No DLC? No problem! Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios has confirmed that only the game host has to have it, so you won’t miss out. Like chlamydia, but… actually, maybe not so much like chlamydia.
“No separation. No exclusion. No split,” the team explains in a blog update on the Back 4 Blood website, with free access to the host’s DLC available to other players in the game’s PVE and PVP modes. Some custom content, including Cleaners and Ridden – the game’s intrepid heroes and parasitic zombie bad guys – can also be unlocked by just playing the game.
In PVE, if your party leader owns a paid content drop, you will be able to play that content with them – including maps, gameplay and campaign.
In PVP, everyone who bought Back 4 Blood can get access to all additional PVP content, even without purchasing content drops. Players who don’t buy the content drops can earn new playable characters and Ridden in PVP, for free, through progression. Additionally, all PVP players have access to the same cards at the start of each match, regardless of whether those players have purchased content drops or not.
At the Xbox E3 show this weekend, Turtle Rock Studios debuted a video of Back 4 Blood’s “Swarm” PVP mode, in which two squads of four must take each other out. Remember Left 4 Dead’s PVP mode? It’s got those vibes.
Back 4 Blood launches on 12 October 2021 on PC and consoles, including day one access for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.