Dying Light 2: should you help Hakon or leave him to die?
What happens if you help Hakon or leave him?
Wondering what happens if you save Hakon or leave him to die in Dying Light 2? This is just one of several important choices made in Dying Light 2 which can alter your playthrough experience. Hakon appears very early on in the story, and he helps you quite a lot in the early stages of the game. But is that the whole story?
Find out whether to help Hakon or leave him to die in this quick primer on one of Dying Light 2's early important choices, and what happens when you pick each route.
Note: spoilers follow. Obviously.
Dying Light 2 Hakon choice: help Hakon, or leave him to die?
At a certain point in the story of Dying Light 2, towards the end of either the quest Into The Dark, or Revolution (you get one depending on the choices you made prior), Hakon will be shot with an arrow, and as you reach towards him you see a distinctive scar on his chest, made by the Lazarus knuckledusters. It is damning evidence that he was the one who killed the Peacekeepers' chief all along, and that he is working for Waltz - Aiden's nemesis. Armed with this new information, you're forced to make a choice between helping him, or leaving him.
The important thing is: whether you help Hakon or leave him, he will survive. You'll meet him later on in the story no matter what happens here.
There are two major difference in terms of gameplay. The first is immediate:
- If you help Hakon: you're given a short extra quest, "Snipers' Alley", where you must track down the sniper who fired the arrow at Hakon.
- If you leave Hakon to die: you skip this quest and proceed straight to the next main story quest, "Let's Waltz!".
While "Snipers' Alley" is technically a side-quest, your main quest won't progress until you finish it, so it's not skippable if you take this path. It won't take long, however: probably just 5 minutes or so of careful parkouring up a nearby building. Also, without giving everything away, this quest gives you a chance to meet a certain main character of the game a little earlier on than you might otherwise.
The second major difference occurs much later on in the story, when Hakon reappears in the church during the quest(s) No mercy/Deals with the Devil (depending on whether you sided with Jack Matt or Juan):
- If you helped Hakon: you're given an extra path to follow which you can take by choosing not to fight him at each opportunity. Finally Hakon stops fighting, and at this moment Lawan arrives ready to kill Hakon. If you then choose to talk her out of it, then Hakon will attack Lawan and flee. This is the only way Hakon survives the church, and if you do this he'll return during the Epilogue. Read about the Dying Light 2 endings to find out more.
- If you left Hakon to die: the above is not an option. Even if you choose not to fight Hakon, he'll continue fighting you until you kill him. Then you'll black out, and when you reawaken, Lawan will have arrived and seen that you killed him first she could. She then asks to be alone for a while.
In a sense, the most complete experience is therefore to help Hakon when he is first shot by the arrow. But whatever you decide to do at this point, rest assured it won't be the last you see him in Dying Light 2.
That's pretty much all you need to know in order to make an informed decision about whether to help Hakon or leave him to die in Dying Light 2. If you want to know how far into the game you've reached by this point, then check out our Dying Light 2 story missions list. And while you're here, why not brush up on your knowledge of how to find Dying Light 2 Inhibitors, Military Tech, and Infected Trophies - all useful resources that will help you as you push on into the Central Loop of Villedor.