Plot
Years after being captured by the GRE and experimented on by the Baron, Marius Fischer, Crane finally has an opportunity to escape when another test subject, Subject Beta, breaks containment. Taking advantage of the resulting chaos and with the assistance of a woman named Olivia, Crane escapes the lab, but discovers that thanks to the experiments performed upon him, he is part Volatile and can temporarily gain the strength of one. He meets up with Olivia outside the lab, who agrees to assist him in his desire for revenge against the Baron in return for helping her escape the Baron's clutches. She explains that the Baron once owned a biotech company before the outbreak, and now he is obsessed with perfecting the virus so he can control the world. In order to gain the strength to stand against the Baron and his army, Olivia instructs Crane to slay the Baron's experimental Chimeras, extract the GSB from their bodies, and use it to empower himself. In addition, he must seek allies willing to help him against the Baron. Meanwhile, Olivia collects samples from the Chimeras Crane defeats in order to figure out the Baron's plans.
Seeking allies, Crane first comes across survivors in the local Town Hall led by the Sheriff, who warn him that a "Beast" has been going around hunting down the Baron's men. Upon hearing that the Baron is personally overseeing an operation at a mine, Crane and the Sheriff infiltrate the grounds in an attempt to kill him directly. However, the Sheriff betrays Crane and tries to hand him over to the Baron, but the Beast, his real target, interferes and manages to escape, allowing Crane to avoid captivity while the Sheriff flees, seemingly with the Baron. The Town Hall's second in command, Jacob, informs Crane about a group of infected exiles, former test subjects that managed to escape from the Baron's lab and developed telepathy within other infected in the process. Crane makes contact with their leader Lydia and captures one of the Baron's scientists, Camilo, who agrees to help them enhance their telepathic abilities to control the infected. Meanwhile, Olivia admits to Crane that her father was a scientist in Harran who was studying the virus, and is now being kept prisoner by the Baron.
Eventually, the Baron sends Chimeras to destroy the Town Hall. The Sheriff returns from exile to help Crane defend the Town Hall until Lydia can use her telepathy to mind control the Chimeras and send them away. The Sheriff apologizes to Crane, explaining she was coerced by the Baron into betraying him to protect her people. With the Town Hall and exiles united, Crane figures their next step is to capture the Beast and use him to lure the Baron out of his fortress. He manages to lure the Beast into a trap and subdues him long enough for Lydia to take control of his mind. The Beast later wakes up and reveals that he is Aiden Caldwell (the protagonist of Dying Light 2). He and Spike, an old friend of Crane's from Harran, had teamed up to try and rescue Crane from the Baron's custody, but were captured. The Baron then contacts Crane, revealing he has captured Olivia and Spike and offers their lives in return for turning over Aiden. Aiden escapes and turns himself in to the Baron in hopes of saving Spike, but the Baron changes his conditions and orders Crane to turn himself in as well.
Realizing they are out of options, Crane and his allies decide to assault the Baron's fortress directly, but Olivia ends up seemingly betraying them as her father was infected during his captivity, allowing the Baron to capture them all. He reveals that Crane's escape was planned from the beginning in order for the latter and Olivia to finish his work for him, then executes Spike and Camilo before Olivia enacts her true plan and distracts him long enough for Lydia to disturb the Baron's consciousness, having already infected himself in preparation, before freeing Crane and his remaining allies. Crane then manages to corner the Baron at his helipad, where he injects himself with the perfected virus to turn himself into the ultimate Chimera. Undeterred, Crane defeats the mutated Baron and kills him by impaling his heart with a metal pipe. He is then contacted by his former GRE handler, who reveals that the GRE is still active and thanks Crane for dealing with the Baron, since he had become a liability for them. As reward for his service, the GRE grants Crane his freedom and the handler expresses her hope that they can cooperate in the future. Instead, Crane and his allies swear to take their fight to the GRE.
