Dying Light was one of the most impressive Zombie game launched of recent times, that brought the skill of parkour to help survive through the land of dead. With ‘The Following‘ expansion pack it tries to perfect the original story and gameplay even further with all new gameplay mechancs, additional plot, and some kick-ass weaponry.
Dying Light: The Following Review (PS4 )
Moving ahead of the parkour and bringing Mad Max style buggy driving to Dying Light feels a bit odd at many levels, but with the interesting missions, upgradeable vehicles and weapons and surprising new gameplay additions make ‘The Following’ a rockstar DLC. It is not necessary to finish the game to play this expansion pack, but you must complete the prologue of Dying Light before you jump in this game.
The map has become bigger now, and you have endless rocky grounds and grassy lands to dodge or brutally kill the zombies in this game. And without a well-equipped buggy it would take 1o times more time, and 100 times less fun. Whatever skills and weaponry you have accrued in the original game, comes with you to assist in this new gameplay. If you have spent hours and hours in the original game to do favours, earn trust and gather some cool weapons, it will be all worth at least twice when you play ‘The Following’.
The core gameplay of helping locals, earning trust levels is definitely the same, with some new story being added, which is quite unique to any Zombie game you have ever played so far.
The buildings and other structures that were very dense in the original games are now rare, so parkour skills are very less of a use in this expansion. But here you get the most awesome thing in Dying Light ever – the customizable buggy! I loved the overall concept of buggy when I played Mad Max, and as I can crush some walking dead bodies now with the mounted weapons, it becomes a pleasure more than ever.
As you keep crushing the zombies in this game, and driver over miles and miles, expect your buggy to get damaged, weaker and exposed to lethal attacks. So while you play through this game, make sure to scavenge some scrap parts & gas, to keep your bad-ass buggy always loaded. Similar to the original game you can also improve upon your skills, and even do paint-job to your buggy, to mark your level of expertise.
You can earn flame throwers, UV headlights and my personal favourite the deployable mines. These firearms add more to your survival strategy of Dying Light, and it enhances the fun element to new levels. Not just the vehicular weapons, but even in general, The Following is more centered on the use of firearms, compared to the original game’s melee combat strategy. It somewhat gives your advantage in crowd control situations, and shooting is always fun compared to hitting and slashing anytime.
This extended map brings some visually pleasing coastal scenery, miles and miles of muddy roads and other enhancements to the environment of Dying Light, that reminds you it’s a whole different and better version of Dying Light you are playing. These environmental additions are enticing enough to take your zombie-crushing buggy on the ride, over and over again.
The boss zombie action follows in this expansion as well, and it has got more violent than ever. As you are on your own in The Following, the bosses sometimes feel too hard to beat, and no matter how many bullets you shoot at these monster, they stand strong against you with the least harm. If you are spotted in the dark, scary night environments, death is almost certain. Sometimes you get spawned at locations, that are hard to find a buggy nearby, and you will waste valuable time walking around, and facing zombies on the road. Zombies sometimes got stuck at small obstacles, which I experienced only twice, but the overall enemy AI is very well designed to kick your ass.
The driving mechanics of non-racing games generally suck, but surprisingly this DLC has brought a precise and fun driving experience to Dying Light. You will love manoeuvring the buggy though all types of roads, and if you have right weapons mounted, you will be almost fearless on the roads. There is also online head to head sprint racing, you can play with up to 4 players online and a co-op action which enriches the content you get with this DLC.
Verdict
There is no better way of saying this, but ‘The Following’ is one of the very few of the expansion packs, that adds so many layers of gameplay, game elements, weapons and almost over 10 hours of the main story to already interesting Dying Light. The survivor missions became more rewarding thanks to the surprising new add-ons, and the amount of content you get with this expansion pack is nothing short of impressive. It feels like a much-needed addition to this game, and the horrifying zombie fighting experience of Dying Light is now perfected with ‘The Following’.
If you already own Dying Light on PS4, I would definitely recommend you ‘The Following’ and if you don’t own it already, buy the Dying Light Enhanced Edition with the expansion pack itself.