Have you ever played an update or DLC, only to realise that it contained some feature or mode that you never realised was missing from the original?  As confusing as that may sound, that's exactly how I felt an hour or so into State of Decay's first DLC, Breakdown.  Gone are the story missions and the rather well established enclave that you join at the church from the original game and, instead, it's just you and Lily Ritter, the radio operator.  This is the sandbox mode that the game has been crying out for!

When you first start playing Breakdown, the first thing you'll be greeted with is the character select screen.  Initially, all of the portraits will be empty and you will have no choice but to start the game as a random character.  As you play through the game, however, you will unlock new characters by completing challenges.  Reach 500 fame? Unlock Pastor William Mulroney; Want to unlock Eli Wilkerson? Kill 100 zombies with blunt weapons.  These unlockable characters, or "Hero" characters as Breakdown refers to them, are all equipped with specific weapons and abilities.  Eli, for example, carries an industrial wrench and a high-powered pistol.  To add some extra flavour, there are some new playable characters, including a number of NPCs from the original game such as Judge Lawton and Pastor Mulroney.

There are a LOT of these challenges to beat and not all of them are available until you reach a certain 'level' of Breakdown.  Which brings me on to one of the main parts of the DLC... it's 'endless' nature and the difficulty level.  Once you have either exhausted the valley of it resources and loot (or you just feel the need to move on), there is an RV *somewhere* on the map that, once you have prepared it, can be used to escape to the next valley (i.e. level).

This, essentially, resets the map and you start again with some of the characters and equipment from the previous valley... only the difficulty level is now that much harder!  I read somewhere that the Undead Labs team can only make it as far as level 8, which doesn't bode well for the rest of us.

This increased difficult is not to be taken lightly.  Even when you first start the game, you'll immediately notice just how much more difficult it is by yourself with very little equipment.  On my first play through I appeared as Callie Spangler right out in the middle of nowhere by the crashed jumbo jet, surrounded by zombies; I honestly wasn't sure I'd make it out in one piece... and this was just level one!  Even once I'd found an enclave to join, none of them trusted me enough to let me take control of them so I was stuck with my original character no matter how tired or injured she was.  This, however, was the best thing to happen.  The extra tension and struggle really helped the game's atmosphere!  Where I would have had fun, bloody battles with groups of zombies in the original game, I was now really fighting for my survival; being attacked by four zombies, out of stamina, my melee weapon nearly broken and unable to use my gun for fear of drawing the attention of another nearby group, it was a desperate battle and all the better for it.

Of course, once I had gained their trust, things became a little easier as I gained a few more playable characters and, eventually, I had a well-established enclave.  While I could have easily carried on playing as I'd barely scratched the surface of the map, I thought it would be a good time to move on.  Having already discovered the RV and provided it with 25 fuel, it was simply a case of getting on board and heading out...

This, it would seem, wasn't the brightest move.  Spawning at a petrol station, a little way outside of the main city, I was nowhere near prepared for the increased difficulty.  Within the first few minutes I was besieged by wave after wave of zombies.  Once I managed to escape, I quickly discovered that freaks now openly roam the roads... in pairs! So now I'm planning ahead... the next time I play I may start a new profile, pick a hero and make sure I'm better prepared before heading into the next valley.  I'd suggest you do the same!

All in all, this is an excellent addition to the original game.  I am tempted to question the $6.99 price point (roughly £4.32), given that there is, technically, not much in the way of real additional content: the map is the same, the characters are the same, there are a few new weapons but otherwise this feels like an extra game mode that should have been part of the original game.  That said, it's not particularly expensive as DLC goes and the original game was only £14.99 which gave you a LOT more for your money than some of the 'AAA' titles that are currently on the market, so it all balances out.  If you enjoyed State of Decay, you need to get this!

Breakdown is due for release on both XBLA and Steam on the 29th of November but there'll be no time to rest of developers, Undead Labs, as they are already working on the next expansion!

If you're interested in what I had to say about the original game, you'll find the reviews here:

XBLA Review

PC Review

Please note: While I personally purchased for the original XBLA version of State of Decay, Undead Labs were kind enough to provide the PC version, including DLC, for review.

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