Where are all the guns in Dying Light 2?

Dying Light 2 has had a pretty successful launch. Sure, there have been bugs, but the Techland team has been all over it and has been pretty open with the player base on what's being worked on and what's to come in terms of new content. After all, there's a pretty ambitious post-launch plan.

One topic that keeps popping up though is guns. Dying Light 2 is set in the future, decades removed from the events of the first game and what remains of mankind has reverted back to a modern medieval style of living. Weapons are mostly melee, crafted from whatever materials come to hand. But there are no guns, and at least for now, that's very much by design.

I'm OK without guns in Dying Light 2 personally, but there is a story to tell and it looks as though there's a good chance they'll be appearing in the game at some point in the future.

Dying Light had guns

There are a few different reasons that Dying Light players are interested in firearm weapons. Some just like playing first-person shooters, others have come from a history of playing the first Dying Light game, others might even just want more loot or to make the game easier.

Whatever the reason, there are enough people out there who either didn't know guns weren't supposed to be a part of Dying Light 2 or just want them in play for whatever reason.

The first Dying Light game did have guns, primarily because it was set during "present times," that is to say, a short time after the outbreak of the Harran Virus. Law enforcement and the military were both armed, and while you didn't get handed a firearm out of the gate, at a certain point they were hardly difficult to get your hands on.

The guns also completely changed combat in the game. Dying Light was designed around melee combat primarily, but with a gun, suddenly those spongier zombies and the human enemies that could block your attacks, all could be dispensed with a single headshot.

Whether that was better or not is open to personal interpretation. But it certainly made a lot of enemies easier to despatch.

What happened to all the guns in Villedor?

Dying Light 2 is set over two decades on from the events of the original. Links to the first game begin more or less immediately with an appearance from Spike, and Kyle Crane, the playable character from the original, is mentioned throughout.

I won't go through the whole story, but the tl;dr is that the GRE couldn't leave it alone and a second outbreak occurred which near enough wiped out humanity. Various attempts were made to get a handle on the situation and Villedor became the last bastion of civilization.

As for the firearms, the game actually tells you what happened in a side-quest called "The History Lesson". I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it yet, but it doesn't take long to complete and does a good job of explaining what happened in the time between the two games and why there are no guns. And what the "March Massacre" was.

Basically, they were here, then they were taken away by the army, the ammo was stashed and a really bad person took the location to his grave. So the running assumption is that somewhere in Villedor is a weapon stash with all the shooty bang bangs. But it's pretty much a certainty that it's nowhere to be found right now.

That, however, could change in the future. Besides the obvious evidence that there were once guns in Villedor, there's a suggestion that they could be appearing in the future.

Developer hints at a hidden stash

What better carrot do players need to go looking for a secret weapon stash than one of the developers suggesting that it does exist and could be making an appearance in the future. Or could be found by players.

As of right now, it doesn't look like the stash is anywhere to be found. With the number of people playing the game and scouring every inch of the map, you would expect something would have been found by now. After all, there are plenty of easter eggs that have been uncovered fairly quickly.

There's also a decent chance that any weapon stash could be linked to future DLC content if it exists at all. The current speculation is that the next area of Villedor we'll be seeing is the "Elysium" district, currently shown on the metro maps at the various fast travel points around the city. Maybe the secret stash is up there.

Old school ranged weapons

In the meantime, Dying Light 2 players have to make do with bows and crossbows for ranged weapons. Well, make do is a little unfair, some of the ranged weapons are beastly. The PK Crossbow is one of the best weapons in the game.

But there are also a couple of more "gun-like" weapons you can get your hands on. The easiest is the Boomstick, which while unusable as a main weapon (it sits in the accessory slot for one) is what you might call a gun. It's actually some kind of mini cannon and when you first get the blueprint you only get two shots from it. But it hits like a train.

Getting the Boomstick just requires playing through the campaign. At some point, before you get to the mission at the VNC tower in Central Loop, the blueprint will appear to buy from a Craftmaster. It uses a lot of scrap to craft, but it's worth getting.

There's also the "Ka-Doom Shotgun" which is part of the DOOM-inspired easter egg. I'm not sure it was ever meant to be taken outside of the special mode, but where there's a will there's a way, and with a quick search of the YouTubes you can find out how to get this absurd weapon.

It'll be fun to see just what comes in the future with regard to new content for Dying Light 2. With a five-year plan and a reputation already gained for longevity from the first game, Techland is sure to have something up its sleeve. Whether this is one of those things, I guess we'll find out.