Dying Light 2 Review (Xbox One)

STAFF REVIEW of Dying Light 2 (Xbox One)

Friday, March 4, 2022.
by Peggy Doyle

Dying Light 2: Stay Human is finally here. I was a massive fan of the original Dying Light game back in 2015, and it’s massive DLC post launch, ‘The Following,’ in 2016. I probably have close to 200 hours in the original Dying Light over the years. Techland continued to add content since the launch and even in the days prior to Dying Light 2’s release.

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have a lot of concerns after the many delays of Dying Light 2 since it’s initial reveal at E3 2018. As more delays happened, my excitement for the game started to diminish. Between its reveal and launch there were many other high-profile games that launched with the same hype I felt for Dying Light 2, and one in particular did not remotely live up to the excitement I had for it. I don’t need to mention it by name, but any gamer knows the game I mean. Seeing that launch and the fallout afterwards really made me check my expectations for Dying Light 2. I was patient, there was a worldwide pandemic and delays were to be expected. What I had hoped was that the delays would also mean that Techland would take the opportunity to polish and refine the game as to not have a similar launch experience as the other game, which was also in production for about the same amount of time, and give us fans the game we were all hoping for.

So here we are... finally!

Dying Light 2 takes place in 2036, 22 years after the events in the first game, and 15 years after the Fall (a catastrophic event in December 2021 where a new mutant strain of the Harran virus is spreading across the world). This is a new Dark Ages for the world. I can’t help but make a comment based on the fact that the world is currently living in a pandemic in real life so some of the story felt real enough to send shivers down my spine. Do I think we’re about to be living in a world of real-life zombies? Of course not. But strains of virus changing people and the way we live? Definitely.

You are playing as Aiden Caldwell, an infected survivor looking for a cure. Aiden arrives in the city of Villedor searching for his missing Sister, Mia. He’s a Pilgrim, a messenger of sorts who travels between the few remaining cities, delivering goods and messages. Because he’s an outsider, Aiden must gain the trust of the people he encounters in Villedor. This is a lot of your side quests in the game. Doing tasks for people so that they believe you are on their side. I say believe, because even while doing some of the tasks you will get an option to go against your original plan if another offer seems better for you.

Each person you meet, each choice you make, can potentially change your story and your outcomes in the game to an extent. You are haunted by memories you can’t decipher and trying to find answers about your past. Since the timelines of the two games aren’t directly connected, and you aren’t playing as Kyle Crane from the first game, it isn’t necessary to have played the first title before jumping into the second. Your only real advantage to doing so would be that you’d have a loose idea of the backstory and already be familiar with the mechanics of the gameplay. Dying Light 2 does give a substantial recap at the beginning of the game to remind you of the story in the first game though, in case you hadn’t played, or have forgotten over the past 7 years since it launched.

Dying Light 2 boasts a giant open world map, and the new city of Villedor feels much bigger than the city from the first game. Villedor is only a portion of the world you visit though. Traversing this giant map you will meet many characters, different factions, each trying to sway your choice of actions to side with them. This is where the voice acting shines in Dying Light 2. There were many times when I was convinced I was going to play a particular mission one way until another character managed to persuade me to their point of view. I didn’t find myself loyal to either of the two main factions, both had strong views, neither sitting firmly on the good or evil side of what was best for the city and world. The Peacekeepers are a faction that values security and order, even if that comes at the cost of personal freedoms. On the other side are the Survivors, who value freedom and community, hoping that the people can put aside their differences and work together to sure everyone has what they need to survive. I really feel like the game was encouraging you to run with the Survivors as the ‘good guys’. The Peacekeepers just weren’t as appealing to me.

One of the key issues I had with the way I felt forced to play Dying Light 2 was each faction had its own skill tree. This meant that my decisions in the game weren’t always what I wanted to do, as in what I wanted for the city, but because there was something I was aiming to unlock on a skill tree. The Peacekeepers, for example, had a crossbow that I just needed to unlock. I feel like the rewards should have been based on the number of areas unlocked versus who you chose to assign them to. This would have allowed me to ultimately play the story the way I wanted, allowing a bit more freedom. This being the case, I feel that the story isn’t as fluid as it could have been since I have to think most players would choose to play for rewards rather than what’s best for the city. This was a bit disappointing since the faction component was pretty hyped up prior to launch.

With the map being so massive, you’ll really want to the option to fast travel, and thankfully Dying Light 2 has that option, sort of. You have to earn it. There are subway/metro stations throughout the map, and you must enter and power them on to be able to use them for fast travel. This involves sneaking around, fighting zombies, finding the power sources, etc. In the beginning of the game I didn’t bother with many of them and realized later in the game that it was a mistake. As I moved around the vast map I really wished I had opened up the fast travel points.

Parkour is your main mode of movement in the game, and something the original Dying Light did really well. It was a new experience for me to be able to move so fluidly in a game at the time. I am happy to say that I believe Dying Light 2 has made its parkour even more fluid and enjoyable. There are many other ways to traverse the city, and more skills you’ll unlock like wall running and using spring pads to get around faster. When choosing which faction to give control of for a particular section of the map, you really should look at the way you play. The Peacekeepers side will increase the number of traps around the zone thy control, the Survivors will increase the number of ways to parkour. Since I enjoy the parkour so much, most of the time I went with the Survivor option. Once you master your parkour you really feel like you’re flying through the city.

Speaking of flying, Dying Light 2 also has a paraglider and was more fun than I anticipated. Being able to launch yourself off buildings (especially the tall skyscrapers) was satisfying and exhilarating. The grappling hook was also a fantastic way to move around. Both of these items are fairly underwhelming when you first get them, but once you start upgrading them they become integral to your movement in and around Villedor. Another handy gadget was the binoculars, being able to look into the distance and adding things to your map was much easier than having to climb towers. It also helped you spot all kinds of side missions and challenges in the game. Moving throughout Dying Light 2 is a feeling really unlike most other games. This is thanks to the brilliant design of the game. Creating linear parkour paths is one thing, but Dying Light 2 allows for movement in all directions. There aren’t many routes you can’t take when getting around, creating a giant concrete jungle gym of sorts. One of my fears in reality is the fear of heights and I realized that this can also manifest from playing games. The fear was real, and I felt myself feeling anxious and nervous when walking along narrow beams on the outside of tall buildings. Once I had the paraglider I was a bit less nervous, but even with that equipped I was uneasy as it was only good for a certain height of a fall because you have to use stamina when it is deployed.

The day/night cycle is back but unlike the first game where you didn’t want to be outside at night unless you had to, Dying Light 2 forces you to be outside at night in some instances. Some world events are also only available at night. It’s scary, visceral and had me jumping out of my seat at times. Your flashlights have limited power and range and there are such a variety of zombies in the game that you are never really safe, day or night.

What really helps propel the game is the score by Olivier Deriviere. He is also the genius behind one of my other favourite games, Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag. No matter if you’re scaling a building or running from zombies, the music never failed to hit the mark. The games audio design also plays a part in the way Villedor feels. During the day, the music swells as you parkour through the city. In the distance you can hear survivors in the distance fighting with bandits or zombies. As the sun sets you can hear shrieks and growls of the infected or screams from survivors. It is clear from the audio that the best time to be outside of your safety zones is not at night. Audio also makes the combat more real and visceral. Techland has basically removed all guns from Dying Light 2, so you have melee weapons and bows primarily. Something about the sounds of a bat against a skull or metal pipe blocking another weapon - each combat attack felt like it actually had weight behind it. Aiden is also quite vocal during parkour movement and fighting - grunting, yelling, or even breathing heavy when out of breath or stamina.

The main story for Dying Light 2 is fairly linear until you reach a branching point. Decisions don’t really affect the main story outcome as much as it was implied they would, but decisions can lock you out of certain side stories and dialogue options. That being said, the side quests do have choices that can affect your outcome and I think most of them were a bit more enjoyable than the main story. At the end of the day, Dying Light 2 is carried by its characters, as Aiden was likable but not particularly remarkable. Even though his personality wasn’t that intriguing, the voice actor (Jonah Scott) nailed the performance and I found myself rooting for him. Lawan, played by Rosario Dawson, is really the heart of the story and steals just about every scene she’s in. She has such a complex back story. She was definitely much more than she appeared to be when you first meet her.

If it wasn’t apparent, I really liked Dying Light 2, and I think it has improved on the first game, but now for the things that weren’t great from my experience playing. There were a lot of bugs for me in the game. This is one of the main reasons it took as long as it has to get this review out if I’m being honest. A few game breaking bugs that meant I couldn’t progress the main story. They were fixed with a patch, but the biggest problem for me was a pretty massive issue with audio bugs. The game would start buzzing loudly, with no other audio. No dialogue or game music, often accompanied by it going to a black screen so I couldn’t even read the subtitles. The only way to fix the buzzing sound was to completely restart the game. Because of the auto saves, I couldn’t replay the scenes I missed, and therefore missed some substantial bits of the story which was quite frustrating. That being said, there was a recent patch deployed that seems to have fixed that issue. Co-op also wasn’t working at launch, and cross gen still isn’t available from what I can tell. This means that if you have a Series X or S console, you can’t play with your friends on Xbox One. This is unfortunate as the game is a lot of fun playing co-op with a friend, new consoles are still hard to find, and not everyone has been able to or chose to.

Looking forward, Techland has already released a bit of a roadmap, committing to 5 years of content. They have been really engaged with their player fanbase online as well and open with their plans for post launch support. The original Dying Light didn’t launch with a lot of fanfare and has gained a lot of popularity over the years as its dedicated fanbase has recommended it and played with new players. I even managed to get someone to play it for the first time last year with me and it was great to jump back in and play some co-op and see it through their eyes for the first time. Dying Light 2 has launched with more eyes on it and I am looking forward to putting many more hours into it over the next few years.

**Dying Light 2 was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 8.2 / 10
Gameplay: 8.0 / 10
Visuals: 8.0 / 10
Sound: 8.5 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Dying Light 2 (Xbox One)

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