“Beyond the cursed Halls lie the Boglands—a sunken realm of creeping roots, drowned spirits, and creatures that never quite died properly. This large expansion for Halls of Torment opens a festering new frontier, introducing fresh heroes, mechanics, and additional challenges for those who believe they’ve tamed the torment.” – Steam Description

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The main feature of the new DLC is the titular map, The Boglands, which features terrain pockmarked with pools of water that slow your movement, enemies that explode with poison and giant spores that will temporarily debuff the player when destroyed. As the newest edition to the list of maps, it does fall at the very end of the progression of maps and is only unlockable after completing the quest for finding at least 11 of the alchemical ingredients for the Cupbearer in the town. In addition to the new map, the DLC also introduces two new characters: The Crone and the Alchemist. Both characters I had unlocked after my first successful run of the new map.

The DLC also comes with a whole list of artifacts, abilities and quests (achievements). In truth, this new expansion is exactly that, more content for the game in the form of systems that already exist. None of this is really adding a new mechanic to the game. The characters themselves have new base weapons but still heavily rely on the same skills that had already existed and the new characters don’t really feel any different to play.

The Crone’s main weapon summons various plants that are completely stationary and, aside from one ranged plant, serve as AOE attacks. The Crone also introduces a new status called “decay” which deals minor damage over time and debuffs enemy defense and block stats.

The Alchemist’s main weapon is a ranged attack which throws elemental bombs that cycle through the four elements (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth) in order. If you have any other source of any element they will leave a damaging puddle of the element on the ground as well.

In addition to the paid DLC (Currently $3.99 USD) there is a free update which introduced another character, the Bard. The Bard is a completely unique character to the game which is unlocked by beating the Vault. Not only does the Bard have the lute as a starting weapon which is a short ranged cone attack but also only has access to a unique set of abilities instead of the ones every other character has access to. Some of these new abilities include a mosh pit of imps, pyrotechnic explosions and (my personal favorite) a spectral “wall of death” like you would see at a metal concert where two walls of spirits rush toward a center point, dealing massive damage to anything caught in the middle.

• Graphics– The graphics maintain that old school RPG aesthetic that the base game established. Everything that was introduced still fits into the demon/monster theme that Halls of Torment is known for though once a run really picks up, a lot of that does get lost in the chaos
• Gameplay– Other than the new Bard class (which is a free update alongside the DLC), this did not introduce anything new gameplay wise. There are more ways to specialize a build and a new element to explore but the core gameplay remains unchanged.
• Sound– The soundtrack is, surprisingly, one of the bigger actual changes to the game here. With the introduction to the bard, you get to choose one of three different tracks to play instead of the default music of the stage. The Bard class and these songs all center around the theme of a metal musician, so I was happy for this little addition.
• Controls– Controls remain the same as the standard game. WASD to move and the optional toggles for automatic aiming and attacking or using the mouse to do them both manually.
• Story– There is a minor lore addition to the Boglands stage but it is only a few sentences long. This isn’t really a game known for having an in-depth story so I won’t deduct much here.