The much-anticipated release of Dying Light 2 has finally arrived. Fans can't wait to get their hands on Techland's supposed masterpiece, with the idea of sinking a ton of hours in this title striking everyone's fancy. After all, the first game was a welcome surprise that combined the best of both zombies and parkour to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience that is simply incredible.
Given Techland's work on the Dead Island series, it was great to see this once-struggling developer finally find their groove with Dying Light. The second game promises to be bigger, better, and much more enjoyable than its predecessor, which is a bold claim given just how excellent the first Dying Light was. That being said, not everything is perfect about the game, and this list will take a look at both the positives and negatives of Dying Light 2: Stay Human.
10 LOVED: The Brilliant Parkour
As is the case with the first game, Techland absolutely nails the parkour in Dying Light 2. Roaming around the sprawling landscape of Villedor with Aiden's mobility never fails to be engaging, making it quite understandable as to why this game was delayed earlier.
The parkour is as smooth and exciting as ever without feeling too floaty. The player can get into a groove as they jump and swing around the map, with Aiden also reacting to moments of especially fluid movement.
9 DIDN'T LOVE: The Poor Narrative
The first Dying Light was pretty great in a lot of ways, but its story was quite bare-bones in comparison. So, it's rather disheartening to see that Techland has placed a greater focus on Dying Light 2's narrative... only for it to be just as mediocre as the first game, if not worse.
Thankfully, the gameplay of the title is solid enough for most people to ignore the narrative... for the most part. There are times when the game forces expositions and the like down a player's throat, making for the weakest moments in an otherwise stellar game.
8 LOVED: Fun And Engaging Combat
Pulling off first-person combat can be quite an endeavor. There are several great first-person melee-centric games that are memorable in spite of their combat, which makes it all the more impressive that Dying Light 2 excels on this front as well.
The player has a bunch of exciting weapons to experiment around with in the game, with the act of smashing and slicing zombies always being engaging. The combat can get somewhat simplistic at times, but players can mix things up with a variety of moves, unlockable and otherwise.
7 DIDN'T LOVE: The Paper-Thin Characters
The narrative of Dying Light 2 is pretty disappointing, but it would've been bearable if the characters were likable enough. Unfortunately, this is another area where the game falters.
The characters have extremely generic and unexciting personalities, making the vast majority of these people completely forgettable. It doesn't help that some character animations are also very poor, making any scene with the game's cast feel rather lifeless and grating.
6 LOVED: The Terror While Trying To Roam Around At Night
Dying Light 2's gameplay loop is brilliant, and it gets even better at night with Volatiles around. These enemies make a return from the first game and are just as dangerous and scary as always.
Trying to sneak around at night and reach a safe house to spend the night turns the game into a horror title, making for a great and much-welcome change of pace. Things get even more hectic if players are spotted, forcing them to engage in a high-stakes pursuit as they try to enter a safehouse to survive the night.
5 DIDN'T LOVE: Uninspired Open-World Visual Design
While the open world of Dying Light is pretty great, the visual flair of this game ends up showing its drawbacks over time. Rugged and realistic environments might be a great showcase of graphics, but this doesn't lead to pleasing and stimulating visuals.
Perhaps this is an intentional choice by Techland, given the bleak setting of Dying Light. However, that won't stop players from wanting to see a bit of color during their athletic adventures.
4 LOVED: The Impressive Draw Distance
While the visuals of Dying Light 2 might be serviceable up close, their strengths are truly displayed when players check out the vast vistas of the game from a vantage point. With high draw distance, this game can look absolutely phenomenal at times.
Watching the massive sprawling urban landscape of Villedor is a great breast of fresh air after going through the hectic gameplay loop present in Dying Light 2. The visuals of this game might not be mind-blowing, but they can definitely impress in these moments.
3 DIDN'T LOVE: The Unnecessarily Long Playtime
Dying Light 2 faced quite a bit of controversy after bragging about its 500-hour playtime, which led to fan backlash that questioned the need to make such a lengthy game. The developers quickly retracted this statement, establishing that the main game took around 20 hours while adding side quests ramped up this time to 80 hours.
Most people who naturally go through this game will complete everything in around 40 hours... which will still feel like an eternity! This is because the game runs out of any tricks a few hours into the playthrough, making the rest of the experience an absolute slog at times — a criticism that was true for the first game as well.
2 LOVED: Impactful Choices In Many Quests
Dying Light's quest design is pretty great, even though the narrative threads holding it together are barely doing their job. The game introduces various impactful decisions that players can make across its various main and side quests.
These decisions are genuinely impactful and change the nature of their respective quests in various ways. Techland should be given credit for adding some variety in their mission design, which was a minor point that people brought up against the first game.
1 DIDN'T LOVE: The Incessant Need To Constantly Scan Everything
Dying Light 2's subpar visual design has already been mentioned in the list. The fallout of this is that exploring the environment and gathering items can also become a chore after a point.
This is because players are pretty much forced into scanning the environment frequently to find loot, items, and everything else along the same lines. To make this situation even worse, players have to use binoculars to scan the environment, which would've been intuitive... if the player could set custom waypoints instead of the game doing all the work for them here as well.
Dying Light 2 was released in February 2022, and is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
