Dying Light: Hellraid Review (CorvusCorax)
The original trailer is still available for Hellraid on YouTube. It was supposed to be released around the time Dying Light came out. But in the same year (2015) Techland announced this was put on hold. You also have to remember that another zombie title was on the news at E3 back then (2014) which was Dead Island 2. Both had pretty great trailers with gameplay included so it is a shame neither has seen the light of day.
But this is not really true when it comes to Hellraid as this DLC is what we got instead of the separate game. We are happy, right? There is an arcade machine available at HQ so we can immediately enter Hellraid whenever we return from a mission. This is for the main game as I do not believe it is accessible from The Following. Also, as the DLC has a nightmare difficulty I recommend you arrive at a later stage in the game. While it is enough to complete the prologue a hero with lots of already purchased skills will be better to navigate the halls of its dungeons.
Now, the game is limited to us finding zombies and skeletons in barely-lit rooms and corridors. To increase its longevity we can do reruns once the initial mission (story) is completed. This so-called raid mode is available to repeat with limited number of lives and also with various difficulty settings so if you're up for it you can spend quite some time with this DLC and on higher difficulties I'm sure it'll become very challenging.
But is there a story? Yes and no. Yes, because a mage called Lucius speaks to us asking to collect this and destroy that but there isn't much explanation provided, plus, this is a fantasy game so it doesn't really tie in with Crane's mission outside, right? 2 more story missions were added later with the final containing a relatively difficult boss battle (again, it all depends on Crane's skills). Raid mode is accessible only when the first story mission is done - a hub like area is available with an armory and portals to continue with the story or enter raid.
After the first story quest I wanted to continue with raid. I did launch it but decided to quit and come back later. When launching the game again I found myself in a new location with Lucius talking to me again. Apparently, reentering the game launches the next quest so you really need to check raid mode once all of the story is done.
So is this DLC worth it? Difficult to say. What is it that you like about Dying Light? Let me answer with what I like: zombie hunting and doing parkour. The latter is almost non-existent due to us being on the inside. You climb here and there but running atop huge buildings was a blast in the base game. Also, our clock shows 12 all the time. As there are no outside locations here daylight / nighttime makes no sense. Too bad... a little town could have been included with the fantasy (perhaps skeleton?) version of the volatiles at night?
But are there new enemies? Well, yes, and the new skeletons look great. Some use shields and require you to do frequent dodges. Those in armor take more hits. The mages (skeleton or zombie) shoot various projectiles and are pretty fast (equally annoying). You have some potions available to remedy this situation. The one called Power coupled with Endurance can be pretty useful when you feel like overwhelmed.
This is a decent DLC but gets repetitive fast. Those who liked the story-part of Dying Light and the parkouring sequences may get disappointed. I have invested a couple of hours into it already but I have yet to complete the final mission and acquire the wand that can freeze our enemies. The medieval weapons (swords, axes) all look great but there is no option for defense. Appreciate the support Techland has been giving Dying Light throughout the years but Hellraid seems to be pretty barebone. As the game is often discounted I'll give it a thumbs-up but I can understand some became disappointed in it.