The first Dying Light is often remembered fondly for its fluid parkour traversal mechanics, its wide range of terrifying monsters and zombies, and its emphasis on creative melee weapons. But there are a few aspects of Dying Light that have been largely forgotten about since its release six years ago.
While Dying Light's story isn't incredibly unique or original, adhering to quite a few tropes of the zombie genre, it is engaging, and acts as a great backdrop for its intense gameplay. Character motivations are made clear, the protagonist has a clear and identifiable personality, and the plot is just complex enough to keep players interested, but simple enough to follow even after ignoring main story quests for hours at a time. Still, that doesn't mean that players remember it today, and they might need to if they're planning on jumping into Dying Light 2: Stay Human in a few months.
Arriving In Harran
Dying Light opens up in the city of Harran, in Turkey, where infected zombies and monsters have taken over the vast majority of the area's streets, skyscrapers, and underground systems. The player controls Kyle Crane, a Global Relief Effort (an organization that air drops supplies to the city) agent who is tasked with infiltrating the city to find a man named Kadir "Rais" Suleiman, who is said to have an extremely sensitive document that he is using to blackmail the GRE.
Upon landing in Harran, Crane is immediately attacked and bitten by a zombie. As he tries to fend off the attack, Jade Aldemir, a fellow survivor, comes to his aid. Jade takes Crane to a survivor hideout known as "The Tower," where he meets Jade's brother, Rahim. After a few quick parkour lessons, Crane discovers that Rais is consistently attacking The Tower's survivors, and stealing their supplies - in particular, their Antizin, which is a temporary cure for being infected. Crane ventures out to secure an Antizin crate that has been air dropped by the GRE, but he is told by the organization to destroy the crate and go to Rais to ensure that he is the intended target he's looking for .
Working For The Enemy
Crane, as instructed, goes to Rais and agrees to work for him to earn two crates of Antizin for The Tower, confirming his identity in the process. Crane completes the tasks but Rais short-changes him, only giving him five individual vials of the drug. The GRE stop air dropping in supplies for The Tower survivors, so Crane stops communicating with them.
With Antizin supplies running very low, Jade and Crane head to Rais' nearby storage building, hoping to find the drug and steal it. Instead, they find high-explosives, which they use to destroy a Volatile nest. Rahim suffers fatal wounds during the mission, and becomes an infected.
When Crane returns to The Tower he learns that Dr. Zere, a Tower survivor determined to find a cure, has been captured by Rais. Crane rushes to rescue the Dr., and learns that the sensitive information he was tasked with retrieving contained GRE's plans to weaponize the Harran virus. Crane also learns that the Defence Ministry is about to firebomb the city, and sets off to repair radio towers and broadcast an SOS.
Helping The Little Guy
Crane's message is successful, and the bombing is cancelled. The GRE attempt to contact Crane, trying to convince him to give Dr. Zere's research to them. Zere's research is currently in Jade's hands, who is trying to get the research to Dr. Camden.
When Crane finds Jade, she has been infected, and Rais gives Crane one vial of Antizin, forcing him to choose between himself or Jade. Jade sacrifices herself, and turns. Crane takes the fight to Rais' hideout, atop one of Harran's skyscrapers. As the GRE come to extract Rais (in exchange for Dr. Zere's research,) Crane throws him off the skyscraper.
The game ends with Crane deciding to give the vital research to Dr. Camden, so that he can develop a cure. Canonically, the game ends with Crane staying in Harran, helping out the few survivors that are left.
Dying Light is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.