Dying Light celebrates three years of zombie parkour fun
Marathon endurance
The enduring success of Dying Light is a pleasant surprise. Nobody really expected too much of Techland's Dead Island spinoff, but the studio weathered a rough launch and continued to support the game through patches, free content updates and (eventually) a truly excellent expansion.
Most other studios would be done with a game after the inevitable Definitive Goaty Edition, but late last year Techland renewed their vow to support Dying Light well into 2018. We're now three years past the original release, and they're celebrating the event with discounts for newcomers and free in-game goodies for all spread across February.
Leading the march during the festivities is a free DLC release soon, the third of ten small planned pieces due out by this October. There's no word on what it'll include, but the first pack included a handful of new craftable weapons, and the second pack added pistol silencers to the game and subsonic ammunition, meaning that you can pop the occasional zombie head without angering the swarm. There was also a 'number zero' content drop including a new faction of human enemies and a new heavy zombie variant, although they don't seem to be counting that as part of the ten.
While they've not spilled the beans on what it'll entail, sometime this month the game will be blessed with a Valentines-themed community event named 'Undying Love'. Putting the 'romance' in 'necromancer', I'm sure.
Perhaps a little shamelessly, Techland are using the anniversary event to draw people to their own storefront, Gemly, with a 67% discount on Dying Light and its expansion there. Existing players might also want to get on board thanks to a variety of free bonus item and weapon unlocks to be used in-game. If you've not picked up the game or its expansion, I must say that £13.29 for the full package is a pretty good deal, and the game is significantly better now than its wonky launch reviews would suggest.
As for the future, Dying Light's upcoming competitive spinoff, Bad Blood, is also seeking players for its upcoming global playtest event, if you feel like signing up on Techland's site here. Three years on, are you still playing Dying Light? Any particular user-made levels you want to recommend? Sound off in the comments, as always.