A week has passed since NinjaBee released the Sugar, Spice and Not So Nice DLC for A World of Keflings. Not content to leave another year before a follow-up, The Curse of the Zombiesaurus, A World of Keflings’ third proper DLC, is available today on XBLM. Developed in secret alongside its fellow DLC Theme Contest alumnus, The Curse of the Zombiesaurus brings the Graveyard DLC theme to (forgive me) life for 320MSP, keeping the price of A World of Keflings DLC consistent straight from the start. Is the quality just as consistent?

As I’ve said before, NinjaBee’s strength in A World of Keflings DLC, especially, has been in the writing. I enjoy the connection to the things I enjoy, and from when The Curse of the Zombiesaurus was first announced until the moment I finished the DLC, I found myself eagerly anticipating the search for these references. I was not disappointed. Evil Dead? Check. The Simpsons? Check. Ghostbusters? Check. From having to find the Keflonomicon as part of building to university to dealing with the Scottish Grave Keeper Wilhelm, you get light touches of the first two. It’s Ghostbusters that really has the strongest showing. Ghost harvesters use a full proton pack, and you’ll hear multiple dialog references, from theme song lyrics (“I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!” and “Help! There’s something strange in my neighborhood!”) to direct and paraphrased quotes (“I am the Keymaster. Are you the Gatekeeper?” and “And remember, if any of them asks if you’re a god, you say “Yes.”).

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This time around, you find yourself in a dark, spooky setting. This is enhanced by the wonderfully redone classic Keflings music with a Elfmanesque twist. As you get your bearings, Doug and Brodie, two of the brothers from the main Keflings campaign, inform you that the Princess has been kidnapped by a giant zombie lizard (the titular Zombiesaurus). Count Kefula, his Horseless Headman, and Grave Keeper Wilhelm all gather to introduce you to the area and the various situations you’ll have to deal with in Kefsylvania. You are introduced to the Spooklings (zombiesque Keflings), and eventually to the Witch (the more attractive twin sister of the main campaign’s Witch), and a Frankenstein. Additionally, you get to see the one key unique element of Zombiesaurus compared to the other Keflings content: the Scarecrow. In much the same way that you generate new Spooklings (building Crypts), a Scarecrow is generated by building a Corn Field. Whereas a Crypt is built with a heart, a Corn Field is built with a special pumpkin, which is far more rare. The rarity is important, however, because the Scarecrow is a super-unit, starting at Level 7 for all harvesting and gathering tasks. This is a fantastic way of speeding up your assembly line, and a great way of cutting out a lot of the grinding that appears in A World of Keflings.

The DLC is, at best, a few minutes longer than its predecessors, putting it in the “disappointingly short” range along with the rest of A World of Keflings’ expanded content. The land area, however, seems much larger than what was offered in Sugar, Spice and Not So Nice, and perhaps even larger than what we saw in It Came From Outer Space (though this is a much smaller gap), so you have lots of room to search, gather, and expand. Three more achievements, along with another 100GS, round out the package, and bring A World of Keflings to a total of 21 achievements and 450GS with all DLC factored in. As with the past DLC, this one hits the mark and leaves you wanting more. Hopefully we’ll get either more DLC or a new Keflings game to expand the gameplay to new levels.