BACK 4 BLOOD - CHILDREN OF THE WORM DLC Review: Awesome New Character But Grindy Loot System

Product Review Code Provided by Turtle Rock

The second batch of Turtle Rock’s Back 4 Blood expansion has just been released and we have spent some thorough time with it. The Children of The Worm DLC offers one new character, a brand new campaign story, and other goodies to help fill your undead heart with joy. When we reviewed the Tunnels of Terror DLC a few months back, we were hoping for a more substantial DLC drop to lengthen the life of this game. Does this expansion breathe new life into B4B? It certainly tries to.

Gameplay

Instead of imitating the Tunnels of Terror approach, Turtle Rock has decided to give us a brand new campaign to experience with new story elements and enemies to mow down. Fittingly labeled as “Act 5,” the new campaign consists of six brand new levels that offer a nice variety of locales to tread through. A shipyard, jailhouse, and tunnel settings can all be experienced in this new batch of content. I was pleasantly surprised at how fun these new locations were. A friend of mine even mentioned how one level felt like a Halloween Horror Nights set piece which really set the tone and showed how much work the developers put into this content.

Although the locations are pretty and aesthetically interesting to explore, the actual content is a bit sparse. We will get more into the specifics later, but overall it just felt too short and a bit underwhelming.

The brand new cleaner, Prophet Dan, brings with him some new abilities that truly spice up the game as a whole. Claiming to be a new prophet of the apocalypse, Prophet Dan has some otherworldly abilities to have random buffs granted to the team throughout the campaign. When Dan revives a fellow cleaner, a randomly generated buff is given to the whole team. This could be anything from full health, one extra life, several copper spawns in the area, and more. These buffs came in handy and really helped when the going got tough. I can see Dan being a must-have character for the No Hope difficulty runs. 

Along with the random buff, Dan also receives a combat buff every time a player becomes incapacitated. Not only are Dan’s abilities worth the playthrough, but his character is very intriguing and well acted. His dialogue is quite comical and really fits in well with the B4B universe. I really enjoyed playing as Dan and look forward to customizing his deck to cater to my play style and his awesome abilities.

The new enemies, Cultists, bring some variety to the game since they are human-like and can wield long-range weapons. This includes sniper rifles and bows. This adds a bit of strategy in some sections and requires the squad to play a bit differently than the majority of the campaign. I did enjoy how the flow of this new Act felt very different than the rest of the game, which was quite refreshing. It is just unfortunate that it felt very short-lived.

Speaking of decks, there are new cards available to unlock in an extremely grindy way. Turtle Rock had made the decision to allow players to unlock these new cards by finding duffle bags in the Act 5 levels. These duffle bags must be carried by a player and brought to the saferoom in order to have a chance at unlocking a new card. The duffle bag always unlocks something, whether it is cosmetics, paints, titles, etc.. But for those who are just trying to get the new cards, unfortunately, you may have quite a hefty grind ahead of you as this is the only way to obtain those cards.

What It Could Have Done Better

The newly added Act 5 campaign had great moments but is undermined simply by length. This content drop just felt too short and still requires repeated campaign runs that already can feel overtly repetitive. My one complaint about this game is the tedious repetition of running through the campaigns over and over again. The RNG system the game currently has is fine but only does so much. I truly believe B4B needs a new mode to keep its fans coming back for more. Loot box systems and grindy collectibles could be forgiven if the content was not repetitive. Either a new multiplayer mode or a fleshed-out horde mode with unlockables would be a saving grace. 

As for the duffle bag system, it is nice to be able to unlock other cosmetics without the need for supply points, especially if you are trying to save them to purchase new cards. But I must say, the idea of putting these cards behind a loot box system just doesn't make sense. Some payers will be disappointed to know that after purchasing this DLC, they will not have immediate access to these cards and will not be able to unlock them by traditional means. This could require a lot of time invested just into Act 5, to gather as many duffle bags as possible.

If you are going to implement a random loot box system, you shouldn’t lock it to only those who have the expansion pack. At the very least, implement it into the entire campaign, that way it doesn't drag too much. It will be a chore to constantly play Act 5 repeatedly just to try to have a chance at unlocking the new cards, let alone random cosmetic drops.

Verdict

The Children of the Worm expansion has some great content to provide but at a huge disadvantage. Dan is a fantastic addition to the game and offers some very fun features to aid the team. The Act 5 campaign is great fun but feels a bit too short. And if you didn't think the game could get more repetitive, the new duffle bag loot box system is exclusively for Act 5 missions only and will be a major grind for those wishing to unlock the new cards or any cosmetics without supply points. Unless you love cosmetics and I would probably wait to purchase this latest expansion. Without a patch to fix the grind trap, you are better off joining a friend who owns it to experience the campaign.