Dying Light: The Following - Enhanced Edition Review

I hear a scream...

It's my fault, I knew I shouldn't have squeezed off that round. I knew I shouldn't have panicked - but what can you do, you round a corner and there's a dude in your face with a machete. I've just escaped from a pack of wandering feral zombies, my health's low, I've been doing this a long time and I thought I'd got this zone licked.

Fat chance now, something has changed. The volatiles, the zombies, they're all tougher somehow and the gun was the only thing I'd got which wasn't broken.

The guy shrugs off the first round, but the second and third find their mark - he drops, but the scream isn't from him. Something inhuman hears it. I'm hunted across Old Town by a pack of howling flesh-ripping madness, claws inches from my back as I scramble, jump and grapple hook my way toward a safe haven...

So close, so far. It's between me and the UV lights which promise safety and warmth through the night.

A Night Hunter... looking right at me.

Good night, good...

*static*

Good Night, Good Luck

Ever since I had my eyes on Dying Light, way back when it was first announced I loved Techlands marketing, and the one thing which stuck with me all the way through to the game's release and the countless hours I poured into Kyle Crane vs. Harran was that simple little phrase.

Good Night, Good Luck. It sums up Dying Light in those few words, a game where the night was to be feared until you got to max level, maxed out all the skill trees and ended up with a badass flaming katana which could sever a volatile's head from its shoulders in seconds without you breaking a sweat.

Well, Good Night, Good Hunt is the new motto... and you're not the one doing the hunting.

See, Techland have gotten into the same kind of vibe as CD Projeckt RED - they're into supporting their community and rewarding the feedback from countless gamers since Dying Light's release. The result, Dying Light - The Following: Enhanced Edition.

Not just another Remaster

Without the Following, Dying Light is still a game worth playing, because the Enhanced Edition adds in a boatload of fixes, polish, new graphics, new animations, new challenges, and even more to the base experience. If you haven't played Dying Light yet, this is the best value for money too, because you're going to get the base game, the Season Pass, and the Following (which also comes as part of the Season Pass if you already own the thing).

Having extensively played Dying Light from the get-go, it's amazing to see the changes in action and to feel the atmosphere of the game shift at night. At one point I was a zombie slaying badass during the day, and a whirlwind of volatile murder when the sun went down. I didn't care if it went dark, I was max level, I was a GOD.

The changes to Dying Light altered all that, and I couldn't be happier. Now there's Legend Levels to accrue and rather like Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition (Reaper of Souls) Paragon System you can spread points out into various categories as you level up.

I started out with all my skill trees maxed, and since all you need to do to get into the Legend Levels is max one, I set out to kick ass and kill some zombies. I'd got super powerful weapons, a load of stuff from my previous save and it all carried on.

The first zombie I hit... didn't fall down, it kind of staggered a bit. Wait, this was a powerful melee weapon and the damn thing laughed it off. A few more slices and I finally managed to take the bugger down, not before it'd ripped off at least a third of my health. A brief: What the Hell? thought followed and then Experiment A.

Night...

I went back to the Tower in Harran and waited until nightfall, setting out on my usual blase way to take on some zombies I soon found that night is back to being as scary as it was. The hunters are vicious, they take you down fast and even the regular zombies are nasty. Dying Light just got real fun again, real fast. Gain a Legend Level, drop a point into say: One Handed Weapons and you'll boost the damage, eventually you'll become a zombie slaying badass again - around Level 250.

This isn't a review of Dying Light the base game though, packed with new challenges and loaded with extra content thanks to the additions and extra stuff from the Season Pass. Nope, this is all about the Following.

What's the Following?

It's a huge addon to the base game, a whole new massive area which in terms of size is probably larger than Harran and Old Town. Lets face it, I'm not going to spoil the story for you, Kyle Crane - the hero, sets off to find out the truth behind a mysterious place he hears about from a dying man and a map. When he gets there, he discovers something which changes everything - cryptic much? That's all you're going to get.

The new area is a giant playground, rammed with zombies, crawling with worse, and littered with broken down vehicles. New weapons, new skills, new tricks, and new bad guys await Kyle in this addition and it can be kicked off from the main menu, taking your current DL base character with it. In fact you can freely swap between the Following and Dying Light as you want, Kyle will level up regardless.

At first you might feel a little bit lost, getting to the new place is a pretty fun segment and once you see it you might even feel a little daunted.

The Following is pretty good about introducing the new content. You'll go from running across massive fields (ripe with zombies) to acquiring your signature ride, the reason I love the Following so much - the BUGGY!

Yeah, that's right. If you ever wanted to tear around in a vehicle in a zombie apocalypse, this is the game which lets you do it. You''ll get a new skill, Driving, and a bunch of new options open up. The buggy is fully customisable too, with unlockable paint jobs, parts, weapons and more to discover. Warning, just like Dying Light things don't last forever, the weapons degrade and the buggy parts do the same - you can repair them, make more and find even better parts though, so the gameplay loop in that regard is nigh on perfect. There's even a bow, good luck trying to master it, it takes some skill.

Rather like the buggy, that also takes some skill and drives really well to begin with. It's huge fun to smash into hordes of zombies, sure you will have to repair, but that's the price you pay for ramming hunks of walking dead flesh.

You know what else is perfect, zombie parkour. Dying Light is easily the best, most responsive, and systemic parkour system in a game since Mirror's Edge. Unlike previous Assassin's Creeds before Syndicate, Kyle Crane knows where he's going, he knows how to get there and every response to your directional input, button presses is handled with precision.

You fall down, it's because you made the mistake, not the game forgetting to grab on.

Worth every moment invested

It's rare I say this, but the game's worth every moment you put into it. Especially now, the Following is an incredible addition to the base game, pushes the danger to even greater heights (wait until you meet the new bad guys at night) and manages to reinvigorate an already pretty awesome title, injecting a fresh dose of fun and mayhem.

Dying with Friends

4 player co-op Dying Light was always intense, and hilarious. Now imagine 4 player buggy based lunacy! Or how'd you like to ride shotgun on your buddies' ride? Well, you can!

Shocks and Surprises

It also surprised me. At one point I was heading to a safe zone in the new area, and a volatile came after me. I parkoured over her head, spun around and was ready to murder her as she was now stunned. Suddenly she came out of the stun, screamed at me that she was sorry and dropped to the ground sobbing. It halted me just enough, it was a true sudden emotional kick to the face and I hesitated.

The madness came back and she flew at me, grabbing and biting. I've not been scared playing Dying Light, until that moment.

Bravo!

Shiny Bloodletting

The game looks great now, new textures, polish and additional lighting effects work well. It runs solidly and I didn't have a single lick of slowdown during my hours spent with both the base game and the expansion, so far so good. The new animations are woven into the gameplay, they might be a little hard to spot at first, but there's a bunch of them. A few appear when Kyle's parkouring across the landscape too, smoothly transitioning from climb to vault, to sprint as he nimbly traverses Harran.

Night of the Living Invasion

If hordes of AI enemies aren't enough, Dying Light lets you set some optional parameters as you play, one of those is Invasions. Where another human player can jump into your game and be the Night Hunter in your playground. It's a troll move to turn on Invasions though and then expect people to leave the game if you're hiding in the safe house, get out there, try and win and you'll have far more fun.

If you don't know how to turn them off, the setting is in options. It's pretty easy to set, you can even set the frequency of Invasions, so you're not invaded ALL the time.

Bottom Line?

Scrolled down here? Well, the bottom line is this: the game's worth it, great fun, fantastic for new and old Dying Light players alike and value for money with the sheer wealth of new content, challenges, daily challenges and Legend Levels.

The new area is massive, the buggy is a great addition and I even like the new story. I call that a win!