Back 4 Blood: Tunnels Of Terror DLC Review

Since Back 4 Blood debuted in October 2021, it's been players' best-looking and perhaps most extravagant Left 4 Dead successor since the original sequel in 2009, but it's also been a frustratingly inconsistent game to play. In one level, you may excitedly limp to the saferoom as a swarm scratches at your heels, the way any horde shooter should often feel, only for the next level to be a mess of enemy spam and poor objective design. Six months later, pacing and design issues still hinder the experience in the game's first expansion, Tunnels of Terror, but the moments of frustration are finally showing signs of waning alongside some fun additions to the game's core campaign.

The Tunnels of Terror expansion adds two characters, a slew of weapons, and seven new levels to Back 4 Blood in the form of Ridden Hives. Rather than offer up another underplayed side attraction to the main campaign, these Ridden Hives are smartly built right into the game's original, already lengthy story mode. Spawning at random, hives act as high-risk, high-reward optional dungeons into which a full team must agree to descend together.

Tauntingly, they often appear near safe rooms, giving squads of Cleaners a decision to make: head for the security of the bright orange door, or sink into the hellish hives for the game's best loot? For any high-level players, the decision should be an easy one. Legendary weapons can only be found in these hives, not to mention the game's new free currency, Skull Totems, which can unlock exclusive new cosmetics. Those factors should mean that the toughest roguelite runs demand at least one pit stop in a hive for better weapons. However, the game's legacy issues, like poorly balanced enemy swarms, continue to get in the way.