris wheel. After working through a two-story motel, you get to the carnival and face off against a new common-uncommon: the zombie clown. This infected calls other infected over to him, so talk about annoying. If this one gets close, expect lots of mobs!

According to reports, some of the carnival parlor games are playable, and the final crescendo moment revolves around the merry-go-round. All in all, it’s sounding wonderfully delicious.

I do wonder though, if death squads will be a lot easier to spawn. Between the Charger, Hunter, Smoker and Jockey, sounds like there are a lot of ways survivors can be “held” against their will, effectively ending a game. We’ll see when Left 4 Dead 2 finally arrives.

Left 4 Dead 2 - Dark Carnival

We’ve played “The Parish”, we’ve played “Swamp Fever” and soon we’ll get a chance at the new “Dark Carnival” campaign from Left 4 Dead 2. That is, if we hit the Penny Arcade Expo, where we can see different chapters in the Microsoft and Valve booth. Also we should see some more new items featured in the game. Worse, we can see that scary clown zombies will be out for blood!

Still leaves a new boss infected and an unrevealed gameplay mode unaccounted for! What will it be? Flying creatures? Free-for-all zombie/survivor deathmatches? What do you think?