Undead Nightmare

The Undead Nightmare Pack is a DLC for Red Dead Redemption. The pack features an entirely new single-player campaign that follows John Marston as he tries to find a cure for the highly infectious Undead plague that has spread across the frontier. Upon release, the list prices were $15.95 AUS dollars, $9.99 US dollars, £7.99, €9.99 or 800 Microsoft Points. It was released on October 26, 2010.

Undead Nightmare is started by choosing single player in the main menu, after which the options Undead Nightmare and Red Dead Redemption appear (or one can purchase the disc itself).

Synopsis
Seemingly overnight, an Undead plague ravages the once bountiful frontier, decimating the landscape and reawakening the dead. In towns, settlements, and outposts throughout the world, the uninfected citizens are left to fight for survival against waves of the undead. John Marston must ride out into the vast and terrifying world and survive long enough to find a cure.

Along the way through frontier towns, deserts, prairies, and mountain passes, Marston will help survivors, cleanse towns, and put an end to the undead hordes.

Background Detail
The game does not chronologically fit into the story line of Red Dead Redemption as it takes place before the death of Nastas but after John returns to his family, a time period which cannot exist. An infectious outbreak of unknown origin is rumored amongst the people on the frontier of being caused by Seth Briars stealing the glass eye from Tumbleweed, Nigel West Dickens with his miracle tonic, or the Mexicans by bringing the disease over the border from Nuevo Paraiso.

Story
In Undead Nightmare, John is in his house with Abigail and Jack. They are all talking about general things, like a book Jack is reading, however they mention that Uncle hasn't returned from what he was doing yet. John however states that because of the storm, Uncle has probably went to a dry place nearby and will stay there until the storm subsides. Uncle is then seen loitering outside the house; however, he is undead. Later that night, while John and Abigail are asleep, Uncle invades their room and tries to attack them, and John fights back, seemingly knocking him out. John heads for his gun in a nearby shed; however, on his way back, Abigail runs out of the house screaming, pursued by Uncle, who bites her in the neck. John shoots Uncle in the head, ending his suffering and tends to Abigail. Jack comes outside and tries to help his mother. However, Abigail becomes infected and bites Jack, infecting him. Meanwhile, John runs for his lasso and hogties both of them. After giving them both a plate of food, he leaves them in the house and sets out to find a cure.

John then goes to Blackwater, where he finds Professor MacDougal, who returned from Yale to document the undead infestation. He claims he has left his bags with Nastas, and heads down the street to grab them. MacDougal is killed by an infected Nastas however, and John is forced to clear out Blackwater and look for more survivors. He finds a family on a roof, killing undead, however they are no help. John finds another group of survivors, who all give him multiple theories they suspect caused the plague, including a "Snake oil merchant" and a "Freak with a glass eye".

If John goes to Tanner's Reach, he will meet a hunter who claims to have just shot a Sasquatch, starting "The Birth of the Conservation Movement" mission, which has John try to hunt down six Sasquatches. After finding the sixth one however, John learns that his hunting has doomed the Sasquatches and the last one there asks John to kill him because his family is dead. John can choose to kill him or not.

New Austin
If John decides to follow the "Snake Oil Merchant" lead, they will find Nigel West Dickens in Fort Mercer, trying to sell his elixir as a cure and repellent to the plague. John however forces Nigel to stop selling it, and Nigel complies. He hands out free samples to see if they like it. The elixir however is actually more of a bait to the infected, and the drinker is killed by several undead soon after drinking. Nigel is disappointed and asks John to find him five Desert Sage and five Violet Snowdrop to see if he can make a better cure. He also gives John some of the elixir to use as bait. After John finds the flowers, Nigel makes a phosphorus bullet coating with it, and then asks John to find him some old parts he needs. After John finds the parts, Nigel uses it for a Blunderbuss, telling John that it is the ideal weapon for undead killing. He also tells John that he is trying to get to Mexico and should be in Solomon's Folly in a few days. At Solomon's Folly, John finds out that all paths to Mexico are blocked, and that Nigel has no way of getting to Mexico. However, Nigel tells John that if he gets a US Army uniform from some deserters, he can sneak on a train manned by the US Army that is headed to Mexico. Nigel goes off and John doesn't meet him again.

If John decides to follow the "Freak with a glass eye" lead, they will find Seth in The Old Bacchus Place, playing cards with an undead Moses Forth. John asks Seth if there's a cure to the plague, and Seth tells him to clear the graveyards. After John clears out 3 graveyards and goes back to Seth, Seth tells him that the cause of all this has something to do with the Aztecs, and tells him to head down for Mexico if he wants to cure the plague.

In MacFarlane's Ranch, John meets Bonnie MacFarlane, who tasks him with trying to find her father, Drew MacFarlane in the barn, although she tells him he has been in there for more than a day. After entering the barn through a window, John kills several of the trapped Undead within. Then, John finds Drew in the barn, zombified. John is forced to kill Drew, and he goes to Bonnie and tells her what happened, who is deeply saddened by the news.

In Plainview, John finds D.S. MacKenna, who tells John to bring him a Retcher, because Mackenna desires to make a zombie movie. Once John does so however, Mackenna sets it and another undead loose. They then both proceed to attack Mackenna, who is turned undead. John then can kill all three of them.

In Armadillo, John meets Marshal Leigh Johnson, and Johnson asks John to find Eli and Jonah, who have been missing for a few hours. John finds Eli eating Jonah, and they both attack John. John then has to kill them both, and tell Johnson the news, claiming that they both died with their bellies full. Johnson also gives John a Sawed-off Shotgun.

In Fort Mercer, John sees an Army Captain posting up a missing persons poster for Millicent Waterbury. The Captain asks John to find the girl, and John finds Millicent in Pleasance House, although undead are trying to attack her. After John saves Millicent, they head back to Fort Mercer and the Captain thanks John and tells him there's more missing persons if he wants to help them.

If John heads to the deserters, he finds them being attacked by undead, he can either help them and earn the uniform, or steal it and suffer the consequences. After John has the uniform, he can head to the train, where he finds the US Army being lightly hassled by undead. After John helps them clear it out, they head to the border. At the border, the captain tells them all to get off and clear the roadblock. However, they are attacked by undead and the US Army retreats, leaving John to kill the undead. After he has dealt with them, John can man the train and smash through the roadblock into Mexico.

Mexico
In Mexico, John finds that it is actually in worse shape than America, and he heads to Las Hermanas, where he meets the Mother Superior. She tells John that other nuns are not as resourceful as her, and that he needs to head inside Las Hermanas and save the town. After doing so, Mother Superior thanks John and he asks her why the plague is happening. She tells John that she needs a normal Undead to really find out. After John brings her a normal Undead, Mother Superior tells John that she suspects evil, and she pours holy water on the undead, who is briefly bathed in blue flame, but is not killed. She asks John if he can clear out the Sepulcro graveyard for her, and she gives him Holy Water. After he returns, Mother Superior tells him that a woman told her that the cause of all this is because of something Abraham Reyes has done. John is then tasked with heading to Escalera and finding out what's really causing all this.

In Casa Madrugada, John meets Landon Ricketts, who is busy ridding the town of undead. Landon seems to be holding off all the undead by himself, and he tells John that if he can find something that attracts the undead, he can combine it with Dynamite and really kill the undead quick. After John brings Landon undead bait and Dynamite, Landon combines them and makes Boom Bait, after handing it to John, they say farewells and John leaves. After Landon makes the second Boom Bait, sometimes a glitch appears when there is two of him.

In Escalera, John finds a woman, who tells him that Abraham Reyes is up ahead, John finds Reyes, however, he is Undead and is trying to kill a woman. After John kills Reyes, the woman tells John that the cause of all this is because Reyes' lust for invulnerability made him steal an ancient Aztec mask, and this is why the plague started. They take the mask to the crypt where Reyes found it, and after John places the mask back in the altar the women reveals herself to be Ayauhteotl, an Aztec goddess. This action causes the undead to be returned to normal, and John heads home to his family.

Epilogue
Upon heading back to Beecher's Hope, John finds that Abigail and Jack are fine, and they are happy again. About 2 months later, John is dead, and in Escalera Seth is shown stealing the ancient mask, causing all dead, including John to return as undead. However, as John was buried with Holy Water, he returns as an undead with a man's soul, allowing the player to still play as him.

Single player

 * New single player missions and challenges (including new Missing Persons side quests).
 * Undead Animals unleashed into the world.
 * New dynamic events.
 * Brand new gameplay mechanics.
 * Mythical creatures (the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, Unicorn, Sasquatch and Chupacabra).
 * A brand new Secret Location.
 * New weapons (Blunderbuss,Torch (replacing the Hunting Knife), Holy Water, Undead Bait and Boom Bait)(none of which can be made golden in Multiplayer).
 * 3 new outfits (Undead Hunter, Union Suit, and Legend of the Apocalypse).

Multiplayer

 * 8 new multiplayer undead characters. Poe Boll, Magic Jackson, Zombie Ricketts, Zombie Marston, Viper Craven, Ismael Raimi,Sarah Reese, and Paco Romero.
 * New multiplayer game modes (Undead Overrun and Land Grab).

Undead Nightmare Collection
The Undead Nightmare Collection is a single, stand-alone retail disc or downloadable content that bundles together the following content packs :
 * Undead Nightmare Pack
 * Liars and Cheats Pack
 * Legends and Killers Pack

The Undead Nightmare Collection was released into retail stores everywhere for $29.99/£24.99/€29.99, on November 23rd 2010 in North America, and November 26th in Europe. It was available via download slightly earlier and at a reduced price &#91;2&#93;. It does not require a copy of Red Dead Redemption to play.

Protagonists

 * John Marston
 * Undead John

Story

 * John Marston
 * Abigail Marston
 * Jack Marston
 * Harold MacDougal
 * Seth Briars
 * Nigel West Dickens
 * Mother Superior
 * Ayauhtéotl

Side Missions

 * Sasquatch Hunter
 * Bonnie MacFarlane
 * Leigh Johnson
 * Herbert Moon
 * American Army Captain
 * Millicent Waterbury
 * Mintie Cummings
 * Winona Picket
 * Grover Boone
 * Silas Gaskell
 * Chu Fook
 * Orison Pratt
 * Willie Oats
 * Adrienne Lachance
 * Porfiro Gutierrez
 * Ramon Alvares
 * Lydia Morales
 * Rafael Carillo
 * Santiago Valenzuela
 * Merche Coronado
 * D.S. MacKenna
 * Landon Ricketts

Antagonists

 * Undead
 * Undead Animals
 * Mummies

Story

 * Abraham Reyes
 * Vincente de Santa
 * Alma Horlick
 * Peter Turner
 * Jimmy Saint
 * Mordecai Robbard
 * Nastas
 * Harold MacDougal
 * Uncle
 * Jack Marston
 * Abigail Marston

Side Missions

 * Drew MacFarlane
 * Herbert Moon
 * Eli
 * Jonah

Undead Multiplayer Characters

 * Poe Boll (Possible reference to macabre poet Edgar Allan Poe and schlock film director Uwe Boll)
 * Magic Jackson (Possible reference to basketball player Magic Johnson, and Michael Jackson from his Thriller film including zombies.)
 * Zombie Ricketts
 * Zombie Marston
 * Viper Craven (Possible reference to horror director Wes Craven)
 * Ishmael Raimi (Possible reference to horror director Sam Raimi)
 * Sarah Reese (Possible reference to Sarah Reese Brennan, an author of books containing demonic storylines Or the mix of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese of the movie Terminator.)
 * Paco Romero (Possible reference to horror director George Romero)

Achievements/Trophies

 * Smoke That Skinwagon
 * Kingpin
 * Zed's Dead, Baby
 * Spinning Plates
 * Mad Marston: The Trail Warrior
 * Six Years In The Making
 * The Downward Spiral
 * Judge A Man By The...
 * The Superior Dance
 * All's Right With the World
 * Chupathingy
 * Fan Service

Reception
Undead Nightmare received critical acclaim. Its PS3 version currently holds 88 on GameRankings, while the Xbox version holds 87, and both versions hold 87 on Metacritic. Game Revolution gave the DLC -A. The Official Xbox Magazine gave it 9/10, while Game Informer gave it 8/10.

IGN earned the DLC a perfect score of 10/10, the first DLC who got a perfect score, as well one of the only two games published by Rockstar, with the other being Grand Theft Auto IV.

Undead Nightmare received the award of the best DLC of 2010 during the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards. As of June 2011 it has sold two million units at retail.

Tips

 * In Undead Nightmare, there are no Gunsmiths or General Stores, so ammo is scarce and is found in much smaller quantities than usual, if at all. To fully maximize its use, constantly aim for head shots. For more ammo, the player can save towns: chests can be found around the town full of caches of ammo. It is also wise to keep an eye out while riding through the frontier: completing certain Random Encounters can also reward the player with ammo.
 * More ammunition CAN be found by searching the bodies of the undead. The Undead body parts that you use to build Blunderbuss ammunition are considered supply items so they have a maximum amount. If you stock these items to the maximum, you can't pick up any more and searching the Undead will then generate more ammunition. It doesn't always work, but it is much more likely to find regular bullets more frequently this way.
 * To conserve ammo yet remain on the offensive, the Torch is by far the best choice. Along with its one hit kill execution ability, it will set the Undead on fire, killing them sooner or later. Be careful to only use it when faced with a few Undead a time; John swings it slower than his usual knife, so attempting to use it on a group is suicidal and will cause the player to be quickly overwhelmed.
 * Try to stay on top of buildings or on the other side of fences as the Undead cannot climb ladders or jump fences. It is also recommended to avoid entering buildings as the interior provides less room to maneuver and makes it more likely for the Undead to score a hit on the player due to the closer distances. However, if the player does ever need to enter a building, the best weapons to handle any Undead are shotguns and Holy Water.
 * The Undead are extremely resilient to any gunshots or physical trauma done to their bodies. The only ways to kill an Undead is by shooting them in the head, burning them, cleansing them with holy fire, or by destroying their bodies with an explosive, such as Dynamite, or with the Explosive Rifle or Blunderbuss. However, Gatling Guns mounted on buildings in some towns will kill the Undead too. Shooting Undead in the torso repeatedly has been proven to kill the Undead, but isn't an efficient way to kill a large group and isn't an advisable way to kill anything.
 * In Blackwater, a person can now access the room reserved for only players that have obtained the Gentleman's Attire in the hotel. They can see what the room looks like, but there is nothing else.

Trivia

 * Undead Nightmare follows a very similar path to the original story of Red Dead Redemption. The game starts with John in West Elizabeth facing a conquerable danger. He then must travel into New Austin dealing with old friends and eventually Mexico. At the finale he returns home since he met his task and saved his family, then eventually dies.
 * The whole idea for the DLC may root from Red Dead Revolver. Capcom's original intent was to make Revolver a horror-western game, where Red fought zombies. After Rockstar took over the project, that idea was scrapped for a more down-to-earth western game.
 * The word 'Zombie' is seldom heard in-game. No major characters in the storyline utter it, the term does not appear on any item or menu description in the single player mode. A player can play through the entire story and never hear it. However, in multiplayer the group of undead skins are called zombies. Also, if you are in Fort Mercer, and there is a group of people sitting down (or to a woman) John will say "Stay away from them zombies ma'am". In addition, certain minor characters like D.S. MacKenna and Adrienne Lachance also use the term from time to time. In a world event, a man rides up to you on his horse and says "Damn zombies got my brother, you gotta save him!"
 * Despite Landon Ricketts having a zombified version of himself in Multiplayer, he is never directly shown as a zombie. Once the player finishes his survivor mission ("Biographies and Lies") he is never seen again.
 * There was a problem in New Zealand where the pack had come out but it was not due to come out. For some time areas, the pack was released on the 27th October 2010.
 * Undead Nightmare seems to take place in an alternate timeline, one reason is that Uncle is killed off from the start. Though when John Marston puts the mask back on the pedestal at the end of the story, both Abigail and Jack Marston turn back to normal, and in the epilogue John is dead a few months later (presumably after the ending of the Redemption storyline), and returns as an undead version of himself.
 * Another reason for it being non-canonical is the fact that Harold MacDougal says that Nastas is looking after his bag and is then killed by the reanimated corpse of the native when he goes to collect it. This may mean Nastas survived the shootout at Bearclaw Camp in this alternate reality. However, this could be MacDougal's ignorant inability to differentiate a savage Native from a civilized one and believed the Undead Nastas to be normal, but Nastas was killed by a shot to the head during the Bearclaw Cabin shootout and should not have been able to return as an Undead, so it is likely in this reality he survived.
 * John kills Abraham Reyes, while a newspaper in 1914 states Reyes is still a Tyrant
 * MacDougal is expelled from Yale in 1914, while here he is turned Undead.
 * It should also be noted that the Zombies appear to rot much faster than normal. In the cases of Eli, Jonah, Drew MacFarlane, and Uncle, they look like they have been decayed for much longer than they have been missing.
 * If the player is to harm or kill Abigail Marston or Jack Marston in any way (ex. throwing Dynamite through the window into the bedroom), John will immediately die after either of Abigail or Jack have been killed.
 * The song which plays while riding to Escalera during the final mission is "Bad Voodoo" by The Kreeps.
 * The DLC will always start on a Friday - a possible reference to the Friday the 13th horror film series, or a general reference to the superstition of Friday the 13th.
 * Apparently the plague started a week before the DLC time, taking dialogue from Mother Superior because she says "Our bishop was a stickler for rules, that is until a week ago when he got sick and ate half of our boy choir". (Alternatively it may have taken John a week to get to Mexico.)
 * When you return to Beecher's Hope before the last mission John will go to the front door and the player can hear a female voice saying "Did you listen to a word I said?" This is Ayauhtéotl.
 * The gravestones of Jimmy Saint, Alma Horlick, and Mordecai Robbard are visible in the standard Red Dead Redemption game once the player downloads Undead Nightmare.
 * The act of saving a town is very similar to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas's gang wars. In both, the games have territory that can be controlled by the player and enemies attack it from time to time.
 * The player is able to keep their weapon out without it automatically withdrawing, just like in Multiplayer.
 * Although Marston's home at Beecher's Hope can be re-entered after the main storyline is completed, the first floor of the barn continues to act as the safehouse, where the player can save their game, change outfits and fast travel.
 * All of the old containers (from Red Dead Redemption) cannot be opened, only observed. New containers are added to Undead Nightmare that ARE able to be opened.
 * The currency system in this game is different from the standard game, as bullets and guns replace Money from the standard game.

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