Dying Light's DLC The Following just rolled out lately, taking the action from the city to the countryside. It went official with big updates for the Be the Zombie mode, a new story and map.
Techland also launched the Enhanced Edition alongside it, and it came with a three-tier bounty system, a Nightmare difficulty setting and 250 Legend Levels to unlock on top of the goodies that the standard version brought.
Considering how successful the parkour-based horror game is, it's a pretty safe bet to assume that virtually every gamer has only positive things to say about the DLC at this point - well, most of them anyway. Of course, it's still interesting to see what exactly they have to say about The Following.
"I liked last year's Dying Light, so I was predisposed to like The Following. And I do like The Following; I like it even more than I was expecting to. It's just what an expansion should be: more of the game I already liked, with a number of refinements and small, interesting tweaks. In one respect it's altogether different: You have an automobile now, and an enormous new explorable area that requires the use of it," Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku says.
The Buggy
Going over the new automobile gameplay, it opens up a whole new zombie-slaying experience. It's the complete package, where players get a Driving skill tree chockfull of new abilities.
"The buggy and the open areas that comprise the new world map is the biggest shift in The Following. You get a brand-new Driving skill tree, which functions like the previous skill trees: drive and you gain experience, which unlocks new abilities in the driving tree. Driving through the fields and gullies, dodging broken cars and obstacles, drifting into zombies; the buggy itself is pretty fun," Mike Williams of USgamer writes.
The Map
To match all that driving action, the developers created a vast open area called Countryside. It simply complements the new weaponized buggy, allowing players to make the most out of the add-on.
"The new area, called the Countryside, is huge. Techland claims that it's larger than the entirety of the original game, and I'd agree with that after playing to 100 percent completion. Since there are numerous open fields, it's not quite as packed as the urban environments in Dying Light proper, but I found this to be welcoming. It's not all open, either: you'll go from farms, to beaches, to graveyards, to caves, to factory areas, so you're constantly being stimulated in a new way," Zack Furniss of Destructoid says.
The DLC
Now, the expansion is separated from the main campaign, and that means players aren't allowed to fast travel between the city and the countryside. However, they'll retain their inventory and progress on their characters in both of the campaigns.
The Story
The story takes place off the coast of Harran, and it follows Kyle Crane, as expected. Many weren't glad to see the familiar face of Crane again, where the story content isn't really one for the books.
"Predictably, the storytelling is as bad as ever, with Techland missing the opportunity to ditch personality vacuum Kyle Crane as their protagonist. The plot revolves around a group of cultists who appear to be immune to the zombie plague, but who need to be won over before they explain their secrets. This quickly devolves into an excuse to perform an unending series of fetch quests for people. Mission variety was another major problem with Dying Light, and here there's so much repetition in terms of mission types that it all quickly begins to blur into one," GameCentral for Metro.co.uk says.
The Bugs
That's not the only problem that The Following bears as well. There are some software-related kinks that need a fixin', but they aren't huge issues to begin with.
"The expansion ran great for me: I didn't experience a single crash (PC crash, that is: I crashed my buggy plenty). The issues I had were minor, like, while racing at top speed I sometimes overtook the spawn rate of new zombies, meaning I could see them pop into existence in front of me. Enemy AI didn't work well in a few cases: boss enemies unwilling to walk around a minor obstruction, considerately letting me slowly plink them to death at my leisure, and some human goons who wouldn't open fire if I backpedaled a few steps," Christopher Livingston of PC Gamer says.
The Bottom Line
All in all, The Following is a solid game and an excellent DLC to Dying Light. Despite some gamers unhappy about the new story content, there are, of course, some who loved it.
"Dying Light: The Following manages to include a new fun-filled environment to explore along with a vehicle to do so that mesh together well with a story that's slow to start but ends with a powerful punch," IGN's Brendan Graeber says.
