2024's true GOTY was a Diablo-flavoured Vampire Survivors-like, and it just announced a big free update and an enormo-DLC

Keyart for Halls of Torment showing a single figure facing down an army of wratihs.

(Image credit: Chasing Carrots)

The best game of 2024 is getting DLC. No, not Balatro. I don't even know what that is. I mean Halls of Torment, the excellent Vampire Survivors-like (do we have a better name for these yet?) that I boldly and correctly made my personal game of the year for 2024.

Called The Boglands and set for later this year, the DLC sounds like a meaty one to me. It brings a new stage—no prizes for guessing it's "a slowing swamp teeming with insects"—two new heroes, 50+ new quests, and a new decay mechanic that will let you gradually soften up armoured foes to make them susceptible to your murdering.

And yes, those new heroes make full use of the new stuff. One of them is The Crone, who summons plants to hurt enemies and spread decay, while The Alchemist just lobs elemental damage all over the shop, notably including the new Earth element.

Sounds good to me, though I never felt like Halls of Torment was desperately in need of new content. Turns out the devs at Chasing Carrots agree: "Our initial idea of Halls of Torment as a self-contained and rounded experience was very clear and we hadn’t put much thought beyond this point," they write in the announcement. "But due to the positive reception and because we’re still full of ideas, we decided to release additional content packages."

The DLC will be paid, but Chasing Carrots also announced a free update alongside it. That one's called Bardcore, and introduces the Bard character along with six new abilities, six new artefacts, and "Three metal music tracks with music selection per stage." Which is what's most important of all.

The Crone attacks a horde of enemies in Halls of Torment. — (Image credit: Chasing Carrots)

Honestly, Chasing Carrots could have announced a bad flu and I'd just be excited to see it continuing to get attention. I scored it 90% in our Halls of Torment review from the start of this year and declared that "Halls of Torment assembles the Frankenstein parts of Diablo and Vampire Survivors into something brilliantly all its own." You know what? I was right.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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