This is the first post in a series about unique gaming experiences. These are subjectively unique and might not have resonated in the same way for other players. I’ll write these short articles on what made them shine for me.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a significant resurgence of interest in zombie films. Movies like 28 Days Later revitalized the genre, and this trend continued into the 2010s with The Walking Dead and World War Z, to name a couple. This post is about the best zombie experience I’ve had in an audiovisual medium.

Red Dead Redemption was released in May 2010, right in the midst of the zombie cultural wave. And Rockstar (R*) isn’t one to let a wave go to waste. They released the Undead Nightmare DLC a few months after the main game, just in time for Halloween. To me, Undead Nightmare is the single best zombie content you can experience.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare was a DLC expansion adding a zombie apocalypse to the base game.
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare was a DLC expansion adding a zombie apocalypse to the base game.

You may now be shaking your head in disbelief, thinking about the myriad other games that have tackled zombie themes. And not only that, but arguably better games than RDR. With HBO now running the TV adaptation, The Last of Us is probably the flagship zombie product, and some may sustain it’s one of the best games of all time. And let’s not forget about Plants vs. Zombies! So, why this DLC? What makes it so special?

Let’s first dive into the base game. There aren’t many games that can pull off such a level of immersion. You could really get lost just galloping through the desert, getting on and off your horse, and making bullets ricochet off rocks in intense shoot-outs. As it’s common with R* games, I spent many long hours just getting to know the world, the map, and the NPCs living their eternal loops in this Westworld-esque petri dish.

With most zombie games and movies, you know what you’re getting yourself into. You expect specific tropes and plots that will somehow spread a virus, fungi, or bacteria. With Red Dead, you had different expectations, which allowed you to immerse yourself in a virtual world and play an active cowboy fantasy role in it. It was after this attachment to characters and landscape that R* unleashed hell with their DLC.

Herbert Moon during one of his night walks, shouting his own name.
Herbert Moon during one of his night walks, shouting his own name.

I vividly remember Herbert Moon, one of the game’s secondary characters, turning into a zombie before my eyes. This was scripted as part of one of the missions. But what cannot be scripted is a pre-established relationship between the player and an NPC, untainted by apocalyptic expectations. This is what made this DLC such a unique experience: the fact that I already knew this little world allowed me to feel the change like no other game or movie has been able to.

From Dusk Till Dawn was an interesting film that also managed to mix genres and shock viewers with its over the top plot twists.
From Dusk Till Dawn was an interesting film that also managed to mix genres and shock viewers with its over the top plot twists.

I had a similar experience with From Dusk Till Dawn, a cult classic by Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino. When I watched this film I had no prior preconception of what the movie was about, and halfway through the film it twists into a whole different genre. I won’t go into specifics in the slight chance someone hasn’t yet seen it.

I wish Undead Nightmare had been a hidden side plot inside the main game rather than the DLC. Making it a fully unexpected event that changes the genre of the story. Even though, it’s not the surprise factor that makes it so enjoyable. It’s the fact that a world I fully accepted within the game’s fiction turned into something else entirely. I hope more open world games take advantage of the vast realities they create with fun experiments like this.