The Children of the Worm expansion is the second expansion for Back 4 Blood and includes a new campaign story act, Chapter 5. The Lockjaw and Bear Trap are new for this expansion; there are new enemy threats and skins and the new 8-bit Weapon Skins. In this article, I will take you through the content piece by piece. An in-depth review of Trial of the Worm is also included in this article. 

New Threats 

Children of the Worm introduces new threats, the images seen here are taken from the Back 4 Blood website. 

There are other types of new enemies as well but these two stood out to me the most.

Trial of the Worm review 

Trial of the Worm is simply fantastic and is the only reason I still have Back 4 Blood installed on my PlayStation 5. I love that you’re playing through one level at a time and the modifiers are changeable. The whole game mode is fantastic and you can see my first run, which could’ve been better, below. 

Trial of the Worm fixes one of my biggest issues with Back 4 Blood, and that’s because it doesn’t feel like a campaign. In my Back 4 Blood review, I talk about this more, but I feel as though this game works better when you’re not following a set narrative. The modifiers are fair and extremely fun, though they kind of caught me off guard during my first run. The game mode took around 50 minutes for me to complete and I was smiling the whole time. 

As you go through each level, you can also grab mementos to increase your score. At first, I thought that this would become tedious, but I began to enjoy looking for them pretty quickly. By far my favorite part of this game mode is how many mutated ridden you come across. I did the whole thing with bots and had a good time. 

Children of the Worm Final Thoughts 

I hate Act 5. Actually, I detest Act 5, and it will be a chore for me to reach the end. The new enemy types are extremely fun to face and while I appreciate that we got new enemies at all they’re completely overshadowed by the constant spawning of “special ridden” that seem to be never-ending. 

Frankly, I got bored during the first part of Act 5, but I wanted to go in and do at least one more level before having to put the game down for a while. This has been a recurring theme for me with Back 4 Blood. During the first part of Act 5, you have to repair a boat, a process that I’m sure would be more fun with friends, but that was awful with bots. 

The spawning issues are so apparent during this level it had me nearly grinding my teeth to see a “special ridden.” At one point, 3, maybe four exploders or whatever they’re called, came one after the other to a fence by the dock. In the same dock where a Hag got stuck, a bot had to free it because it got stuck in the doorway or something. 

So I continue to the second level and I finally get to see these new enemy types and I’m so happy to see any kind of variety. The Snipers are annoying with bots but are probably no issue when you have some teammates. I also want to call attention to the bear trap, I found myself stepping in them a few times but never felt the need to carry them around. Why would I? There are better options in the game… 

But now I’m ranting. 

Children of the Worm felt stale and boring to me, so much so that I haven’t finished running through the Act yet. There are some things I like about this DLC, the first being that there is a nice variety in the two levels that I play. I was happy not to run into any trees, and the design, especially of the second level, felt interesting and unique. The bow and claws are some of the most fun I have had with any weapon in the game thus far but I did have to grab them during my second Trial of the Worm run. 

Unfortunately, Act 5 left a bland taste in my mouth and I did not feel the need to continue pushing forward.