If you see a soldier in a zombie movie you can be pretty certain they're around to accidentally mow down innocent civilians, to intentionally mow down innocent civilians, or to generally make things worse by attempting to impose order on a now-lawless world. The cheek! State of Decay's next DLC - teased a couple of weeks ago - throws this trope out the window by depicting them as a decent bunch of chaps and chapettes trying to make the best out of a bad situation. Set during the outbreak, Lifeline puts you in control of Greyhound One, a unit send to the overrun city of Danforth to rescue some scientists, who I'm hoping are also dogs as the name suggests. Interestingly, rather than beginning the expansion with nothing and scavenging yourself into a zombie-killing machine, Lifeline will play out in reverse, by giving you plenty of resources at the start and then seeing how you cope as, one by one, they're snatched away.

Here are some big old quotes taken from the first blog post detailing the DLC:

"On the State of Decay team, we have a different perspective (some of us firsthand) — the military is made up of many good men and women who stand on the line that divides safety and civilization from chaos and war."

"One of your first imperatives is to secure the Landing Zone where you can receive supply drops and extract civilians. This location becomes your base, which you must defend at all costs against the zombie horde. Since this is a military story, we have the perfect opportunity to expand on the concept of defending that base. The people you are here to rescue are extremely important — and extremely tasty. If you let zombies overrun your gates, these helpless civilians will be among the first to feed the horde. Lose too many, and your mission is over."

It will be interesting to see whether playing as a relatively well-equipped team will mean you'll face a bigger threat from the undead this time around. I'd imagine so, but we'll have to wait and see as Undead Labs roll out more Lifeline details over the next few weeks.

Cheers, Quarter to Three .