Two months have now passed since Red Faction: Guerrilla was released and the critical praise, both from the gaming media and gamers around the world, continues to increase. Strong off of this, THQ and Volition recently released Demons of the Badlands, the first piece of downloadable content for Red Faction: Guerrilla on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace. For 800 Microsoft Points (10 dollars if you prefer), Demons of the Badlands is a prequel story arc starring Samanya, Red Faction’s handy inventor and Alec Mason’s “partner” in the full game. We assume that if you read this article, it’s because you have played the game, finished it and now wondering if you should spend 10 bucks on the new content. So yes, this article will contain Guerrilla-related storyline details.

In Guerrilla, Alec Mason learns that Samanya is a former Marauder and that she joined the Red Faction because the Marauders and their leader (and Sam’s sister Vasha) were consumed with anger and hate, and did not want to be a part of the lifestyle they were forced to endure. Since Demons of the Badlands takes place approximately twenty years before the events of Guerrilla, you will understand that this downloadable content explains why Samanya left the Marauder clan.

Upon downloading, Demons of the Badlands adds Mariner Valley to the Martian landscape, though completely disconnected from the main game, for obvious chronological reasons. Unlike DLC like Fallout 3 where a pop-up tells you that you have to go there and play the new content, the game will ask you to create a different save file to play the content.

While Demons of the Badlands features three main quests, it also comes with a good amount of side-missions (Guerrilla Actions, Demolitions, House Arrest, Raids), new weapons/vehicles and of course new Trophies/Achievements. Just like in the main game, in order to advance through the story arc, you will need to destroy enemy-controlled buildings in order to lower the EDF’s territory control. To access the last mission, you will need to bring down the control meter to zero by completing side-missions. Completing the “Guerrilla Actions” will also have an effect on how the Marauders will offer their support when you are fighting the EDF.

Certainly the cool thing about the new content is that you won’t have to collect salvage in order to get new stuff or upgrade your weaponry like in the main game. By completing the main quests and/or side quests, every weapon is made available to you in the Safehouse. It wasn’t a bad thing in the main game since I really liked the idea of blowing stuff up to get the chance to upgrade your weapons but to actually have the possibility to bypass the salvage to enjoy the content and get to the action quicker was well thought out by Volition.

On the other hand, the new weapons and vehicles are there more to justify the fact that you’re playing twenty-some years before the main game, so they’re not that new. Most of the weapons are the same but aesthetically different, with the exception of a few like the Spiker gun and the Gutter. Plus, you can’t use them in the main game upon the completion of the DLC, which is sad.

As I said earlier, Demons of the Badlands is a three main-quest storyline and it can take around 2-3 hours to complete and even less if you managed to improve your destructive skills during the main game’s campaign. Don’t forget that if you want to complete Demons at 100% (and unlock the Trophies/Achievements attached to it), it will take you longer and you will increase the DLC’s longevity. Is it worth 10 dollars? Knowing that content like GTA: The Lost and Damned was priced 20 dollars and featured a full-blown standalone game, paying half the price for Demons of the Badlands may seem like a rip-off but its not. It could be labelled as a unconventional piece of downloadable content but we’ve seen worst than this. Now, if the DLC would have been presented in a different way and timeline (i.e. an expansion of the main game featuring Alec Mason taking place after the game’s ending), maybe Volition would have opened it up more. Still, we still think that spending an extra 10 bucks is a good price for what you will be getting and you will have fun playing it.

Two more pieces of downloadable content have already been announced by Volition so this first pack is a good introduction to the Red Faction: Guerrilla extended experience.