Dying Light is celebrating its fifth birthday with a new easy mode addition

Five years in dog years is old enough for your pooch to get one of its ears pierced and flip you off while cruising into town on a newly acquired Yamaha YZF R1. In video game years, five years is enough time for everyone to forget about your original project, moan that it deserves a reboot and then whinge bitterly that said reboot isn’t what they actually wanted in the first place.

And then there’s Dying Light, a video game that has not only survived half a decade but has thrived. Techland’s fantastic zombie sandbox took everything that was great about their previous effort Dead Island, fine-tuned the parkour and raised the stock price on toilet paper whenever the sun went down and the more dangerous Volatile crawled out from their UV light avoiding holes.

With that prime number behind it, Techland is looking to celebrate one again with a fresh update, one that’ll introduce Darryn-mode to the game. Officially called Story Mode, this new take on the game will make you nigh unstoppable. The undead will be weaker, you’ll be ridiculously stronger and you’ll have the stamnia of a champion racehorse as you dash about in reckless abandon amidst the hordes of undead. You’ll also get a double bonus from health packs, you won’t take that much fall damage and on the off chance you die you’ll only lose half your experience points.

It’s not the first time that Techland has experimented with this easier mode idea, as back in the day the upgraded version of Dead Island also featured a one-punch man mode that turned you into a lean, mean zombie-killing machine. While your weapons remained unchanged, you could dash into the fray and karate kick zombies so hard that they’d explode on contact when they collided with a wall several countries away.

Beyond that, Techland will also be celebrating with the following events according to their press release:

FIRST EVER FREE WEEKEND

For the very first time, Dying Light will be available to play for free on Steam, starting February 20 (10am PT / 7pm CET / 6pm GMT) ending on Sunday, February 23 (10am PT / 7pm CET / 6pm GMT). Those who play the game during the weekend, will be able to grab it up to 67% off.

A MONTH FULL OF EVENTS

A month full of both global and local community events starts today, and will last until March 19. Expect fan favorites to make a comeback, and a few surprises! 

The community rewards will include a brand new new weapon blueprint, C4—a throwable explosive that sticks to surface—and a surprise outfit.

ANNIVERSARY BUNDLE FULL OF UPGRADED WEAPONS

Available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, the 5th Anniversary Bundle for Dying Light offers gear worthy of a Harran Veteran. Along with an outfit you’ll receive a new buggy paint job (Veteran’s Ride) and blueprints for three new weapons:

• A brand new pipe – consecutive hits boost damage +50% after 3 or more hits;
• A new sledgehammer;
• A brand new double-barreled shotgun – with 50% faster reload speed, increased damage size and bullet speed: can shoot both shells at once to produce a “malfunctioning effect”, packs a heavy punch;

Dying Light 2 is still a long way away, so for now, this might be the next best thing for getting your zombie kicks in until it arrives. I think I might just be tempted to give Dying Light another go, now that I can charge into Volatiles and show them what for. Fisticuffs, ho!

Last Updated: February 21, 2020