REACTION - Back 4 Blood’s First Expansion Is A First Step To Bigger Things

Goin’ down unda.

By Jay Tee
01/03/22

Slaying hordes in a celebratory, Left 4 Dead style co-op shooter is an experience that has clearly resonated, as Back 4 Blood has reached 10 million players since its launch in October 2021. With news that Turtle Rock are dropping the first major paid expansion in April, this new Ridden Hives mode should hopefully be the first of many new additions.

Although not strictly a new campaign level (which we’ll hopefully starting seeing later on), one little nugget from today’s press release was a decisive mention of zero paid microtransactions, either now or in the future. It’s a welcome move in an era where free to play and premium games have embraced additional monetisation as an expected feature, which can be a tad overwhelming if you’re already spreading yourself thin across various active titles.

It remains to be seen how fleshed out this new mode will be, but the excuse to dive back in with a trusty crew is jolly to say the least. There’s also a couple of new playable characters, a bunch of wacky Ridden variants, and a free “No Hope” update, which ups the difficulty straight into silly town. My Kelpien Threat Ganglia are now at maximum protrusion.