Rockstar has a track record for releasing some amazing DLC for their games and this is no different. It has everything you can ever want in a undead apocalypse game, Undead, Nuns, people eating each other, Unicorns, and even Sasquatches!
The game starts off right after John Marston gets home to his family after killing Bill Williamson. The Marston family is having a nice familiar gathering when they wonder where Uncle is. They don't put too much worry on it and head to bed. Uncle makes for a rude awakening as he has become a shambling undead and attacks John and Abigail in there bedroom. John manages to knock him out with a lamp and he runs off to find his gun leaving Abigail in there with the Undead Uncle which later regains consciousness and chases Abigail outside and proceeds to bite her. While she writhes in pain Marston kills Uncle. Their son runs out to see if his mother is alright and is bitten by her. They soon change into Undead and Marston ties them up and stows them in their house as he sets off to find a cure for this "disease".
This DLC does not mix with the main Red Dead storyline and when you start up the game you get a prompt on which version of the game you want to play which is pretty awesome. I was worried that they would be forced to make it all either a dream state or a hallucination. If you were expecting a half assed DLC with Undead attached you are gladly mistaken. The DLC actually has a really good story with many old characters popping up and some meeting their fate to the barrel of your gun (for the first time or again).
The Undead type are spread even into the animals. From Undead Bears to Undead Bulls, everything has been infected. The main human Undead is classified into four groups; Your standard slow walking shambling Undead, A Retcher which spits out blobs of acid and explodes when killed causing splash damage (It is NOT a L4D2 Spitter even if they do kind of moan the same), Bruisers big fat guys who rush you and attempt to knock you down (No they're not Chargers from L4D), and Bolters who scurry around the floor on all fours at high speeds and attack you (Not Jockeys from L4D2). This mix of undead proves to some annoyingly hard situations when you get attacked by 4 Bolters while getting spit on by a Retcher for example which can lead to death in a few seconds. Luckily you have a handful of new weapons to assist you; a Blunderbuss which shots undead body parts, Undead Bait which comes in handy to draw them out if you're snipping them from a roof top, A Torch melee weapon which sets undead on fire, and Holy Water which sets Undead on fire in a glorious blue flame. Oh and you can only kill undead with headshots. I know right?!
The environment and ambiance of this game really pulls you in. Everything is covered in an eerie gray fog, the skies are covered with grey clouds and it periodically rains making it feel even more dreary. When you save a town from an Undead Horde the sky above the town clears up and sunshine pours in which I thought was a really nice touch. Also, when you ride out and spot a saved town you can see the sky opening and the rays of light shinning down which gives the game a more dream-scape like feeling to it.
The new Challenges and collectibles (so to speak) for this DLC come in the shape of the Four Horses Of The Apocalypse (Famine,War,Pestilence and Death) which you find through random encounters exploring the world. So have specific traits that prove useful (Pestilence has a high damage resistance for example)when traveling. They have unlimited stamina which is another plus when trying to outrun an undead Cougar (or 4 Undead cougars =|) or a flash mob of Undead. The Hunter Challenges are still there and come in a few fun and sometimes ridiculously over the top packages.
I didn't want to give away everything but overall this add-on does not take itself seriously at all. From the cheesy B-movie intro scene to a Sasquatch talking to you about how horrible humans are, Undead Nightmare is probably one of the best DLCs to come out this year and I suggest everyone with a copy of RDR to get it.
P.S: There's also a stand alone hard copy of it coming out Nov. 26 for 30 bucks just in case you dont want to buy RDR just for the DLC.
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