Back 4 Blood: Children of the Worm

Children of the Worm is absolutely the type of expansion that Back 4 Blood deserves. It is substantially better than the awful first expansion. This expansion brings a new Cleaner, four new enemies, and six new levels to play through. The levels feel like they’ve been carefully constructed to showcase both the new enemies, especially the snipers, and the hordes of Ridden. There are some minor annoyances, such as a ridiculous overabundance of bear traps strewn about. However, all in all, this is a worthy addition to Back 4 Blood. If the third and final Back 4 Blood expansion follows this formula, we’re in for a treat.

Having a whole new act is great to give players more areas to explore and secrets to find. As we know from the core story of Back 4 Blood, there were many easter eggs in the levels paying respect to horror movies. I didn’t see any that jumped out at me with this expansion, but I’m sure they are there. Children of the Worm is a fun, action-packed experience, and within the first 24 hours of release, I was already rehooked into the game and finished it three times over. Sadly, my only downside was there was no big bad to fight at the end of the new act. I was hoping for an epic boss fight to wrap it up.

Back 4 Blood’s second expansion Children of the Worm delivers some urgently needed fresh content with a new campaign, character and weapons. It relies on the stale objective design and flawed gameplay of its base, but it also offers some fun missions and new enemy types to overcome. It’s a step in the right direction for Turtle Rock Studios and Back 4 Blood, most importantly leaving me optimistic for the planned third expansion, instead of with an intrepid fear of mediocrity that followed Tunnels of Terror.

Children of the Worm adds in some good-looking new environments, a throwaway story featuring a solid new character, and some of the craziest firefights I’ve ever seen. Solo or alone Back 4 Blood is always a good time, and the base game is still on Game Pass. As long as one member of your group owns the expansion you can all play it, and you’ll have a hell of a (short) time if you do.