Dying Light: The Following

Dying Light: The Following is an expansion pack for the open-world first-person survival horror video game Dying Light. The game was developed by Techland, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and released for Microsoft Windows, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 9, 2016. The expansion adds characters, a story campaign, weapons, and gameplay mechanics.

Dying Light: The Following
Developer(s)Techland
Publisher(s)Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Director(s)
  • Paweł Marchewka
  • Adrian Ciszewski
Designer(s)Tymon Smektała
Programmer(s)Michał Nowak
Writer(s)Paweł Selinger
Composer(s)Paweł Błaszczak
SeriesDying Light 
EngineChrome Engine 6
Platform(s)
ReleaseLinux, Windows
  • WW: 9 February 2016
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
  • NA: 9 February 2016
  • POL: 9 February 2016
  • AU: 10 February 2016
  • EU: 12 February 2016[1]
OS X
  • WW: 15 December 2016
Genre(s)Action role-playing, survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition includes Dying Light, Dying Light: The Following, and downloadable content released for the original game, except for three DLCs: Harran Ranger Bundle, Gun Psycho Bundle and Volatile Hunter Bundle.

Gameplay
See also: Gameplay of Dying Light

Set in a map that is twice[2] as large as the two previous maps of Dying Light,[3] The Following's gameplay is similar to that of the main game where the infected are slow and fragile during daytime, and become aggressive and fast at night time. Players can use parkour movements, such as climbing ledges, leaping, sliding, jumping and zip-lining, to move between places and kill enemies. One of the new features introduced is a drivable dune buggy. Players can use them to travel across the game's world quickly and mow down enemies.[4][5] It has its own separate skill tree,[6] and weapons, including spikes, flamethrowers, UV lights, electrical cages and other upgrades can be added to the buggy to increase its combat abilities.[7] The buggy's performance and efficiency are affected by factors including the power of its suspension, engine, and brakes. Players can also choose from 40 different paintjobs to customize their car,[8] and must collect fuel in order to drive the buggy.[9]

The game features several new weapons, such as a crossbow and a variety of new firearms such as submachine guns and revolvers.[10] A new "bounty" mode, which split missions into three different categories: "Basic", "Dailies", and "Community",[11] is introduced. The missions and objectives included in this mode change every day, and players gain experience points by completing them.[12] The game also features a new difficulty mode named "Nightmare Mode", which extends the duration of nighttime, and increases the strength and health of enemies.[13] Every action made in this mode drains stamina from the player's character. Players do not have to complete the base game before starting the expansion, however the character progression players earned in The Following will be carried to the base game.[7] Similar to the first game, the game supports a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode.[14] The asymmetrical multiplayer mode from the first game, Be The Zombie, also returns in The Following.[15]

Plot

Protagonist Kyle Crane learns from a survivor near death information about a supposed cure. With the Tower running short on Antizin and Camden's efforts to produce a cure still unsuccessful, Crane decides to go investigate this supposed immunity. He heads out to the countryside, where he discovers that many of the survivors out there have converted to a religious cult called the Children of the Sun, who worship the Mother which is apparently the source of their immunity to the virus. In order to earn the cult's trust and learn more about the immunity, Crane decides to assist the survivors. Eventually, one of the Faceless, the high-ranking members of the cult, approaches Crane and privately admits that their immunity is gained through a special elixir they had discovered, but like Antizin, it only suppresses the infection and does not fully cure it. The Faceless also reveal that they are working on a permanent cure, and promise that in exchange for his help, they will give Crane the cure to take back to Harran.

Crane is then tasked with assisting a man named Atilla, who is working on an important project for the Mother. Atilla tells Crane that the Children of the Sun believe in a prophecy where a chosen one would rise up to become the prophet of the God of the Sun and purify the infection. He also reveals that the Mother was Jasmine, the wife of a local military Colonel who was involved in the experiments that caused the outbreak, but was bitten during the outbreak. Before succumbing to the infection himself, the Colonel gave Atilla a secret code that Atilla passes on to Crane. Attila then commits suicide in an attempt to invoke the prophecy, but it fails to occur. Crane then discovers that the remnants of Rais' gang have also traveled to the countryside to search for the supposed cure as well. Rais' thugs stage an attack on the Mother's base in a nearby dam, but when Crane arrives, he finds both Rais' bandits and the Faceless all dead.

Entering the dam, Crane discovers that the Mother has been turned into a sentient volatile. She reveals that the dam was a secret military facility that held a special chemical substance. However, rather than being a cure for the virus, the elixir instead slowly turns whoever uses it into a sentient volatile, like it did to the Mother. During the day, she is able to retain her mental faculties and has been given telepathic abilities in order to communicate, but at night, she becomes an uncontrollable feral monster. The Mother tells Crane that the only way to stop the infection is to summon the God of the Sun to purify the land, sacrificing everybody in Harran in the process. At this point, Crane can choose to either listen to the Mother, or defy her.

If Crane chooses to defy the Mother, the Mother attacks, forces him to drink the elixir and attempts to kill him, but Crane eventually prevails and kills her. Taking what's left of the elixir, Crane leaves the dam, suffering continuous blackouts, and finds himself in a populated area seemingly outside the quarantine, but discovers that his exposure to the elixir has already turned him into a sentient volatile. As night falls, the infected Crane lets out a feral scream as a nearby mother and her children watch in terror.

If Crane chooses to listen to the Mother, she leads him to a nuclear warhead that was originally meant to be a fail-safe to contain the outbreak. Crane inputs the code Atilla had given him, which activates the warhead, presumably destroying all of Harran and killing all of the survivors and infected, taking the virus with them.

Development

The Following was developed by Techland and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. According to lead designer Maciej Binkowski, the team decided to implement a dune buggy into The Following as they felt that it was a "fantasy" of the zombie genre, and they missed the opportunity when developing the base game. The process of implementing them was described as "hard", as they must ensure that the new system must work functionally with other gameplay mechanics, most notably the parkour system. The development team looked at players' feedback and requests regarding the first Dying Light, and decided to add the most demanded features, including a new story and new firearms, to the game.[16] The new campaign lasts for at least ten hours, and centers around the theme "mystery".[17] Gameplay elements from The Following were originally part of the core Dying Light game, but were later left behind as the core game was becoming too large for the team to handle. According to Binkowski, the development of the game continued after the release of the first game, and numerous improvements were made to the parkour system, animation, artificial intelligence[18] and graphics.[19]

In May 2015, it was announced that the development of another Techland video game, Hellraid, had been put on hold so as to allow the studio to allocate resources and time to concentrate on the development of the Dying Light franchise.[20] The game was teased by Techland on July 23, 2015,[21] before being officially announced a week later.[22] To reflect the increased scope and scale of the expansion, Techland raised the game's price on November 25, 2015.[23] Although the game can be bought separately, it was included in Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition, which bundles The Following with the base game and its downloadable content, except for three DLCs: Harran Ranger Bundle, Gun Psycho Bundle and Volatile Hunter Bundle. Players of the original game can upgrade to the Enhanced Edition for free.[24] The Following is also free for players who have purchased the base game's Season Pass.[25] The Enhanced Edition were released on February 9, 2016.[26]

Reception

Dying Light: The Following has received generally positive reviews from critics, scoring 78/100 on Metacritic for the PlayStation 4.[28]

Kevin Dunsmore of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4 out of 5 saying, "The Following expands Dying Light in a meaningful new way, giving fans something fun to salivate over."[31] Scott Butterworth from GameSpot rated the game an 8/10 saying, "The Following evolves Dying Light's formula by adding substantial new mechanics that compliment or even reframe familiar gameplay elements."[30]

The extension got to number 5 in the US downloads chart.[32]

References
  1. Copeland, Wesley (February 2, 2016). "Dying Light: The Following Now Has Internaitonal Release Dates". IGN. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  2. Pereira, Chris (January 28, 2016). "Dying Light DLC's New Area Is Twice as Big as the Original Game's". GameSpot. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  3. Purchese, Robert (August 13, 2015). "Dying Light expansion The Following announced". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  4. Tach, Dave (August 13, 2015). "Smashing zombies with a dune buggy in Dying Light: The Following". Polygon. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  5. Erica Webber, Jordan (August 13, 2015). "Dying Light: The Following trailer shows off zombie-killing buggy". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  6. Karmali, Luke (August 13, 2015). "Dying Light: The Following Expansion Trailer And Details Revealed". GameSpot. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  7. McAllister, Gillen (August 13, 2015). "Dying Light: The Following "thank you" to fans, free to Season Pass holders". Gamereactor. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  8. Jones, Gary (January 14, 2016). "Dying Light: The Following - Weaponised rides on PS4, Xbox One and PC trailer". Express.co.uk. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  9. Khan, Zarmena (October 18, 2015). "Dying Light: The Following Will Have Smarter Enemies". PlayStation LifeStyle. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  10. Smith, Adam (August 13, 2015). "Dying Light – The Following Adds An Enormous New Map And Customisable Vehicles". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  11. Orry, James (January 18, 2016). "Dying Light: The Following video details new Bounties mechanic". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  12. Bennett, Matthew (January 18, 2016). "Dying Light: The Following trailer details Bounties system". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Archived from the original on January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  13. Hilliard, Kyle (January 26, 2016). "Dying Light: The Following Ups The Difficulty With The New Nightmare Mode". Game Informer. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  14. Kietzmann, Ludwig (December 5, 2015). "Check out Dying Light: The Following's co-op and vehicles due in February". GamesRadar. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  15. Turi, Tim (February 4, 2016). "Dying Light's 'Be The Zombie' Mode Infects The Following's Sprawling Countryside". Game Informer. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  16. Morella, Michael (August 23, 2015). "Interview: Techland kicks it into next gear with Dying Light: The Following". GameZone. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  17. Dunsmore, Kevin (January 7, 2016). "Accept the Mercy of the Light in Latest Dying Light: The Following Trailer". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  18. Pereira, Chris (December 5, 2015). "Dying Light Getting Enhanced Edition; Upgrades Free for Existing Players". GameSpot. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  19. Ray Corriea, Alexa (December 9, 2015). "Dying Light's Expansion Was Inspired by Community Feedback". GameSpot. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  20. Phillips, Tom (21 May 2015). "Dead Island dev dumps Hellraid development, Techland doubles down on Dying Light". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  21. Skipper, Ben (July 23, 2015). "Dying Light: Techland tease vehicle DLC announcement for Gamescom". International Business Times. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  22. Karmali, Luke (July 29, 2015). "Dying Light Expansion The Following Announced". IGN. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  23. Sheridan, Conner (November 25, 2015). "Dying Light: The Following's turning out bigger than expected, so the price is going up". GamesRadar. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  24. Nunneley, Stephany (November 25, 2015). "Techland increases price for Dying Light: The Following expansion and season pass". VG247. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  25. McWhertor, Michael (November 25, 2015). "Techland 's exparaises price of Dying Lightnsion and season pass, explains why". Polygon. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  26. Goldfarb, Andrew (December 5, 2015). "PSX 2015: Dying Light: The Following Release Date Announced". IGN. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  27. "Dying Light: The Following for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  28. "Dying Light: The Following for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  29. "Dying Light: The Following for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  30. Scott Butterworth (12 February 2016). "Dying Light The Following Review". GameSpot. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  31. Dunsmore, Kevin (19 February 2016). "Review: Dying Light: The Following". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  32. https://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/03/04/playstation-store-februarys-top-downloads/
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