Contains Both Tunnels and Terror
Well, what I wrote in the subtitle explains it all. The end.
Just kidding. I’ve been playing Back 4 Blood since…December, I think. And like similar intense co-op games like this, we blasted through it in like three days. It was fun, and then that was it. Back 4 Blood also brings with it unlockable things to keep me coming back: Cards can be unlocked. You use the cards to make decks and you draw those cards as you play through the levels. The cards are always in the order you set them in the deck to be, so that’s nice. It makes playthroughs a little different every time. You can also unlock skins. If you know me, I’m definitely a girl who really likes making her characters look the way she wants them to. And then there are weapon skins, which I also am a great fan of.
The characters are pretty likable.. The variance in their lines is not as diverse as Left 4 Blood, but they’re still fun to hear. I admit it took me a little bit to like the characters, but by the end of the Recruit difficulty it was all good. Oh, that’s right. Then we worked our way through Veteran difficulty with only two players, because by that time most of the group stopped playing. And then we tried Nightmare and we got slaughtered. The most recent update made it a little easier, but we still get slaughtered and I am just not going to play with randos.
Alright, let’s get to Tunnels of Terror.
Is it worth it? Kinda? Let’s talk about the different things and then you can determine for yourself, because we likely have different interests.
Tunnels/Hives:
So you can go into Ridden Hives that randomly spawn in the levels. And these hives are actual entire levels you get to play in. The way they’re attached to the main campaign instead of their own levels reminds me a lot of Path of Exile’s content additions. And I love that. I love it in Path of Exile because they keep adding more stuff and that means more chaos and unexpected occurrences. I love that kind of chaos. But that also means you will not be choosing hives as levels to play through. Even when you’re playing through the campaign, they’re not guaranteed to spawn. …at least from what I’ve seen.
The hives themselves are really fun to play. Even though their designs are mostly just slimy tunnels, there’s something about venturing through them that makes the gameplay of them really fun, if not better than most of the levels in the campaign. Sometimes they’re fairly straight forward, and other times they feel like mazes. In both senses they have been really fun for me and my ally to play in. We love them. While in these hives you can open warped chests which drop a bunch of good loot at the expense of some negative effect like everyone in the team taking trauma damage after opening it. Which leads me to…
Legendary Weapons:
You can find these in warped chests. I love the legendary weapons. They are exactly what I want from such things: unique look, flavor text, and some fancy effect. These are unmoddable weapons that do special effects like adding burning damage to an AA-12 while giving the wielder immunity to fire damage. I like to open warped chests just to try and find these weapons, because they’re so fun to use. They’re a very refreshing effect to the usual guns we wield. You can also find unique, named mods that have crazy effects like 100% recoil reduction, but lose a ton of movement speed while shooting. Those are also really fun and great. Also in the hives we can find…
Skull Totems/Skins:
To be clear, skull totems are not skins, but they’re related to them. In hives you can find up to three skull totems. They’re a melee weapon that you have to actively hold. Switching to any other item will make you drop the totem. Each totem can be combined with the next to make it stronger (and slower in attack speed). This allows for convenient travel with multiple totems, uh, in one totem! That way only one person needs to carry it if need be. If you’re using a melee build, these skull totems are great! If you’re not, they’re not great! It’s annoying to have to drop it just to switch to a ranged weapon if there are sleepers on the walls, and then pick them back up again. But if you manage to escape the hive with the skull totems, you can spend them at the convoy to get other unlockables. Like skins!
The new outfits are great, but there are not that many new skins. I honestly expected a little more out of something they deemed an “expansion”. The character skins are fun, but it’s the weapon skins that I’m kind of disappointed in. Most of them are the same style on every gun. A new biohazard skin? A ton of them have that same yellow-black styling. A new hot rod skin? It’s on a lot of them as well. None of the skins are unique to any type of gun, and I don’t really like that. I like it when the skins are unique to the guns. I don’t mind if there are a few repeats, like in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but when it’s always repeated, it doesn’t feel great. It’s just a mixed bag for me on this one.
Some of the new talents and cards and stuff are really great though. I’ve yet to be disappointed in the cards. Some can seem kind of plain, but are still important for creating variety in decks, and I’m very okay with that.
Characters:
I’m glad there is another Asian. I’m super biased about that, but I’m glad. Heng is a new cleaner who has more utility in accessory items. There usually isn’t a huge feeling of difference between characters in Back 4 Blood. Even with other characters abilities and damage buffs, to be honest they tend to feel mostly the same. I’m honestly okay with that, but so far Heng is just another cleaner to play as. If you like to combo accessory effects though, he’s definitely someone to try out. I like trying to make items be reusable or drop/spawn as frequently as possible and he’s just the person for that.
However, Sharice makes the game feel very different. Sharice makes it so armor plates can be found in the maps. Armor plates will take a heavy hit for you, and you can equip multiple. Shooting off armor from enemies will also have a chance of dropping armor plates. These things can make a huge difference. Just imagine having any of the accessory items not spawn because one of the team members isn’t using a character. I mean, that’s how big of a deal she is. Well, quite literally, that’s the difference. She also gives increased max temp health for the team, which is also really nice if you like gulping down meds or are using cards to get temp health.
Mutations and Monsters:
The new variations of ridden are really fun to play with. The tallboy variant Ripper can slam the ground and send spikes through the ground as it does so, making it a ranged tank. The reeker variant is the Shredder, which pulls people towards it. Instead of bursting in gross goo, the Shredder’s head just pops and just kinda spews it out in a small area of effect near it. The stinger variant is the Urchin, which shoots spiky mines.
Parting Words:
As a last note, only one player needs Tunnels of Terror for everyone to experience hives. Skull totems and their associated skins can be earned even if you don’t have the expansion. Characters can be unlocked in PvP by playing PvP, but to use them in PvE you need to have the expansion. The expansion by itself is $14.99 right now. If it’s just the hive content you’re wanting to play, it’s not a bad price for the content for a party. I’m still pretty mixed about how I feel about the package as a whole, but I will not deny that I enjoy my time with Back 4 Blood and the new content is a welcome experience.
With most co-op games, how fun it is really depends on who you’re playing with, and even though there is only one other person in my party left, we have a really good time with the game. I hope there can be more improvements at the next expansion.
I don’t really give number ratings for games, but that was my experience. Some people express their concern that I am fairly positive about everything in games, but this does not make this thought process for naught. I’m sure there are things about the game that I said that you might think, “Oh, I don’t really like that,” or maybe, “I don’t think this is enough content for me.” And if any of my words help clarify any of those thoughts, then I believe myself to have succeeded. I just want you all to be able to find the fun in games wherever you can, and if you can’t find it here in the Tunnels of Terror expansion, that’s okay!
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next time~
Elise
Game Praisers 