Dying Light: The Following is an expansion pack for the 2015 survival horror game Dying Light. The game was developed by Techland, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and released for Linux, Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 9, 2016. The expansion adds characters, a story campaign, weapons, and gameplay mechanics.
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
Set in a map that is twice as large as the two previous maps of Dying Light, 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. It has its own separate skill tree, and weapons, including spikes, flamethrowers, UV lights, electrical cages and other upgrades can be added to the buggy to increase its combat abilities. 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, and must collect fuel in order to drive the buggy.
The game features several new weapons, such as a crossbow and a variety of new firearms such as submachine guns and revolvers. A new "bounty" mode, which split missions into three different categories: "Basic", "Dailies", and "Community", is introduced. The missions and objectives included in this mode change every day, and players gain experience points by completing them. 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. 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. Similar to the first game, the game supports a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode. The asymmetrical multiplayer mode from the first game, Be The Zombie, also returns in The Following.
Plot
Protagonist Kyle Crane learns from a survivor near death about a supposed cure to the virus. 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.