Review: State of Decay “Lifeline” DLC

Last year, Undead Labs released a zombie game that many gamers had been clamouring for. Its premise was simple: scavenge for supplies and survive. Along the way you added other survivors to your growing community, eventually having to uproot and find a bigger space for everyone. Its simplicity drew you into a false sense of security and when things went bad, they went bad in a hurry. Fast forward almost a year to the day and Undead Labs have released their second expansion, titled fittingly enough, “Lifeline”.

“Lifeline” takes place during the early days of the zombie outbreak. You are thrust into the action right away as part of a military unit called Greyhound One. You and your squad arrive in the city of Dansforth after everything has started to fall apart. The initial way point on your map leads you to a military controlled compound at the Black Friday Mall where you get in touch with your superiors and find out exactly what you are supposed to do to help the city.

Your mission is as simple as when the game initially released, though with new directives: locate and extract high value targets (HVTs). Who are the HVTs? A group of scientists that your superiors believe can cure the zombie outbreak. They appear on your map in red. Like all things zombie-related, finding them and getting them back to Black Friday Mall is anything but a walk in the park. You will also get radio communication of civilians (white on your map) and soldiers (green on your map) that need help as well. While rescuing the scientists is your main mission there are also benefits of helping the other civilians and soldiers as each grants different bonuses, or added strength and firepower to fend off the increasing zombie numbers. However, ignore too many scientists and your mission will be scrapped. The decisions on who to help are not always as clear cut as you think they would be, especially since you usually have to make a split second decision and by helping one the other usually dies.

Once you help a civilian or scientist and get them back to Black Friday Mall, you will need to clear out the hordes of zombies in the area to allow the Evac chopper to come in. The presence of the chopper — as you would expect — is loud. Even the most casual zombie fan knows zombies are attracted to noise so expect a large battle to get people on the chopper safely. These Evac moments make for some of the most intense action I have played in a game in quite some time.

The one thing that impressed me the most about “Lifeline” is the amount of additional features that Undead Labs have crammed into this it. With the game’s first DLC, “Breakdown”, they stayed on the same map as the base game; with “Lifeline”, the city of Danforth is quite large with an interstate highway around almost the entire map allowing for fairly simple navigation. They have eliminated one of my biggest complaints from the past: vehicle storage. In the past you had to fill up a rucksack and had to trek all the way back to base camp and then back out. Now, you can access the vehicles trunk and store multiple rucksacks or other items to make scavenging for supplies much less tedious.

Other additions include upgraded defences. Gone are the days of just fences and small lookout towers. You can now add traps and distractions as well to help you cut down the zombie hordes. The helicopter landing zone is not just used for evacuating scientists and civilians, you can also call in supply drops from time to time as well. The Ops Centre allows you to do research and more tactical things and the generator allows you to have access to an even greater number of advanced upgrades. There is also the addition of military outposts. With these you can call in artillery strikes, reinforcements and even drone recon to help you locate survivors or zombie hordes to better access your situation. Lastly, you can also add a latrine to stave off disease in your camp.

One thing that was curiously absent was radio chatter. This may be nitpicky of me, but when I think of a military operation I expect to hear all sorts of things on the radio. Conversations between squads, units, superiors, etc. For the most part that is absent from “Lifeline”.  It would have ramped up the immersion factor and made it feel like the Greyhound One unit was part of a larger operation.

State of Decay has come a long way during the past year. It may be cliché but it’s the zombie game that many people have always wanted. It’s not about putting the most lead into a zombies head and charging headlong into endless zombie hordes. It’s about playing smart, scavenging for supplies and trying to keep your community safe. Undead Labs have really raised the bar and been willing to listen to player feedback. It remains to be seen where they go next, but here’s hoping a State of Decay multiplayer experience isn’t too far behind.

State of Decay‘s “Lifeline” DLC is available now on Xbox 360 and Windows PC via Steam.

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