Though the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to the Vatican canceling public participation in Easter ceremonies, the holiday still has its presence felt in video game special events. Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Bunny Day is dominating much of the conversation due to how unbalanced the spawn rates of its collectible eggs were, but Techland's post-apocalyptic zombie survival game Dying Light is also making its Easter festivities known.
This weekend, Dying Light players will find undead enemies dressed in white and carrying grenades with status ailments, and painted to look like collectible Easter eggs. By killing and looting enough of these zombies as part of the Harran Egg Hunt, players can earn special prizes: A golden weapon by collecting 10, and the "Chicken Ninja" cock-a-doodle-do outfit by collecting 30.
There's also a global community aspect to this event, wherein if players collectively find 1,500,000 eggs before the hunt ends on Monday, April 13, everyone will receive three additional golden weapons. This goal seems somewhat unreasonable until one considers the fact that Dying Light announced its 18 million players had killed 36 billion total zombies as of the game's fifth anniversary in February.
Dying Light has been an incredibly popular game since it released in 2015. It follows in a long tradition of zombie-based media that includes movies like George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, shows like AMC's The Walking Dead, and other games like Capcom's Dead Rising or Valve's Left 4 Dead — the latter series even crossing over with Dying Light last October.
That popularity has led to Techland developing a sequel that, at least for now, has an unspecified release date. It was originally planned to come out in Spring 2020 before Techland announced Dying Light 2 would be delayed, and with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic resulting in many offices implementing work from home policies, there's no telling whether that delay has been exacerbated.
No matter what the status of Dying Light 2 is, fans can still take to the original and try their best to unlock the Chicken Ninja outfit before this weekend is through. Or if that's not someone's cup of tea, Easter-themed events in Pokemon Sword and Shield and various other titles offer plenty to celebrate in these uncertain times.
Dying Light is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: The New York Times