Dying Light: The Following Game Review

Hey all, Kiki here and welcome to another game review!

Recently, the masterminds at Techland released a new expansion onto their world of Dying Light. The original was excitedly entertaining. The dynamic between day and night zombies left a sense of urgency throughout the game. On top of that, they utilized first person free-running for an “insert-yourself” game style that has barely been used since Mirror’s Edge on the PS3 back in 2008. Although I had my quirks with the game, such as the predictable storyline and the recycled models for the zombies themselves, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the game, and was anxious to have the opportunity to review the expansion.

 STORY: 

Much like the original, I was not super impressed with the story of Dying Light: The Following. When I first played Dying Light, I hadn’t expected much of the story, given the unusual context of its ancestors: Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide. And to be quite honest, it was very lackluster. Again, it was a storyline based around only one person willing and able to fight through hordes of zombies to complete quests and tasks, only to discover that the real enemy wasn’t the zombies, but in fact was a human center. This story has been recycled over and over again with other zombie games, and remained no exception to Dying Light and its expansion The Following.

One thing that I realized however, after playing Dying Light: The Following, is I wouldn’t have such a problem with this type of story line… if it merely had an explanation. What I mean by that is compared to Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide. There was one crucial point of those two games that set their stories apart from Dying Light… there was a reason why your character, your protagonist, was out completing missions and risking their lives for others: they were immune. With Kyle Crane, he is merely dropped off as a hired man and tasked with retrieving some files, and eventually a cure, but in doing so agrees to do countless favors and sometimes meaningless tasks for the survivors in Harran.

Now with all that negativity cleared, there are several positives to the story. Kyle Crane’s character arch from Dying Light to the very end of Dying Light: The Following is very intriguing. He is very standoffish early into the story, and eventually grows to genuinely care about the city of Harran and the people in it. He willingly puts his life on the line to help others, rather than follow orders from those who hired him. The transition from the original game to the expansion was smoothly handled; along with introducing one of the key features of the expansion: the buggy.

GAMEPLAY:

The most amazing part of Dying Light: The Following, is without a doubt the gameplay. One thing that Techland kept from its original game is the smooth first person free-running. You almost effortlessly jump from building to building, climb and descend, and run from place to place.

With the new expansion, the game introduced the buggy. The buggy is by far the greatest part of the expansion. With its own leveling tree, and available upgrades, there is plenty to do with it. The start of the game could offer a better tutorial to learning the mechanics of the buggy, but it isn’t anything extravagant or overly challenging. I personally had a bad experience with the first timed mission with the buggy, but I think that was more negligence on my part. I spent a large part of the beginning of the game running over zombies, and crashing the thing, so when I got to the timed bit, I nearly trapped myself.

Overall, Techland was spot on with the mechanics of the game. The RPG styled leveling system, with the free-running, combined with the action-packed zombie slay-fest… it keeps you fully engaged regardless of missions and quests.

FINAL VERDICT:

Dying Light: The Following is packed full of new gameplay mechanics that keep any new or existing players excited. The story is rather lackluster, and is as classic “zombie videogame” as any can be, however does include a few unique qualities that keep the player curious and intrigued.

I recommend the game to any who desire to slay zombies with little thought to complexity in the story.

P.S. First Impressions will be available soon. Keep checking back for any updates!