Almost exactly a full year after the original “base” game of Dying Light was released, Techland and Warner Brothers Interactive release the expansion “The Following”. Is it still as good as the original even after being dead all this time?
Title: Dying Light: The Following
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Techland
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Genre: Open World/ First-Person Action
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Price: $19.99 (Enhance Edition $59.99)
Rating: M
When the original Dying Light was released, I was already pretty tired of the Zombie killing genre of games. I was surprised at how well Techland managed to liven up this style of game and more surprised at how much I ended up playing and liking it. Now, slightly more than a year later, I was again surprised at how much it sucked me back in.
Dying Light: The Following picks up just after the events of the original game. Once again taking on the role of Kyle Crane, a now ex-member of the Global Relief Effort (GRE), and heading outside of Harran to try to find help, or a cure. Kyle has managed to sneak out through a system of tunnels and finds himself in a sprawling farm community. His search for the cure leads him to a group known simply as “The Faceless”, and their leader “The Mother”.
Crane is told that in order for him to get any information out of the group, or their leader, he will (as usual) have to do odd quests to gain their trust. Do enough good deeds and impress the locals, and Crane will be trusted by The Faceless, thus bringing him closer to his goal of finding a cure.
The Following manages to cram in a LOT of new-ness to a game that most people may have shelved by now. It is truly an “expansion” in every sense of the word. The map for The Following is larger than both maps in the original game, which is good because your main means of getting around now is no longer Parkour (though it still viable), it’s a car. A dune buggy, of sorts. It also expands on the upgrade tree and adds another section to prolong playability.
Yes, there’s a car in a game that was originally all about running, but that’s fine. It’s easy to be skeptical about thrusting the player into a completely new mode of transportation for a game when the original was easily one of the best things about Dying Light. However, it works surprisingly well. No, I wasn’t taking hairpin turns at full speed like an Indy driver, but it’s not only not necessary to do so, it’s fun to just slam into zombies sending them flying or just splattering them on the pavement. Having the vehicle also introduces yet another upgrade tree. Through the progression of the story and discovery, the car is up-gradable with push bars, UV lights, mines, and more. Parts are also coded loot just like weapons. Find a purple turbo and slap it in the car to make it go even faster than that regular generic turbo. Also, there’s nothing like slamming into a wall at 70mph to throw a zombie off your car.
There isn’t a lot of new variety of enemies to be had, but rather larger ones. All the same enemies are present again, with maybe the only addition being military zombies that hit harder than the usual fodder. The Following does add bounties that can be completed for extra points, as well as some special missions that will have Kyle seeking out larger, more deadly versions of the usual enemies. This comes alongside a couple of new weapon types, like a crossbow, sub-machine guns, and revolvers. Some specialized quests will be to figure out clues and seek out legendary weapons.
The Following manages to be very familiar while injecting just enough new life into Dying Light so as to not be boring, “same old same old” zombie slaying. With the addition of new mission types, new weapons, and an entirely new means of getting around, this game can probably shamble around for a few more months. Released alongside the expansion was the “Dying Light; The Following Enhanced Edition”. This is a disc-based, or downloaded version of the game that comes with all previous DLCs (Bozak Hoard, Be The Zombie) as well as a slew of other smaller DLCs they have released. It’s a $60 package, but it is absolutely packed with content. I’ve said it many times before, Dying Light was overlooked by a LOT of folks, and it’s a damn shame this expansion might be as well.
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