Game Cover

Here's my prescription, bitch!

Platform played on: Xbox Series X, PC

# Review

I remember when the game first came out; there was much hype due to it being marketed as the spiritual successor to the popular Left 4 Dead franchise. I’ve never played the Left 4 Dead games but I’ve heard a lot of good things about them so I played the Back 4 Blood beta with some friends and had a good time. I ended up playing the game on and off since release, and recently I finally finished both the main game and the DLCs.

The story is as generic as zombie stories get. An alien worm lands on Earth and quickly colonizes humans and turns them into vicious mutants known as the “Ridden”. The player is one of the group of veteran survivors a year after the outbreak. The survivors, known as “Cleaners” are based out of Fort Hope, a human survivor settlement. The story involves the Cleaners completing missions on behalf of Fort Hope in humanity’s struggle against the Ridden.

Mutated Ridden

The gameplay is highly co-operative and the game is the most fun when playing with friends as players have to coordinate and communicate in order to best complete the objectives, especially on the harder difficulties. The core gameplay consists of the Cleaners going into areas filled with the Ridden to complete certain objectives. The Cleaners are all voiced and they oftentimes have very entertaining dialogue at specific points in the mission. Highlights includes the various doctor metaphors Doc makes (voiced by Michelle Wong) and the conspiracy theories spewed by Hoffman (voiced by William Salyers). The Cleaners also each have their own special abilities and perks. I played the most with Karlee due to her ability to highlight traps.

Funny dialogue

While the mission objectives of each mission remain the same, the player’s experience with every playthrough will be drastically different based on gameplay adjusters. The player can build their own deck of perks to take into the missions. The perks range from boosts to certain stats, to different special effects. Unfortunately, the game uses a random loot box system to determine which perks one gets, so it may take a while to grind to the specific perk you may need for a build. The missions also employ an AI Director feature which adds additional difficulty to the missions, such as spawning difficult bosses and adding extra mutations to certain Ridden.

Building a loadout deck

Although the game is designed to be replayable, I don’t see myself replaying all that often because the game is largely dead and none of my friends play it anymore. While the missions are fun, the players don’t really get rewarded for replaying each level (other than the loot box-like system for grinding perk cards). The story also isn’t compelling enough to be reexperienced. There is a multiplayer PVP Swarm Mode where one can play as a Ridden against other players as humans, but the mode never really took off.

Swarm Mode

# Conclusion

A decent co-op shooter but low replayability.

# Overall rating: 7.9

What does the rating mean?

# DLC Reviews

# Fort Hope Elite Weapon Skins

This is the pre-order bonus (also available to Gamepass Ultimate members). The pack just includes some weapons skins, which are pretty mediocre (just green camo).

# Overall rating: 7.0

# Ultimate Edition Digital Content

This pack includes new skins from some of the characters. My favourite is probably the Battle-Hardened skin for Mom, which looks totally badass.

# Overall rating: 7.2

# Tunnels of Terror

This is the first full DLC. It introduces Ridden Hives, which are dungeons that randomly appear in the levels from the main campaign. The Hives include new enemies as well as new collectibles which can be redeemed for new perk cards and cosmetics. The Hives feel like shorter campaign missions without the story. There are some interesting levels but many Hives feel like more of the same. There are two Cleaners added: Heng and Sharice. Heng plays like a scavenger character while Sharice is good for tanking. The new skins added are largely mediocre.

# Overall rating: 7.5

# Children of the Worm

This is the first story DLC, introducing Act 5 of the main story. The act deals with cultists who have been kidnapping survivors and who have a symbiotic relationship with the alien worm. The new cultist enemies add a new dimension to the game as they introduce new metas to the gameplay (such as the Sniper and the Crone, who are primarily long range enemies). The Cleaner being added, "Prophet" Dan, has very interesting perks (focused on supporting the team) and an interesting backstory. Matthew Waterson does a great job voicing Dan. The cosmetics are pretty interesting, as they showcase what the Cleaners looked like prior to the outbreak. Finally, the new cards and weapons added shakes up the meta and allows new builds using new strategies.

# Overall rating: 7.8

# River of Blood

The final DLC introduces Act 6 of the main story. The act continues the clash between the cultists and the Cleaners. The Cleaners take the fight to the cultists by assaulting the main cultist strongholds. The level design is very interesting in Act 6, having the Cleaners traverse areas like museums and TV stations. The new Cleaner this time is Tala, a cult survivor who has the ability to summon a mutated Ridden to fight on her behalf. As with the previous DLC, new enemies, new weapons, and new perks are added to the game, creating new metas. The cosmetics this time are very cool, especially the character skin for Holly.

# Overall rating: 7.9