Yesterday, Dying Light added a bow to the arsenal of weapons players can use to kill the undead. You might be wondering: “How does a months-old game justify dropping in a random new gizmo for killing, all of a sudden?” By making it really, really hard for players to get their hands on it.
I got ahead of myself there. The reason that Dying Light got a longbow yesterday is because the weapon is a reward for completing a new challenge run that was added to the game as paid DLC: $US9.99 on its own, or free — sorry, I mean “free” — as part of the $US19.99 season pass. Known as “Bozak Horde,” the challenge mode strips players of all their equipment and drops them inside of a building reminiscent of the torture porn classic Saw. A scary dude in a hockey mask taunts protagonist Kyle Crane as he struggles to survive hordes of aggressive zombies, traverse through parkour challenges, and defuse a series of bombs — and do so in a very limited amount of time. Oh, and you’re only allowed to die three times before the game resets itself.
If you make it through all of these challenges, you will emerge victorious with a brand new bow. Only problem is, Dying Light isn’t an easy game for many of the people who’ve played it. Stripping players of all the equipment they have amassed over the course of the normal game and adding a timer makes Bozak Horde all the more formidable. Developer Techland even inserted a warning into the DLC when you first enter into it, saying that the challenges ahead are extremely challenging and best met when playing with one or more allies in the game’s co-op multiplayer mode.
The forums on Steam and Reddit have been awash in posts both anguished and angry-sounding over the last twelve hours as upset players greeted the new DLC with discontent.
The problem most of these vocal players identified with the new DLC is that it’s really hard, and not in a good way. More of a repetitive, punishing, poorly designed way:
“This shit is impossible,” one player vented on Reddit. Another wondered if it was designed solely for players who’d already maxed out all of Crane’s abilities in the main game.
To top off all these grievances, there’s the fact that you’re unable to access the bow until you beat Bozak Horde. And if you want special ammo for it, you have to meet even more demanding requirements than simply making it through the challenge run in one piece.
via Reddit
So what’s a bow-hungry Dying Light player to do? Start poking around for potential allies online, I guess.
Or just find someone who already has one.
Best of luck to all the Dying Light players out there who are still hunting for their shiny new compound bows.
Comments
7 responses to “Dying Light’s New Bow-And-Arrow Is Driving Some Players Nuts”
I do want that bow. But I don’t want it at a level of “buy $15 DLC and finish a frustrating challenge mode”. I wonder how hard it really is though, since no matter how hard it is or isn’t there’ll be plenty of people complaining online.
Dam, not what I was hoping for. I hate timed challenges with a passion lol
whelp, time to break out cheat engine and freeze the timer along with giving myself infinate health
Hardish, but not that hard once you know what to do.
Played three games last night first one died towards the middle of 20 waves; second time we killed each other on the last level but got the bow for finishing the level; then my co-op buddy wanted an achievement so we did it again.
Ya the basic version isn’t too bad co-op, but the arrow mods look merciless, especially the last one (completing all trials in 31:00, madness I say!).
Sounds like the same issue with Destiny’s latest expansion – you cant save between waves and the only decent loot drops from premade teams even though realistically that’s lazy design – games should ALWAYS be open to both single player AND multiplayer with multiple people making it more difficult but up the drop rate (or up your chances of survival) – but don’t make single player so frustrating its just tedious and not fun.
– game designers this year in particular have been a little frustrating in that aspect thinking that everyone just has friends on tap with the same game at the same stages – it’s simply not the case.
Hahah I wonder how all these modern players would react to MegaMan games. “What? You have to start from the beginning if you die?” “This crap needs a check point after each pit spike!” and the such.
Okay Okay. The Bozak Horde is extremely irritating and “challenging” to say the least. I myself who have finished the game on normal and genuinely wreck everything in hard have only gotten to trial 14 and find this DLC to be a pain for extremely little gain. However, I LOVE this DLC…. sure it’s the same thing over and over again and is genuinely repetitive but I love the challenge. I find it to be quite fun in a way. It would be nice if they (for example: the trials where you have to kill a certain number of zombies then disarm a bomb) made the second or third part of the trial more noticeable to see rather than a bit of text in the right of the screen… especially if there is a time limit. But in summary, I genuinely enjoy this irritating and frustrating challenge… but that’s my opinion.
I got the bow on my second run which I was surprised at but it’s definetly not as hard as people are making out to be.