Mutant-battling co-op horror shooter Back 4 Blood sees the arrival of a moustachioed new character and some very angry enemies with its second DLC pack today, Children Of The Worm. There’s also fresh campaign missions, weapons and cards. Watch the trailer below, and my heartfelt condolences to anyone from Ireland.
The DLC stars a new Cleaner, one of Back 4 Blood’s playable characters. He’s called ‘Prophet’ Dan, and he’s meant to be Irish. The preacher has a very Hercule Poirot meets Charles Bronson look, with his bald head and big twirly moustache. He seems to be fond of talking in scripture.
Dan’s traits include the team effects of Divine Intervention, which applies a random effect whenever he revives another cleaner, and Protect The Flock, which grants +3 team damage resistance and knockback immunity while reviving. Dan also has the Vengeful attribute, providing boosts to combat attributes when other players are out of action, and Legerdemain, starting him with a smoke grenade.
Children Of The Worm also includes six new chapters of the campaign, new weapons, accessories, cards, and more character and weapons skins. The new story missions are set along the banks of the Kanowa River, where more and more survivors are being attacked. Some are killed, others are dragged away. Dan is searching for his missing flock, and it seems like he’ll be up against some bag-headed DIY version of Wolverine in the process.
Today’s release is the second of three planned DLC packs for Turtle Rock Studios’ return to co-op horror. Back 4 Blood’s first expansion, Tunnels of Terror, rocked up in April. That one brought a new difficulty mode, the charming sounding No Hope, and added unofficial support for the game on Valve’s Steam Deck handheld. Tunnels of Terror also introduced two more Cleaners, firefighter Sharice and survivalist Heng. Turtle Rock haven’t shared any details of what to expect in the third DLC pack yet.
When the game launched back in October last year, Alice Bee particularly enjoyed the missives Back 4 Blood has daubed on its walls and post-it notes. “There’s one that says, “Thank God For Rednecks,” and another that says, “PISS FIRE SHIT THUNDER”. And appended to that one is a blue one that says “This used to be a nice neighbourhood :(” which was clearly written by the sort of person who had strong opinions about the correct use of the fridge in the office break room.”
Back 4 Blood’s Children Of The Worm DLC is out today, at 6pm BST/7pm CEST/10am PDT. It’s available on Steam and the Epic Games Store as part of the Annual Pass, or separately for £12/$15/€15.