Dying Light 2 teases first major DLC and looks like it's set in an arena

Dying Light 2: Stay Human has been a big success for developer Techland, shifting well over 5 million copies, and the studio's model as with the original is to support it with DLC for years to come. The first major story DLC was delayed until September, but today saw a new tease for 'Bloody Ties' and the promise of a full reveal at Gamescom.

There's not much in the way of press blurb for this, but the keyword definitely appears to be 'brutal'. Sure enough the teaser shows a rather bulky chap overcoming a zombie via repeated blunt force trauma (which we initially view through a skull's eyehole). Not exactly sunshine and lollipops, then, but then what does one expect of a location called, ahem, Carnage Hall.

The setup has elements reminiscent of a TV studio, with billboards flashing "All roads lead to Carnage Hall" as the main character stands over the highly stylised warrior skull. The vibe is wholly Smash TV and, if I had to guess, this is going to be some kind of horde-based arena mode where players can receive ever-better rewards for survival. This DLC is explicitly story-based but there's no reason that it couldn't revolve around such an element and, with Dying Light 2's bleak view of humanity's future and focus on replayability, the setup makes sense.

Techland has already released several updates for the game including a Peacekeeper-themed armor and weapon set, a new game plus mode, and a photo mode. This is the first major DLC, however, and we'll report more details next week from Gamescom.

Rich Stanton

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."