After multiple reports of issues with Dying Light 2’s development, we got a big release date reveal, and it looks pretty great. I hate to be one to bring up something negative in someone’s moment of triumph, but we need to talk about Dying Light: Bad Blood. As good as the original Dying Light turned out, the way Techland treated Bad Blood doesn’t give us confidence about the future of its sequel.
What happened to Dying Light: Bad Blood?
Dying Light: Bad Blood is a standalone multiplayer title that was released in September 2018. Players face off either solo or duo to outlast each other and evacuate using a helicopter. It differentiates itself from other battle royale-type games by including PVE gameplay and the signature movement from Dying Light.
If you don’t remember it, don’t worry. Aside from an initial PR push, the game got very little coverage and launched to a tepid player count. It peaked at 454 players and then quickly dropped into the low hundreds, then into double digits.
To its credit, Techland updated Bad Blood steadily from its launch in September 2018 up until March 2019. After that, Techland went silent about the game for a year before giving it away to everyone who owned the original Dying Light for free in January 2020. Since then, the game has received no recognition, no updates, and the studio hasn’t acknowledged it.
Despite its failure to launch, Dying Light: Bad Blood does have a tiny player base. It averages a daily peak of 27 players (according to SteamDB), so at least some people keep coming back. Strangely, aside from the lack of content, the game is pretty fun. Unfortunately, it seems that despite there not being an official announcement, the Bad Blood has been abandoned. Glaringly, it’s still available to purchase on a few storefronts, and the lack of official notice means someone could buy it without realizing that it’s no longer being supported.
