Dying Light is about the get its biggest expansion yet called ‘The Following’. It offers a giant new map that’s bigger than all the old maps combined, a new story and vehicles. We got our hands on it during a special session at Gamescom and were convinced that this is might be the best expansion ever.
A gorgeous new map
The new map is the big star of the expansion and we’ve seen it in all its glory. The hands-on session was played during daytime only but this gave us an opportunity the see what the map has to offer. We saw small caves, dangerous cliffs, gorgeous waterfalls, small farms and a lot of open fields. The world is really impressive and everything you see can be reached, opening up new ways of exploration and looting. The way you travel remained rather the same, that is if you’re moving on foot of course. Dying Light still offers a rather free-running approach when it comes to moving. With a push of a button our hero can jump and grab his way trough several obstacles like a true professional. It’s fluent and feels natural. Going on food is a lot of fun but jumping into your buggy makes things even better!
Time to drive your buggy
The buggy is big part of ‘The Following’ and will be your main vehicle to take you across the giant new map. During this demo we had to drive towards our friend that got into trouble. The driving part wasn’t that big but it gave us a quick look at what we can expect. Driving a buggy was surprisingly realistic, sand made it hard to maneuver and it’s easy to miss a turn while going full speed. The developer shared that you’re able to upgrade your car and improve your driving skills later on in the game. It’s good to see that they went for a realistic experience instead of an arcade experience.
Aside of getting you from place to place, the buggy will also play a crucial role in your survival. Although it wasn’t playable, the developer mentioned that during the nighttime, your buggy would be your only way to survive in certain situations. During the night, everything becomes pitch-black and the zombies become a lot more aggressive. Driving a buggy with lights makes sense as a way to survive. We’re very curious on how this will be worked out but we’ll have to wait a little longer to see it in action.
Fan feedback is important
The biggest positive note about ‘The Following’ is that the developers really listened to the feedback of the fans. A lot of fans asked for a crossbow for example and we’re glad to say that we got our hands on one during our hands-on. This new weapon is everything you expect it to be, silent and deadly. Aside of weapons fan favorite random challenges also make a return. Together with my co-op partner I could participate in a session of ‘kill three zombies as fast as possible’ for example. Those extra challenges keep things light and fun so that players will continue to have a blast while playing Dying Light.
Decisions decisions
This brings us to the last block of information we got thanks to our hands-on, the decisions you have to make. Before we got our hands on our buggy, we were forced to decide how we would attack an enemy camp. Would we go for the silent stealth approach using the crossbow? Or would we go for the gun blazing, Rambo action? Needless to say, my teammate and I went full Rambo on the camp. Those decisions don’t affect the story but they do affect the way you experience the game. It’s important to find a co-op partner that feels the same way about this since working together is crucial in survival. Like every open-world game should, Dying Light gave us the feeling that we were in full control of the situation.
Early conclusion
We can only conclude that things are going in the right direction for this big expansion. It offers a lot of content for a small price and it feels more like a sequel than an expansion. The best news is that Season Pass owners will be able to download it for free. It’s Dying Light as we all know and love but it has some interesting twists. We do hope the story will be interesting enough to keep us going but the cliffhanger we saw looked very promising. We can’t wait to see how this expansion turns out when it release later on.
I can’t wait to play the following, I purchased the season pass for this reason…I love the myriad ways that you can kill zombies and others, the challeges that the side quests offer are intriguing and keep me going especially in hard mode and the quarantine zones esp at night are horrifying and creepy. I love everything that Techland has done with Dying Light, by far the best survival horror game ever made and well-deserved of its many awards….looking forward to killing many more zombies and encountering the many challenges that the following will offer the true fans of Dying Light…Good Night Good Luck Techland.