Review: Red Dead Redemption's "Undead Nightmare"

While I’m really surprised Rockstar hasn’t made any sort of mention about the next GTA game, I’m actually okay with it. The reason I’m okay with that is because their reboot of the Red Dead series with “Red Dead Redemption” is incredible. The setting, characters, gameplay, environments, the inhabitants (both human and animal) all made RDR one of the most engaging sandbox games I’ve ever played. Many people panned it for a perceived lack of things to do but those people are usually comparing RDR to GTA4 and of course, a game set in a modern day, big city is going to have a few more things to do in a game set in the Old West. Those people are also completely missing the point of RDR. Sure it could’ve benefitted from some sort of karma system (like in Fallout) to give your decisions a little more weight but honestly, I didn’t have any problem with the linear story of John Marston trying to redeem himself and his family for his past actions.

Rockstar has released a handful of DLC packs for RDR (like “Liars and Cheats” and “Legends and Killers”) but these packs usually added a handful of new multiplayer characters, a new weapon or other small add-ons. “Undead Nightmare” is unique in that it offers a brand new single-player experience. While it is not quite as deep as the regular single player story, Undead Nightmare’s story follows John Marston all over the Old West and into Mexico as well.

Starting on a night like any other, John and his family are unwinding at the end of the day and beginning to get dinner ready. John’s mention that Uncle hasn’t made his way home yet from town has an ominous feeling. Before long, Uncle does make his way back but is quite different from when he left. He immediately attacks Abigail who attacks their son Jack. John manages to tie up his family, leaves them with plates of raw meat and tells Jack to be kind to his mother, showing that Rockstar’s dark sense of humor will be prevalent even in the zombie apocalypse. From here, Marston sets out to discover the source of the infestation and put a stop to it.

The overall presentation of Undead Nightmare is astounding. The atmosphere, color scheme, music and sound design all do an amazing job of transforming Elizabeth, New Austin and Mexico into a land of the living dead. Undead Nightmare’s visuals are much more drab and have a more depressing feel than the normally bright, sun-parched lands of the Old West.

In terms of the gameplay, Undead Nightmare is much, much different than the standard single player story. Because Marston is battling zombies and not just outlaws, his tactics during hostile encounters tend to be more run-and-gun fare than getting into cover and carefully taking out threats. Often I found myself riding my horse in circles around zombies, using my Dead Eye to get clean headshots – one of the only way to permanently put down undead abominations. Early encounters with the undead are more difficult as you only start with a pistol, rifle and lasso and, being that the world is overrun by the living dead, there are no stores to buy ammo. You can search dead enemies but don’t always find ammo and when you do, it is only a few rounds at a time. You’ll need all the help you can get as even normal zombies can be quite a handful when surrounded by a large group. Different types of even more dangerous zombies show up eventually as well. Luckily, there are numerous new weapons to help you quell the undead uprising.

The first new weapon you get in Undead Nightmare is the torch and it’s exactly what it sounds like – a torch you can use as a melee weapon to set zombies ablaze and is also used to clear out graveyards. You’ll also get two new throwable weapons – holy water and boombait. During the course of your travels, you eventually come across an elixir that is rather good at attracting the undead. Combining this with dynamite gives you the incredibly powerful boombait which attracts any undead nearby and explodes after 5-7 seconds. Holy water performs similarly to fire bottles but illuminates the surrounding area with a bright flash of blue, holy flame. The only new firearm in Undead Nightmare is the blunderbuss, but it is a formidable weapon. Using part scavenged from fallen zombies, the blunderbuss unleashes a massive shot that will turn any zombie (or zombies) in your path to red mist. Having to scavenge the undead for various body parts to combine into ammo is a pretty disturbing idea and it takes a lot of zombie parts to make just one round, but you can’t argue with the results.

That also led me to another addition to Undead Nightmare – the ability to create ammo. I only found that you could create blunderbuss ammo and phosphorus ammo that sets zombies on fire but there could’ve been more. It was interesting that Rockstar would add an ammo creation system in an add-on but how to actually make the ammo isn’t presented very clearly. I only ended up making a handful of blunderbuss ammo anyway.

In between completing the various missions of Undead Nightmare, you’ll be charged with saving towns from the undead hordes. In each town there will be a handful of survivors, usually on rooftops trying (in vain) to fend off the undead. To make clearing out these towns easier, you can talk to survivors and offer them some of your ammo which goes a long way to thinning out the crowds of zombies. After a town is clear, you’ll be able to use that town as a save point (which also act as fast travel spots, since there is no more “camp” option in your kit). Offering aid to survivors also seems to net you more random ammo chests about the town but I honestly couldn’t tell you for sure if you’re offered as much ammo if you didn’t give up some of your own. (I always helped out as much as I could – I’m a hero, what can I say)

You’ll also find plenty of new animals to hunt in this DLC, many of which are of the undead variety. You aren’t able to sell your trophies and honestly, I’m not really sure why it’s even possible to search animals. Still, it’s quite a rush to take down an undead bear or mountain lion. You’ll also get new multiplayer skins as well as a new online, co-op mission called “Undead Overrun” which tasks you and your posse with surviving as many waves of zombies as possible.

I won’t spoil the ending but I will say it’s rather anti-climactic. There’s a rather large build up to the end and right when you think something big is about to happen, it’s just sort-of over. There is a free-roam of Undead Nightmare after you finish the missions and the game treats you with a pretty great surprise at its start that I don’t know how I didn’t see coming.

If you enjoyed the regular single-player element of RDR, you will definitely enjoy the challenges presented in Undead Nightmare. The 1200-point ($15) price tag might seem a little steep but there is a ton of content in this add-on that make the package more than worth the price.