Dying Light 2 - Is it Worth It? Honest Review

Dying Light 2 Stay Human was announced way back at the 2018 E3 Expo, and over the past four years, it has endured several delays leading up to release. The first Dying Light was developer Techland's best-selling game, with millions of fans and a strong community of continuous players. There's a lot riding on this sequel's success, and now that it's finally out, gamers are curious if Dying Light 2 is worth the hype. This FPS follow-up promises exciting parkour traversal, intense combat with zombies, and lots of upgrading and looting between. Is Dying Light 2 the sequel that fans have been hoping for, or is it a disappointing package that needed more time in development? Let's find out if Dying Light 2 lives up to the hype!

Is Dying Light 2 Stay Human Worth the Hype?

Dying Light 2 Stay Human picks up 15 years after the events of the original game, with most of the planet succumbing to the vicious Harran virus. As millions are turned into crazed viral hosts, cities have become more restricted as circumstances grow worse. You play as Aiden Caldwell, a “pilgrim” who explores the dangerous world outside of the safety of settlements, scavenging to survive every step of the way. At the beginning of the story, you arrive in the town of Villedor, where you search for information regarding your long-lost sister. To gain the trust of Villedor's citizens, you'll have to brave the zombie-filled streets and help around the neighbourhood.

Like the first game, Dying Light 2 offers a mixture of first-person parkour movement and melee-focused combat, where it's often smarter to run than engage with opponents. When you first start out, Aiden lacks most of the signature parkour abilities like wall-running and sliding, which must be unlocked through an agility skill tree. There is also a combat skill tree to upgrade, which expands your prowess in battle with extra moves, increased damage, and counter-attacks. Combat and agility experience are gained naturally through gameplay, so you'll always be increasing your character no matter what activity you're participating in.

Speaking of, there is a decent variety of missions and activities to undertake around Villedor, ranging from parkour challenges to side-mission and plenty more. There's a day-and-night cycle to manage, as the streets become more dangerous once the sun goes down. Dangerous infected enemy variants pop up more frequently, and if you alert a horde, you'll have to trek back to the nearest safe house to escape the chase. Ultimately, the overall gameplay in Dying Light 2 is lots of fun and surprisingly addictive, with dozens of hours of content to explore. The narrative is the weakest aspect of the experience, but there are still some interesting side-missions along the way.

Problems in Villedor

Apart from subjective problems with the narrative, Dying Light 2 Stay Human is ripe with more troublesome issues. During our first playthrough of the campaign, we encountered several gameplay bugs and visual glitches, some worse than others. Occasionally, items can be found floating in the air or NPCs can act weird, but these glitches are forgivable. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of bugs that impede progress, cause quests to glitch out, or remove map exploration.

Restarting the game will usually fix problems like quest-markers not appearing, but other glitches remain until a patch comes out. In fact, due to a few glitches, it's likely that 100% completion is no longer possible for our playthrough. Simply put, some of the bugs in Dying Light 2 are incredibly frustrating and should've been fixed before release. Techland has a decent history of supporting their games for years after release, but the promise of a potential fix doesn't make these issues any easier to deal with. Overall, Dying Light 2 Stay Human lives up to the hype in some ways, but it falls victim to the same problems as many other big-budget projects. It's a game that's lots of fun and worth experiencing, but it might be smart to wait for a few weeks before picking it up.