When Dying Light first graced our consoles early last year, I was greeted with a really interesting surprise. Sure, we had seen zombie games before, and the very similar game Dead Island launched on PS3 with the premise of being an open world zombie slaying action game, similar to what Dying Light is doing with it’s title. But there are a number of key differences that are worth talking about, but I’ll save that for another time. As a prelude to a full review, I’ll be answering the question of why you should delve into Dying Light: The Following, regardless of if you played the base game already or not.

The Narrative Ties into the Main Plot

The game is exploring a whole new story which takes place after the main game. There are references to other characters and events throughout the lines of dialogue in The Following, so while a new player may get some interesting tidbits of info about the main game, vets will instantly feel like this DLC is tied to the rest of the narrative. Speaking of, you learn fairly early on why the people in the village claim to be immune to the virus. I won’t ruin what it is, and I’m still learning what it actually is that’s causing them to be impervious to the zombie filled perils.

There Are New Traversal Methods

This DLC now, for the first time in Dying Light, includes a vehicle. It’s not just ANY vehicle however, as this vehicle is fairly unique in other open world games. That’s because it’s a buggy that you can customize, from the suspension and armor upgrades to the mini figures of the characters in the DLC, this game gives you freedom in both traversal and in customization. And if you thought that incorporating a vehicle into the game would make it far too easy, you’re wrong. While mowing down standard “zombos” is actually easy, anything above an “infected” type will cause damage to both you, and your buggy. You’ll need to actively avoid hitting them so they can’t latch onto your car.

Bashing Zombo Skulls Is Still Genuinly Fun

There’s a lot that can be said for a game that throws massive numbers of enemies at you, and expects you to either escape or fight them off. This game does a great job at allowing that experience to be fun, as you dropkick, tackle, and throw your human and “zombo” enemies. The combat is the same as it was the base game, but now you also have new weapons and mods. Within the first hour or so of the game you’ll come across a few new weapons, some of which may actually be more powerful than your current weapon from the base game. I’ve yet to find something that trumps my heaven and hell modified katana, but that thing is a beast anyway.

The More The Merrier

This probably goes without saying, but the DLC expansion builds on the fantastic core drop-in drop-out co op multiplayer experience to allow your friends to join you as you slaughter hordes of zomboes. Any game that allows you to do that, especially in an open world setting, is sure to inspire moments of awkwardly traversed hilarity amongst friends. Not even the combat is as satisfying as watching a friend exclaim “Watch this” as he heroically attempts to jump to a nearby ledge, only to jump into a pack of infected getting instantly pwned in the process. If you’ve never played Dying Light, nows as good of a chance as any to get in on the action, but for those who already played the standard release will find more to love here.