Dying Light 2: Stay Human - is it any good?
February is jam-packed with many highly anticipated games, and Dying Light 2: Stay Human is the first out of the gate. Reviewers have had their say about the game, so let's see if the next instalment of Techland's zombie parkour sleeper hit can soar to new heights.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is a sequel to the popular and highly acclaimed Dying Light, released in 2015. Set thematically 22 years after the first installment, you play as Aiden Caldwell, a lone survivor of the zombie plague in search of his lost sister within the city of Villedor.
The games unique selling point is the parkour styled world traversal and open-ended quest nature, with Techland promising many diverging story paths and meaningful narrative decisions. The game has RPG elements that lets you upgrade Aiden's skills and abilities, giving more options for traversing the sprawling open world and fighting ever increasing number of zombies. But beware the night, as the zombies behavior changes as they become more aggressive during the night, a mechanic refined from the previous game.
Currently Dying Light 2: Stay Human is currently sitting with an average of 77 Metacritic score and a 77 Opencritic rating. Many critics praised the movement and parkour mechanics within the game, but the story seems to get the bulk of the criticism.
Here are some snippets of what critics had to say about the game:
There's no doubt about it, Dying Light 2: Stay Human is a sequel of epic proportions. Everything fans loved about the original title is still very much present, but now with a bigger story, new features, and a vast open-world filled with areas to explore and loot.
Dying Light 2 is safe in some respects, and bold in others; like its propensity to lean into some arcadey notions. The sandbox is the true heart of Dying Light 2. Not the characters, or the story, but the mere act of running around like an idiot, whether you’re doing errands or not.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human is an ambitious zombie action adventure that's packed with top-notch parkour, an awesome open world, and every painful bug in the book.
Dying Light 2 is a perplexing game. Its story and characters are headache-inducing, and it appears to lack polish in many areas. But even a dozen hours after I rolled credits, I've found myself going back to the game to do another parkour challenge, rummage through another abandoned science lab, or just see if I can get from Point A to Point B without ever hitting the ground. It's rough around the edges and it asks players to invest a lot in its weakest element, but once you realize the story, like gravity, is only going to pull you down, you can begin to defy it and enjoy the things Dying Light 2 actually does well.
A underwhelming story but a massive, exciting sandbox of parkour and kinetic combat.
Dying Light 2 is an engaging journey of discovery and gaining power. Almost everything you do embraces those dynamics. In evolving beyond the first game's offerings, putting a stronger emphasis on the characters helps shape the world in meaningful ways. Some of Aiden’s choices are difficult, especially those surrounding a character named Lawan – who is given a hell of a pulse by Rosario Dawson. I can’t say enough great things where his and her stories go. I adored almost every second of this game and see myself often revisiting it, as Techland has announced at least five years of DLC is on the way. That’s a wonderful promise to hear when starting a new game that has turned out this well.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is out now and available on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.