Dying Light: Desperate Measures

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

After updating Jasir and resupplying, we go out to save Tolga and Fatin from some bandits and then assist the brothers with fuel and supplies for their next crazy escape plan: a rocket train through a collapsed tunnel. It goes just about how you'd expect.

And you thought you were a good crafter?

During this we also find a number of dead faceless and a convoy of Rais' thugs who have taken an interest in the blue incense. Despite clearing the enemies, apparently one of the faceless is still missing. With no leads we are instead sent to help an elderly researcher who is focused on finding a red mask.

His cancer prevents him from doing much though so we end up doing all the leg work - finding three monoliths in beautiful locations and finally an ancient ritual sacrifice site at the top of a mountain. Jim locates the red mask on a skeleton and we return it to the researcher, then turn our backs on him for just 10 minutes and find the old fool has killed himself - believing that dying while wearing the mask would cure him.

Insight: Mines are near useless and will more likely kill you or your companions instead of zombies.

Dying Light: Treasure Hunt

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

With Ezgi safely on her way (to the more dangerous area of Old Town - stupid girl), it's time to look for Jasir's sword that supposedly went into the hands of a weapons collector in town. It's not as simple as raiding his appartment though as the guy had put them in chests scattered around the place with vague clues leading to each of them.

It's a fun treasure hunt, where we not only find Jasir's sword but a bunch of six shooter pistols as well. Jim manages to deactivate the trip wires around one of the chests by swimming underneath them, but later has great difficulty climbing out of an ultra deep hole. Lucky for him he can teleport out when I reach a sleeping bag.

Not these two clowns again...

During the course of the treasure hunt we also come across the brothers Tolga and Fatin again, who somehow survived a light plane crash. Eager to get paid by their employer, Volkan Dal, who took the only parachute, they send us to find him. This ridiculously leads back to Jasir's farm, as Mr. Dal was killed by a local. For his shoes.

Insight: Interacting with any sleeping bag gives all the other coop players the option to teleport to you. This can help people out of being stuck!

Dying Light: Getting High

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

The ritual site is at the top of a high mountain. Obviously this cult has no need for people who are unable to climb flights upon flights of stairs! At the top is a pretty temple with a bunch of worshipers, trader Kaan included, praying to the dais where more faceless stand with their incense. A small group of zombies mill around among them.

We are invited up to breathe the smoke, and find the zombies are docile to us. In the background the leader of the faceless, "the Mother", starts talking to us but we pass out and when we awake, everyone is gone (they just left us there? lol). There might be something to this "cure" we keep hearing about.

Jasir then calls us back to his farm as he has new tasks for us - to find his family sword and to find his missing daughter. Like any sane person, we decide to look for Ezgi first and eventually track her down to a campsite with her girlfriend. She wants to go to Old Town and away from her dad and the cult, so we let her as the tunnel she wants to use is already cleared of volatile infestation. We just have to kill her girlfriend half way as she suddenly turns into a viral.

You're on your own from here. Good night and good luck!

Insight: A trio of crossbow bolts fired simultaneously at a non-boss demolishers head will kill it instantaneously. Obviously this is easier done when it doesn't yet know where you are and is standing still.

Dying Light: Up Close and Personal

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

With the lights back on we decide to split up to cover more ground with me heading back to the dam to look for a missing person while DL and Jim head to some warehouses to save a boy on the radio. This turns out to be a trap, as they find a bunch of kids in there who lock them in with another boss demolisher.

They manage to slay it just fine and when I get back to them they are already hunting the kids who have vanished into thin air. Night soon falls and the volatiles come out to play but this time, we hunt them! My upgraded car has a handy UV zone lights which serve as a flare for 30 seconds (then 1 minute recharge) which is a bonus on top of our surplus of UV flares we had prepared for hive delving.

Ass kicking squad reporting for duty.

It feels good to smash the freaks, and once daylight comes DL states "they have evaded our pursuit" - a message usually given to the player. How the tables have turned! We then head back to Jasir's farm to resupply then onto the main quest of visiting the faceless who are performing some ritual.

Insight: Shotguns are best close up. And I mean really close up. When you have the ones that hold 8 shells, advance on the volatiles till they are near melee range then unload. Preferably in their face. Flare up to reload.

Dying Light: Power Up

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

With the North clear, we headed to the lower part of the island to look for a missing buddy of Jasir only to find that he had literally become a volatile hive bitch. After killing him we swept the area, killing the spitter champion Beelzebufo as well as another boss demolisher, Behemoth, who was a prime target for the stasis grenade, followed by a trio of shotguns to the face.

It was fun making the demolisher do backflips!

After clearing a hive near the beach and finding more missing people we head to the dam to deliver equipment to the worker there in hopes of restoring the power. The place is crawling with zombies yet he is fine as one of the faceless is there with his blue incense. Somehow this makes them invisible to the zombies.

Obviously we are sent into the dam to flip the main switch and while DL has a bad time in there with the guardian demolisher whacking him through the floor, its a pretty short mission and soon the power is back on. From there it's a short trip to the last hive and since we entered during the day it is easily cleared.

Insight: To easily get items from the top of shelves, look for something nearby to stand on. I know it's common sense but I was doing the jump and grab before DL pointed that out to me.

Dying Light: Powerless

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

There is a radio tower near the collapsed tunnel that is a potential safe zone, so we do the climbing thing and find... there's no power. Jasir lets us know that we should talk to Bilal at the town gas station about that, because without power we can't unlock any other safe zones.

Thanks for the heads up, that would have been handy before we climbed. Anyway, we clear two more volatile hives in the area. One deep down in the dark and one in a canyon that requires jumping and grappling. Jim does particularly poorly in this one (drinking :P) as the floor is acid (literally) and falling often results in respawning outside the hive.

Jim taking the fast way down. :P

We then emerge near the coast and encounter a couple of crossbow armed farmers who ask us to finish off a monster in a cave who was stealing their food. The monster turns out to be a regular human, feeding his zombie baby down a well, whom we kill on sight (the baby. )

The nearby town is actually full of zombie babies, so we split up and silence them all before heading towards the gas station safe zone and meet the mechanic, Bilal.

Insight: Bilal serves as a quartermaster, so not only can you turn in air drop supplies to him (those still drop out here) - he also gives away stuff for free every game day. Like car upgrades!

Dying Light: Racer X

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

We manage to rescue one captive from the pump station who knows how to operate the machinery, except something goes wrong and the pipes begin erupting. We are tasked with finding the main valve (or something) and quickly as there is a time limit.

Now both Jim and DL start parkouring their way there but being a wannabe game designer I run the opposite way and get into my buggy, as it feels like a buggy challenge/learning point. This turns out to be the right call because the valve is MILES away - and even racing there I only have 10 seconds to spare to turn it. To be fair, I'm terrible at driving games. :P

First person car driving is not my forte.

With that done we reconvene at the farm where everyone is happy with their fresh H20 and Jasir starts telling us about how their faith in "the Mother" keeps them safe from the zombie sickness. To learn more, we have to help out more, and find that a whole slew of quests have now opened up for us.

Insight: Don't worry too much about leaving your car out in the wilds. There are "car summoning radios" in some safe zones that just teleport your vehicle to you. You can also flip them over you manage to turtle them.

Dying Light: Pump it Up

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

The drive back to the farm is fun, and obviously the buggies also get the attention of zombies due to the noise but they are fast enough to outrun them and sturdy enough to run them over in small enough groups.

Alas we find our quest giver, Kaan, has been evicted from the farm. Jasir's daughter Ezgi tells us that if we want the rest of the people to be more friendly is to simply help them out. Getting the water back on would be a start.

We found the eye candy!

We drive to the pumping station with only a small detour when we find Holler, a named demolisher boss zombie in a villa nearby. We take down the heavily armored freak and then proceed to the bandit controlled pump station.

These guys put up a better fight than the last lot, and I'm quite pleased to see the last one wearing decent armor. He forgot a helmet though, so a single head shot is all it takes to put him down.

Insight: You can use medkits while driving / riding in a buggy.

Dying Light: The Same but Different

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

The zombies out here are much like the ones inside, only tougher, and spontaneously mutate into runners or into duplicates of themselves which does make it more unnerving to be near them, especially since they now all come in hordes as standard.

Eventually we reach a farm safe zone run by Jasir but he and his folk aren't friendly at all. Only the merchant Kaan talks to us, advising us to get a vehicle from a different ranch to make travel easier - and indeed this map is huge and full of open space.

Said ranch has bandits controlling the place, but we silently take them all down. Our reward is one buggy each! These cars can take one driver and one passenger, with the passenger being able to use gun type weapons only.

These are indestructible!

It also needs fuel, and repairs / upgrades to various systems to make the vehicles perform better. Obviously you can also paint the things so we can tell whose car belongs to who. :P

Insight: You can loot the front of other vehicles now for car parts, and the fuel access point for gas. If you find some that are away from a horde, it might be worth the pit stop, especially at the start before you have a stockpile of said gear.