The action game Dying Light 2 has lost favor with fans after the developers added a controversial feature.
With Dying Light 2, the Polish development studio Techland wanted to build on the success of its predecessor. The game relied on well-known mechanics such as slashing zombies with powerful melee attacks as well as the well-known parkour gameplay, which lets players race across the roofs of the city of Villedor.
Almost 1.5 years after its release, the title still occasionally receives updates that bring new skin bundles and events into the game. The summer update released on September 7th was not well received by players.
Dying Light 2: The trailer for the DLC “Bloody Ties”
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Lots of angry reactions to the new update for Dying Light 2
What do the players criticize? With the summer update, Techland introduced the so-called “Dying Light Points”. This is a new in-game currency in the game that can only be purchased with real money and that fans of the action game are not at all enthusiastic about.
The developers announced Dying Light Points (DL Points) with the promise that purchasing skin bundles will now be “faster and more convenient.” Players no longer have to buy skins in the store where they own the game – for example on Steam – but can shop directly in the game. Techland also gave away 500 DL points to each player.
There were already negative reviews for Dying Light 2 on Steam on the day the update was released and things didn’t get any better in the days that followed. Only 22% of the 1,654 reviews submitted between September 7th and September 12th are positive (as of September 12th).
What exactly bothers the players about the DL points? The players’ criticism is directed at various aspects of DL points. Many people find the mere existence of microtransactions in a full-price single-player game a thorn in the side (via Steam). Others describe the points as “sleazy and predatory (via Steam).”
A Steam user also explains that the smallest package of the currency contains 500 DL points, but many bundles cost 550 points – so with these bundles it is not enough to buy the smallest package, which means that players inevitably spend more than they have to and always points have left (via Steam).
How do the developers react to the criticism? In a statement on Twitter, Techland responded that it knew that the “frustration” resulted from “the pricing of the packages and the resulting leftover DL points”.
Techland is now checking whether it will be possible to purchase individual items from existing packages in the future. However, that takes time, they say.
On top of that, Techland “reminded” in the statement of some bundles that can also be purchased in the shop for less than 500 DL points.
A user who apparently isn’t a fan of the new currency either responds to the statement on Twitter:
The only good solution is them [die DL-Punkte] from the game and simply put the packages in the store where people bought the game. Nobody asked for Dying Light points. This is anti-consumer and a step backwards in every way.
Over 550 users expressed their approval of the Twitter user’s comment by liking it.
Another game is also being criticized by players because it relies on microtransactions and at the same time offers no improvements compared to its predecessor:
A game appears on Steam and 4 days later is already the second worst game with only 11% positive reviews