Dying Light 2's first story DLC is all about arena battles

Dying Light 2 Bloody Ties
(Image credit: Gamescom Opening Night Live)

After a teaser earlier this month, Dying Light 2: Bloody Ties was fully unveiled at Gamescom Opening Night Live, and this first bit of story DLC will set players in arena battles against other survivors.

The Bloody Ties trailer shows a series of battles against human enemies in a new area called the Carnage Hall. Techland describes this as "a new story adventure," so it seems there'll be a bit more here than endless waves of battles to endure. There will also be new weapons types to discover.

It remains to be seen what the balance between story missions and arena challenges will be, but the early hints at an arena-focused DLC seemed to leave fans cold. Here's hoping the expansion can meet expectations when it finally goes live for players.

Bloody Ties is set to launch on October 13. If you pre-order the DLC, you'll get access to the Aristocrat Pack, with a unique weapon and outfit.

Today also marks the launch of the game's first free community update, a large patch aimed at broad improvements to Dying Light 2's balance and technical performance. There are an array of graphical tweaks for more visual clarity, and you can turn on a new 'gritty' color grade to make the game look a bit more like its 2019 gameplay demo. You'll find the streets a lot more dangerous at night, too, with a greater number of biters on the streets and more special infected at night.

For more new games for 2022, you can follow that link for a big list of all the most notable titles coming in the near future.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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