Dying Light: Sad Face

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

Since we're helping out in her neck of the woods, Troy gives us news that the bombing of Harran is imminent and that the government is using the excuse that there are "no survivors anyway" to justify their actions.

Since we can't radio out (as Rais took our Sat phone), we are tasked to deliver a sign in a more old school way - setting up explosives in a tall building. Filled with zombies. Really? Why is everything filled with zombies?

We clear it with ammo to spare and detonate the charges which form a huge sad face on the building facade. It doesn't last long as a squad of military jets missiles the whole structure into ruin in a stroke of heavy handed cover up. Time for plan B.

That's one unhappy building.

Insight: Piles of blue garbage bags are your Assassin Creed haystacks. It doesn't matter how far you fall, you will take no damage if you manage to land on them. It's absurd, but it does save time. I've even used it to escape from volatiles.

Dying Light: Wizard Magic

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

It seems there are some crazies in Old Town too, encountering a cannibal guy in one basement and a full blown mass murderer in an office space. later in particular is one of my favorite encounters thus far, and is voiced perfectly.

Not all the crazies are bad though, like the alien conspiracy nut who gives us a useless ray gun. The "wizard" babysitter is much better, rewarding us with guns for helping him take care of kids in an orphanage.

The bear holds secrets!

The real reward there is when Jim decides to keep interacting with a teddy bear in that orphanage... that explodes? When the smoke clears there is a "Developer Blueprint" in its place for a Stasis Field Generator? WTF. It requires a lot of shrooms to create, but the effects are truly magical: a grenade that freezes everything (often in midair) within its explosion sphere!

Insight: There are a lot of demolisher zombies in Old Town and all can throw boulders accurately. The majority of them are not worth fighting though - only the ones tied to quests.

Dying Light: Oh Baby

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

Hoping to catch up with Jade, we go talk to a group who help smuggle people into the next sector: Old Town. This involves a trip through the sewers and a betrayal as said people also work for Rais. They have no chance against us.

On the other side a new map awaits, and find "the Loft" a safe zone run by Troy who has a bad habit of sending us to where Jade is not. We also run a side quest of getting the water running again, and since there are three separate places to do this, we split up and hit one each - followed by the main valve which is guarded by a sole volatile.

Having fought a mob of them previously, this isn't very dangerous. We also hit some quarantine zones including the Striped Dragon Hotel where we meet a new type of zombie: the baby. Its cries drain health AND summon runners. Not a good combo which puts it on the "kill on sight" list.

Never hesitate if you have the shot.

Insight: The skill to cover yourself in zombie guts which makes you undetectable to zombies (other than volatiles) combined with the neck snap skill previously mentioned makes many horde encounters a cake walk. It also saves ammo and weapon durability.

Dying Light: Gladiator

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

Returning to the tower we meet an even more upset Brecken. There's no time to sort out feelings though as Dr. Zere's lab comes under attack! We rush to the scene and kill some of Rais' goons but find the good doctor has been kidnapped.

We tail them back to Rais compound and find it suspiciously empty, until we all get knocked out via cut scene ambush. We awake in a pit arena with no gear. Rais is there gloating with Dr. Zere at his side. After monologing he unleashes zombies on us, because they collect zombies in containers for fun apparently.

The "real" Harran virus.

The litter makes decent weaponry and we manage to fight the waves off. As a finale he even drops in a demolisher, but given we just fought three of them at the prison this guy is a piece of cake. Especially after I knocked off his helmet via a thrown table leg. Rais is not pleased, and when he comes down to gloat we take the opportunity to disarm him and kill a few of his dudes.

Dr. Zere is hit in the commotion and says that all hope now lies with Jade who is taking his research to a Dr. Camden in the next sector. A massive parkour escape sequence follows, though not so much escaping from DL who specifically goes back to kill some snipers. Scott free, we get out on the road and promptly collapse from our injuries, only to be saved by Brecken and surprisingly, Karim who delivers bags full of our confiscated gear.

Insight: There is an skill unlock to throw melee weapons. I found that it's not really useful (especially if you want the weapon back) outside of this particular fight.

Dying Light: Prison Outbreak

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

After dealing with Rahim we find ourselves back at the fishing village where we meet up with annoying smart asses Tolga and Fatin, who we've been collecting junk for. This time they need a military grade sonar device at a camp that we need to rappel to - from the top of the tall bridge.

Fortunately Jim is sober during this and we make it across to the fully stocked camp, wiping out the zombies milling about and looting it dry. After delivering the device to the pair we then decide to visit the prison, via dingy (does the quarantine not stop ships?) and boy are we in for a surprise.

It's storming when we arrive and after fighting the very well armed soldiers outside (full gun fight this time, as they are too dangerous) we make our way into the interior facing hallways and rooms / arenas filled with zombies, even volatiles! This eventually leads to a fight against three massive, armored juggernauts who take forever to slay (especially the last one whom DL had to whirlwind strike with his axe)!

Probably need to skip all the prior fights to do this faster.

Our reward when we get to the armory is three rooms filled with gear and locked chests, but only 30 seconds to loot... WHAT? I just manage to swipe a few trivial items that aren't locked down but ultimately feel that the reward was not worth the risk. At least it was fun. With lighter pockets, we sail back to the slums.

Insight: Humans are just as prone to head shots as everyone else, and if they are using guns you might as well use guns too. There will be less overall noise if you kill them fast.

Dying Light: Darwin Award

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

Despite being repeatedly told to just chillax in the Tower, Rahim had taken the explosives Jade brought back and decided to take a small crew to explode a not so nearby volatile nest. We find his team all dead on the overpass, and he himself hiding in a train car because I guess he was ambushed by zombies? What do you mean there'll be zombies in the zombie nest? DUHHH.

The idiot then hands us the explosives which HE HAS ALREADY ACTIVATED and tells us to finish the job. With just 4 minutes that doesn't leave us much time to argue so we run for it, right into the construction site nest, planting bombs in the midst of all types of zombies.

Better get running!

Being the fastest, I'm the only one who reaches the highest floor (only 4th floor accessible) where the actual volatiles are but with no time to spare I just plant the last bomb and run for it, making it out with 20 seconds to spare. My brothers had found lower exits and were ahead of me at this part, and from a safe distance away we then watched the whole structure implode on itself. It was very impressive.

A short trip back to Rahim revealed he had turned, and I gleefully break his neck. Idiots don't deserve to live.

Insight: There is a neck break skill you can unlock to use against everything else which will 1 hit kill them but requires you to get behind your opponent. It does not work on volatiles. I tried.

Dying Light: Fighting Back

[Part of the Dying Light diary - spoilers ahead!]

Before returning the zombie innards to Dr. Zere, we decide to harvest some shrooms for a witch and test a new bomb against the volatiles in a tunnel. The tunnel is particularly interesting as we go during the day, and find the monsters lurking inside.

We decide to take potshots, and seeing that they can't walk out into the sunlight - eventually arrow all of them down. The bomb is planted and as planned activated at night just as a new squad of volatiles wanders in to suffer its effects.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

There are more volatiles outside though, and these come running at the sound of the explosion but this time I make the call to stand and fight since we have new UV flares. These are effective in keeping them back, though they occasionally can pounce through the light. We slay a great many of the scum and gain lots of XP for as long as the flares burn.

The tide quickly turns once the last flare goes out though, and we are forced to grapple our way out of the swarm, returning to retreat and evade mode. Exciting and fun, but also very dangerous! We eventually rendevouz at Dr. Zere's lab, who examines the bolter guts and excitedly tells us this could be the first step to a cure! Oh, you mean we shouldn't be killing all the zombies? Whoops.

It's then that Rahim gives us a call asking for immediate help.

Insight: While volatiles are pretty scary, a headshot is a headshot so remember to aim. Once alerted they get really good at dodging though. ;)