The following is a thorough and detailed summary and timeline of what transpired in the game DyingLight and its DLC, “The Following”. The post includes information on the characters, events, enemies, and lore. DyingLight 2: Stay Human is to be released on February 4th, and takes place 15 years after the events of its prequel.
Disclaimer: I take no credit for researching or creating the information written here. The content is fully researched by its rightful owner, Game Harry, which can be found on the YouTube channel: Gaming Harry. The purpose of this post is to summarize the video’s timeline to make it easy for myself and possibly others to stay up to date with the events of the game before the launch of the sequel.
The Main Plot Line
Kyle Crane, one of the Global Relief Effort’s (GRE) agents was dropped in the fictional Turkish city Harran. A viral outbreak, which turns people into zombies has taken place, but Kyle’s mission is to locate Kadir Suleiman, a man who stole a classified file from the GRE and is using it to blackmail them.
Shortly after dropping in Harran, Kyle gets attacked by both zombies and a group of men who belong to a gang. In the process of getting away, Kyle gets bitten by a zombie and as a result becomes infected. A woman named Jade Aldemir finds Kyle and rescues him, where he’s taken to a shelter called “The Tower”. At the shelter, Kyle also meets Jade’s younger brother, Raheem, who teaches Kyle the basics of Parkour.
When Crane’s infection escalates, he goes to meet Dr. Zera, who administers him with a shot known as Antizin. The medication does not cure the infection but tries to keep it in control. He then learns that Dr. Zera is trying to find a cure for the virus, but the gang Kyle met upon his landing, known as Rais’s gang, has been stealing all the Antizin they could get their hands on once it’s dropped by the GRE in Harran. The Antizin is used by the gang to extort people in the city. Another Antizen drop was scheduled at sunset, and Kyle is asked to help by setting traps around the building as a distraction while the Antizen is picked up.
During setting the traps; however, the man known as Brecken gets attacked by Rais; as a result, Kyle must take his place to secure the Antizen instead. He reaches the Antizen drop, and when he radios in the pick up with the GRE, they tell him to destroy the Antizen except for one to keep it for himself. This way he might be able to force a meeting with Rais, by buying the Antizen from him directly and confirm his identity (that he is Kadir Suleiman). When Jade contacts Kyle, he lies and tells her the dropped supplies were looted.
At the tower, the group debates over who should go to Rais to ask him for the Antizen. Kyle volunteers to go. He makes his way to Rais’ area, meets him, and finally confirms his identity. He also meets Rais’ quarter master, Kareem. Kyle is deliberately asked by Rais to complete a set of shady and unethical tasks and if he completes them, he is promised two crates of Antizens instead of one. This was obviously a mission to get rid of Kyle, but when he survived, Rais does not stick to his promise and gives Kyle 5 vials of Antizens instead of the two crates. Rais then asks Kyle to bring him Jade, who he wants to fight in an arena for his gang’s entertainment.
Kyle contacts the GRE to tell them he does not want to work with Rais anymore, but they remind him of how important the stolen file is and to stick to the objective; in other words, deliver Jade to Rais as he was told. Instead, Kyle cuts ties with the GRE. He returns to the tower to tell Jade about failing to get the Antizens and chooses not to fill her in on what Rais’ plans. At this point they also find out the GRE will be halting the Antizen supply drops.
Jade and Kyle invade the facility Rais uses to store the Antizens but find nothing. What they do find is a collection of plastic explosives. Shortly after, Raheem uses some of them in an attempt to eradicate a nest, to which Kyle already warned him not to do, but the mission goes wrong and Raheem gets injured. He then gets bitten and turns; Kyle has no choice but to take him out.
The situation gets slightly out of hand when Jade overhears a conversation between Kyle and Brecken to find out what has happened to her brother. She takes off without warning. Meanwhile Dr. Zera gets kidnapped by Rais and his thugs.
In an attempt to rescue Dr. Zera, Kyle gets captured himself by Rais and then thrown into an arena to fight several infected. After he survives, Rais reveals that he already knows Kyle is working for the GRE and tells his men to publish and leak the file they’re after. He then informs Kyle that that what’s inside the file is data revealing the GRE’s plans to use the virus and weaponize it for profit. Rais then tells his men to get rid of Kyle. He manages to escape and injures Rais instead. When he finally finds Dr. Zera, it’s already too late, but before Dr. Zera falls he tells Kyle that he gave Jade his research, which must be delivered to another doctor named Camden, who is located in the old part of the city.
The ministry of defense plans to firebomb the city in order to control the outbreak, then claim there were no survivors. Kyle hooks up with a new group in old town and tries hard to bring attention to the world that there were still survivors in Harran. Every attempt Kyle makes is stopped and the signals are removed, which only indicates that the defense already knows there are survivors but chooses to look the other way. Kyle then uses a radio tower to send one final signal, which puts a stop to the raid plan.
The GRE contacts Kyle and instructs him to return Dr. Zera’s research in finding a cure, and in exchange they will extract him from Harran. He cuts all contacts with GRE. When he returns, he finds out that Rais has kidnapped Jade and when Kyle finds her, Jade has already been bitten and is turning. Rais gives them a single shot of Antizen, to which Kyle decides to administer in Jade, but she chooses to save him instead. She then turns into an infected and Kyle has no choice but to put her down.
Kyle then faces one of Rais’ men and then delivers the research sample Jade was carrying to Dr. Camden. The latter tells Kyle that he’s very close to finding a cure but needs the rest of Dr. Zera’s data, which is currently in the hands of Rais. The GRE struck a good deal with Rais already. In exchange for the file, he’ll get extracted from Harran. Kyle refuses to let that happen and then finally faces Rais and kills him.
A GRE chopper arrives on site, but Kyle defies them and chooses to return the data back to Dr. Camden, who is certain at this point that a cure will be made. Kyle stays and helps the remaining survivors of Harran.
The Following (DLC)
Kyle and his group encounter a survivor that informs them that there is a group of people who are immune to infection, even if they get bitten and then refer to someone called “the mother“. Although not totally convinced but desperate for a lead to follow, Kyle decides to investigate. Dr. Zera’s research progress isn’t going well and the Antizens are growing scarce.
Upon reaching the countryside, Kyle stumbles on survivors there, who set up a cult and call themselves “Children of the Sun” (aka The Following), worshipping what they refer to as “the mother”. Eventually Kyle gains the trust of the “faceless”; a group of high leaders of clan, who reveal to him that there’s nothing supernatural about their immunity, and that it is in fact a type of elixir in their possession that behaves similar to the Antizen. The “faceless” also share they’re currently working on a cure and invite Kyle to work with them. Once they succeed in their mission, they’ll give Kyle his share of the cure to take it back to Harran.
He is then assigned to work with a man named Attila, who’s working on a project for “the mother”. He also learns more about her and finds out that her real name is Jasmine and that she was the wife of a military colonel. Her husband participated in the initial experiments which lead to the outbreak, and he was bitten and died. Before taking his own life in a ritual, Atilla gives Kyle a code.
Meanwhile Kyle also learns that Rais’ men are still operating and in full swing. They’re approaching the countryside in search of the cure themselves. They blow up the dam, which is the mother’s base. By the time Kyle reaches there, everyone and everything is destroyed. Shortly after, Kyle meets Jasmine; the mother. She removes her mask and reveals to Kyle who she really is—a volatile! Unlike the other infected; however, she remains in control, particularly during daytime and turns violent in the dark.
She informs Kyle that all military experiments are hidden in the dam, and that the elixir was not a cure. In fact, upon consumption, it turns people into volatiles. She believes the only way to solve everything is to summon the sun god (basically a nuke!)
At this point in the game Kyle must decide what to do—either to agree with her, use Atilla’s code and launch her sun nuke, wiping out everyone and everything in Harran to eradicate the virus, or defy the mother and will be forced to drink the elixir.
If the player chooses the second option, Kyle will fight and kill the mother, takes whatever is left of the vials and leave the dam, upon which he realizes he is turning into a volatile himself.
Gaming Harry’s lore video covers interesting aspects of the game that are worth clarifying.
Rais – Kadir Suleiman
Rais used to be a colonel in the military, hired by the GRE to establish control in Harran at the onset of the outbreak. Part of his responsibilities was to protect Dr. Zera and Camden while they searched for a cure. Rais agreed to the GRE’s terms in one condition—that they would extract his disabled brother, Hasan, from Harran. The Ministry of defense did not agree to his terms and his brother was eventually killed by the infection. Utterly raged by what has happened to his brother, Rais abandons his military post and his responsibilities towards the doctors then reinvents himself as Rais and establishes a gang for himself. He and his gang members took control of Harran’s quarantine zones and eventually stole the GRE’s sensitive file—code named, “tempest”.
The Global Relief Effort (GRE)
The GRE is a humanitarian organization related to the ministry of defense. They’re tasked with dropped relief and medical supplies to people throughout Harran. Prior to assigning Suleiman, they deployed a man named Amir, the same man who saved Jade and Kyle at the beginning of the game. He is also the man who helped Camden and Zera escape the city, although the men got separated, which explains why each doctor is working at a different part of the city. The GRE sent Kyle after this. They weren’t certain that Suleiman was Rais and needs Kyle to confirm his identity. Rais later tells Kyle that the GRE wants to use then sell the virus for profit.
When Rais leaks the content of the file to the world and reveals the GRE’s true intentions, the latter finds itself in a tough situation, and in order to save face, they tasked Kyle of helping Dr. Zera to search for a cure. Obviously this is just to trick the public into thinking that the GRE was fully invested in pursuing a solution to the outbreak.
The Outbreak
Although it’s unclear what is the origin of the game’s outbreak, the military experiments in the dam are pointed out as the instigator. According to Gaming Harry, it is possible that the elixir they have been experimenting with infected test specimens, who found themselves out of the testing area and spread it to the entire city. The onset of the outbreak in Harram is captured in the Dying Light novel, “Nightmare Row” by Raymond Benson.
The Infected
The stages of the virus can be seen in the variety of enemies in the game. The first stage is depicted with fast running enemies, who still seem to be aware and alert. They pound but do not appear to be inclined to bite. The second phase are biter enemies. They lunge at their preys, but at times can turn back into virals.
Special mutations include:
- Toads: Spit acid
- Bombers, who explode
- Goons—very tall but slow
- Demolishers, the largest beasts
- Screamers infected infants
- Bolters–docile that feed and hide
- Volatiles—the most aggressive
Volatiles are a little different from the others. They’re recently turned infected, that seem to have been integrated into a nest or a hive. They only come out at night, as they’re extremely UV sensitive. There are standard volatile enemies and there are alpha ones. The latter have more damage resistant. They also seem to be immune to camouflage (when a player tries to use zombie bits to blend in). The third type of volatile is the Night Hunter, which is considered to be the deadliest.
Chickpea Chronicles 