After a couple of weeks of teasing, Turtle Rock Studios' Left 4 Dead successor receives its second expansion today: Back 4 Blood: Children of the Worm. Like Back 4 Blood's first expansion, Tunnels of Terror, Children of the Worm brings new missions, equipment, cards, and weaponry to the table, but this time, an entirely new class of enemies is joining the party: Cultists. These new enemies will fight with different tactics, using weapons and tools like the Cleaners that hunt them.
Game ZXC interviewed Turtle Rock Studios' Community Manager, Rose Ty, about the new threats arriving in the gore-soaked zombie shooter. And even experienced Cleaners will want to brush up on their skills before diving into the new dangers of the multi-chapter fifth act featuring the eponymous Children of the Worm.
Bait Jars, Dusters, and Bear Traps, Oh My
The central focus of Children of the Worm is undoubtedly the new cultist enemies, but they aren't the only new peril players will face. Turtle Rock detailed some traps and weapons that will be used against Cleaners in the upcoming expansion. As Ty said,
"In addition to our new Cultists, there are a few items that will keep Cleaners checking their feet. Bear Traps, Dusters, and Bait Jars are new to Back 4 Blood."
Back 4 Blood's bear traps are conceptually straight-froward threats that apply a temporary immobilization buff as well as a bleed effect. Dusters are traps that will summon a horde to attack the cleaner who trips them. Similarly, Bait Jars are essentially grenades flung by Pusflinger enemies that are loaded with Reeker bile. Like Reekers' attacks, the bile will apply a slow debuff and draw Common Ridden to swarm the affected Cleaner. Paired with other level hazards, like Crows and Sleepers, these new threats will demand an extra degree of caution, especially when moving through foggy terrain or brush.
Fortunately, Cleaners can turn the tables on cultists by purchasing bait jars and bear traps from the vendor's crate, in addition to Children of the Worm's new weapons.
Meet The Cultists of Back 4 Blood's Children of the Worm Cult
Just like the zombie-like, worm-riddled Ridden enemies, who come in a variety of disgusting flavors, the new cultist enemies are not monolithic. Ty described four different categories of human enemies in Children of the Worm:
The new Act, Act 5, is one mission with six chapters. In th campaign, players will get up close and personal with the four different Cultist members: Pusflinger, Slasher, Sniper, and Crone.
As mentioned above, the Pusflinger enemy is something like a grenadier, attacking Cleaners with Bait Jars. Slashers and Snipers lie at opposite ends of the range spectrum; the former will bum-rush Cleaners with their claw weapons, while the latter will try to pick players off from afar. Finally, the Crone enemy is a ranged AOE specialist who will attack teams with volleys of arrows. Each cultist type seems similar to various 'builds' Back 4 Blood's Cleaners can adopt with their deck of player cards, with styles based around tool use, precision damage, crowd control, and straight-up brawling.
It has yet to be seen how much the humanoid enemies will vary from their Ridden counterparts, and ultimately, their effectiveness at mixing up B4B's formula will likely boil down to AI. If the new enemies are as cunning as the game's improved Bot AI, Cleaners could get in over their heads fast.
Food in Back 4 Blood
Another intriguing item class that will mix up the Back 4 Blood formula is food. While the Ridden do most of the devouring in Back 4 Blood, Cleaners will want to keep an eye out for food items to stave off hunger. So far, Turtle Rock Studios has been cryptic about the exact benefits of eating—and the dangers of going hungry—but Ty stated that the new consumables should be "exceptionally helpful" when Cleaners find themselves peckish. It seems plausible that food will serve a survival or recovery purpose, but it is also likely that the new perk cards coming with the expansion will synergize with these consumables in interesting ways.
Back 4 Blood: Children of the Worm is available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.