Dying Light's dark-fantasy Hellraid DLC now comes with a story mode

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But will it fix what is ultimately a fairly bland dungeon delver?

Forget Dying Light 2 for a moment, if you will, as we check back in with its 2015 predecessor. Techland's zombie parkour debut has been receiving steady updates since launch, to the point where its latest update has added a brand new story mode to dungeon-delving fantasy spin-off expansion, Hellraid.

We're a long way from Harran, survivors.

Released last August, Dying Light: Hellraid completely ditches the urban undead nightmare of the base Dying Light for a pulp fantasy affair that could've been pulled straight out of The Elder Scrolls—all dungeons, swords, skeletons, and dark wizards. While it's been playable in Raid Mode until now, today sees the arrival of a new story mode, The Prisoner.

The new, more directed mode arrives with three new quests (playable solo or in co-op), two new weapons (a bow and two-handed hammer), a new enemy and new locations. It also updates the expansion's lighting systems and more environmental sounds to make proceedings much, much spookier.

Granted, Hellraid doesn't seem to have been too much of a hit on release. The DLC's reviews sit firmly in "mostly negative", citing repetitive, un-fun challenges in samey corridors and rooms. But Hellraid's struggles precede even its positioning as Dying Light DLC—with the expansion initially pitched as a Dead Island mod before being spun into its own game.

Maybe a Story mode and a few new tools will help break up Hellraid's monotony. But it seems the DLC is probably best treated as what it is—a long-overdue attempt to simply get a fantasy dungeon-diver out the door and out of mind.

Still, there's always that sequel to look forward to. After admittedly announcing the game too early, it sounds like we'll be seeing much more of Dying Light 2 ahead of its new release date on December 7th.

Natalie Clayton
Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.