Hot off the heels of Cult of the Worm, Turtle Rock Studios dropped Back 4 Blood's third major expansion this December: River of Blood. Back 4 Blood, the spiritual successor to Valve's Left 4 Dead series, has improved by leaps and bounds with each new content update, and River of Blood is poised to mix up the franchise with new weapons, enemies, and a playable Cleaner with very disruptive tricks up her sleeve.
Game ZXC spoke with the game's senior writer Spencer McCurnin, Junior Level Designer Matt Baeli, Junior Game Designer Mike Schrauth, and other members of the Turtle Rock Studios team about this expansion's new offerings. Fans of the first two expansions have a lot to be excited about in this latest act of Fort Hope's story.
Back 4 Blood Introduces Tala and Her Tallboy, Jeff
The newest Cleaner in Back 4 Blood joining in River of Blood is Tala, who McCurnin describes as "the youngest and brightest" of the bunch.
"She’s quick to jump into action, solve a problem, or fire off a witty remark, however, she’s a bit sluggish when it comes to trusting others. You can’t blame her, though: the cultists promised her and her brother paradise, and instead, they delivered hell on earth."
While Tala's backstory should expand upon the themes of faith and trust examined in the Cult of the Worm Expansion, her Cleaner kit is primed to shake up B4B's team dynamics in a big way. Tala's Team Effect spawns a warped chest at the beginning of every level, which will potentially give players a massive buff alongside a curse. Tala also has a unique bleed-inducing passive that allows her to rack up big damage with rapid-fire weapons, which makes her especially effective at mowing down high-health foes.
Tala's most novel contribution to gameplay is her mostly-tamed Tallboy companion, Jeff. Similar to Half Life: Alyx's Jeff, Tala's Ridden friend is a fairly dumb but brutally relentless engine of destruction. Once summoned, Jeff will attack other Ridden on behalf of players' team. He will accrue aggro as he attacks, making him an effective tank. Baeli mentions that Jeff is especially useful in close quarters, so by deploying him at choke points, players can easily mulch entire groups of Ridden.
New Sentinel Ridden Mutations
To keep things interesting, Turtle Rock is also introducing a new Ridden mutation with three subclasses: the Sentinel. The Turtle Rock team describes these enemies as heavily mutated hive-minds of Ridden intermingled Ridden worm colonies.
"Although capable of movement, Sentinels generally stay in one place, defending their territory with sticky-bombs, parasitic swarms, or floating 'Wailer' mines."
Back 4 Blood's zombie-like enemies go well-beyond shambling, garden variety brain-eaters, and the new Sentinel hive-minds should prove to be challenging additions. The three variants of Sentinel include Swarmers, Wailers, and Lobbers. As their name suggests, Swarmers summon the Swarm to overwhelm survivors, then take cover and augment their assault with infected insects. Wailers launch aerial mines, denying Cleaners easy passage, and Lobbers are essentially Ridden grenadiers, throwing bombs that can damage groups of Cleaners at once.
Another new threat arriving in River of Blood are Razor Worms, which behave similarly to the Cleaner's razor-wire tools. Players can safely bypass these by crouching as they move, but a more fun option is to roast them with the expansion's flagship weapon: the flamethrower.
River of Blood's New Weapons
Players will finally be able to light up Ridden swarms with a flame-spewing primary weapon. As one would expect, the weapon deals damage over time to Ridden within range of its spray, and it pairs exceptionally well with the "Pyro" player card that doubles fire damage and heals the player as they take out Ridden. Aside from being a zombie-killing staple, the flamethrower should give players excellent crowd control and area-denial abilities.
Another exciting new armament is only available in Act 6's final mission, and for good reason: it goes out with a bang. The LAW rocket launcher is a satisfying tool for blasting bunches of clustered Ridden, or dealing massive damage to special Ridden or bosses. Finally, the game's bow is also getting a rework designed to maximize the weapon's versatility.
Back 4 Blood: River of Blood is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
