Product Review Code Provided by Turtle Rock Studios
Turtle Rock Studios made headlines last year with its release of the highly anticipated zombie title, Back 4 Blood. The Left 4 Dead spiritual successor arrived with a mostly positive reception from old fans and newcomers alike. You can check out our full review to see what exactly we thought of the title on launch day, but today we are going to focus on its first DLC content for the year, Tunnels of Terror. With promises of a new way to play the game, new cards, and new playable cleaners, this DLC drop is sounding like a solid start for B4B fans. But does it deliver?
Gameplay
The Tunnels of Terror DLC grants players access to engage in Ridden Hives that are randomly scattered throughout the original campaign of B4B. They are easy to spot, with a bright purple aura emanating from the distance, signifying a Hive entrance. Once all players decide to enter the Hive, the current level immediately ends and the game begins to load the Hive tunnel.
The Hive tunnels are, you guessed it, underground tunnels that are usually interconnected and house tons of Ridden and mutated Ridden alike. With risk comes reward, because although these treacherous tunnels birth some of the most challenging brutal Ridden you will come across in the game, it is also littered with precious loot that will feed your curiosity for further exploration. The deeper you go in the tunnels, the more likely you will find better loot.
On my first Hive tunnel run, I was able to snag a legendary shotgun that had incredible range while also having the chance to dish out fire and shock damage on the doomed Ridden. I was a God! It immediately became my go-to weapon and helped rip through the Ridden hordes with ease. Granted, I was playing on the Normal difficulty but I could tell that this weapon would fair well, regardless of difficulty level. The great thing about the random weapon drops is that you get to keep them for the entirety of your run!
the Hives offer some intense moments and awesome loot.
The other purpose of the Hive tunnels is the opportunity to snatch Skull Totems. In my game sessions, I have noticed that there are usually three Skull Totems per Tunnel area. They are not essential, but rather completely optional to find and extract once the going gets too tough. These Skull Totems give players the ability to purchase new cards, cosmetics, and skins that are unique to the Hive Tunnel supply line. There are 12 new cards in the Tunnels of Terror supply line, which means you only need 24 Skull Totems to unlock all of the new cards. The supply line updates every hour with new offerings and players can find a bountiful of cosmetics to snag as well.
The Hives sometimes offer the ability to go even deeper down the tunnels, which reveals an area ripped right out of Doom: Eternal, in the best way possible. Without giving too much away, it's essentially a grand finale of sorts to your tunneling adventure and seriously rewards you with awesome loot and even more Skull Totems to spend on the supply line.
On top of this newly added gameplay feature, the DLC also comes with two new playable cleaners fitted with their own unique skills and abilities. Heng and Sharice are welcome additions to the team and feel like they cater to a mixture of playstyles. Heng starts with an RPK machine gun and a hatchet, giving those tank players a big reason to choose Heng. He can also sense nearby attachments and more importantly, Hive entrances. Heng is easily one of my favorite new characters. Sharice is also unique in the fact that she has the chance to have armored-ridden drop pieces of usable armor. They break off in small chunks but one can easily build up a decent armor, especially in the harder difficulties.
Along with the new characters and Hive gameplay feature, the DLC also comes with new cosmetics and skins for existing characters. There are lots to see and unlock, giving the game more replayability if you are into cosmetics.
What It Could Have Done Better
Skull Totem supply line updates every hour.
For some reason, I was under the impression that the Tunnels of Terror was going to be a completely separate mode from the base game. Instead, it is integrated into the campaign and can only be accessed by randomly running into them during a campaign playthrough. I was a bit disappointed to find out that this wasn't its own separate mode. Don’t get me wrong, it is a welcome addition to the game and adds some spice to the campaign, but that's exactly the issue. It's an addition to the campaign that I have already played through multiple times. If I want to experience the intensity the Hives have to offer and face off against the newly added mutated RIdden, I’ll have to join a random game and cross my fingers that a Hive will spawn in that level.
The Hives are great fun and add some longevity to the game, however, I do believe Back 4 Blood desperately needs another game mode to keep players coming back to the game. Unlockable cosmetics are cool and new cards sound interesting, but when you realize it's all just to replay the same missions over and over, it starts to get stale no matter how much you throw into it. The repetition is clearly there.
A Tunnel system that allowed players to keep going deeper and challenge the player's survival skills would have added so much more life to this game. Loot and cards that are specific to this new mode would essentially create a brand new way to play the game. Add in an endless randomly generated tunnels system and the longevity would fly through the roof!
The addition of the No Hope difficulty is a nice bonus but for me, it's still more treading through the same levels and completing the same objectives. I would rather have an additional difficulty mode than nothing, but I feel like Turtle Rock really needs to bring something substantial for the next DLC drop.
Verdict
Brand new cards, cosmetics, and skins all unlockable with Skull Totems.
Back 4 Blood is great co-op fun and the Tunnels of Terror DLC adds more content to this great game. It's a good start for hopefully a lot more substantial content to come, and this time to hopefully give us a new mode that doesn't involve running through the campaign for the billionth time.
Back 4 Blood and the Tunnels of Terror DLC is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and EGS.
