One big, post-apocalyptic disappointment
Dying Light 2 is a disappointing game. It has dull combat and characters, and an abundance of dull side quests. This makes it one of the biggest disappointments in recent years. ..
Dying Light 2 is a buggy mess that doesn’t look like it will be fixed anytime soon. If you want to play the game on a console with the day 1 patch installed, it’s best to do so before release.
The game’s opening cutscene is decent enough, but the game’s world and how it came to be a zombie-ravaged nightmare is explained in more detail in the game’s prologue. Aidan, a brave Pilgrim on the hunt for his sister Mia, must navigate human settlements and dangerous expanses of wasteland while avoiding zombies. ..
The game’s central conflict is a bit of a mystery to the player, and it’s not until the last few missions that you finally get to the crux of the issue. The game does a good job of keeping things vague so that you don’t get too attached to its story.
The world is divided into two regions, with the first being more fun and enjoyable to traverse than the second. With smaller buildings, a thoughtful presentation of different obstacles to jump or swing over, along with just the right amount of interesting locales to explore, the first 10 or so hours are actually pretty fun. However, you’ll soon grow tired of the parkour thanks to an enjoyment-sapping stamina bar. We’ll get to that in a second.
The second area of the game is more restrictive than the first, with skyrises and a parachute making it difficult to move around quickly, while less versatile tools make traversing areas more difficult.
The game presents itself with “multiple choices” for the player to reshape the story but, in truth, those come down to a binary option of yellow or blue. Even the final mission and its choice for Aidan essentially results in the exact same ending, minus the fate for one distinct area. Certainly a far cry from what the developers originally promised with the game. ..
I don’t think Dying Light 2 is a bad game, but I do think it’s not as good as the first. ..
Many people have spoken about the day/night cycle in Dying Light 2 and it’s shocking that few reviews have mentioned this. The skybox doesn’t move. It’s static. Clouds don’t move across the sky and when everything turns to night, the moon simply fades in while the sun fades out, unmoving from its spot in the sky. If Minecraft can do a consistent day/night cycle, there’s no excuse for this “AAA” game not to. Especially after seven years of development. ..
Most of the zombies are out on the streets at night, and “Howlers” are scattered throughout groups of zombies. These guys essentially work as sirens, alerting masses of zombies to your location and starting a chase. The only way to stop that is to either run far enough away and hide in tall patches of grass or under obstacles, or make it to a UV-light sanctuary.
The respawn system in this game completely negates the threat entirely. In fact, it completely negates many of the different mechanics and systems in place in the game, and is one off the biggest deterrents along with that aforementioned stamina bar. At its worst, the respawn actually throws you back to the nearest safehouse which could be upwards of 500m away, depending on how thoroughly you’re exploring the world.
If you’re playing a game and die, you can respawn right away. ..
Dying Light 2’s biggest problem is that its stamina bar is a constant deterrent until you level up your stamina enough to forget about it.
The game’s platforming and parkour are great, but the stamina system is a bit of a letdown. ..
The new mechanic in this game, Stamina, noticeably makes the game worse. If you’re reading this and disagree, imagine if Infamous, Assassins Creed or Uncharted all included a stamina bar. Imagine doing that thrilling train platforming section at the start of Uncharted 2 but instead of just marveling at the sights, you’re watching your stamina deplete. ..
Dying Light 2 is an enjoyable game, but it suffers from frequent and unengaging combat and stamina depletion that makes it difficult to make it to the top of the building. ..
The two groups of zombies are fighting for control of a small area. The zombies in the front are more powerful and aggressive, while the zombies in the back are more passive. If you’re able to take control of the area, you can start healing your allies and killing off the enemies. If you lose control of the area, then all your allies will die and you’ll be left with just yourself to fight off the zombies.
The aim of the game is to swing your weapons constantly in order to deal the most damage possible. You will have to watch your stamina bar and make sure you wait for it to refill for maximum damage. You can add a few more moves to your repertoire by leveling up, but largely you will be performing the same few moves constantly. While the ragdoll physics are amusing, it is largely unimaginative hack and slash. ..
Human enemies are a massive disappointment. There is no strategy or intelligent AI with these guys, they simply charge at you, wait to attack you one at a time and add a block in over time. ..
The game’s final boss is a giant, lumbering behemoth that can only be defeated by using the environment to your advantage. For the most part, this means hiding behind obstacles and attacking from behind, but it’s also possible to use ranged weapons to take down the boss from a distance. ..
Ranged weapons are incredibly overpowered in this game. There is no thought put into how they work because if you choose to go into these human settlements with them, you’re unstoppable. You can’t defend yourself against your arrow blasts, and even enemies will just continue walking/jogging toward you as you pelt them with arrows. There’s no dodging behind cover, flanking or even enemies talking to each other. It’s bland and sucks the little bits of joy out of the game.
The main story is a bit of a slog, with side quests that are either uninteresting or just too easy. The game does have some nice touches, like the interesting cathedral mission, but overall it’s not worth your time.
The city of Villedor is home to a variety of activities, all of which can be enjoyed by tourists. Metro stations can be explored and activated as fast travel points, although the design of these – especially when you reach the underground sections bathed in chemicals – are largely copy/paste jobs.
The game has a variety of areas to explore, each with its own challenges and rewards. There are windmills, safe zones, bandits, and water towers to explore.
There are two types of GRE quarantine zones: those that help you gain Inhibitors and those that are essentially zombies-gone-wrong. Don’t worry though, the design of each of these are exactly the same and hacking away with a blunt weapon will be enough to dispatch them without too much hassle.
XP points are divided into Parkour and Combat. Essentially, everything you do in the game works toward this, with side quests and main missions the best way to level these quickly. Each subsequent level grants you a skill point, which can be used to add extra abilities to your arsenal. From jumping further to climbing higher, across to smashing your enemies down with a special move, there’s actually a good deal of variety here. ..
To level up your stamina and health, you can use inhibitors. These also help protect you from toxic chemicals at night. ..
The game is easy to pick up and play, but it’s not as fun as it seems. The puzzles are easy to figure out but they’re not particularly interesting or challenging, and the gameplay feels like it’s missing something. There are some nice features, like the ability to customize your character, but overall I found the game to be a bit of a letdown.
The safe in my apartment complex has a combination that is 3-1-4, but the actual combination is 3-1-4. I found this out after trying to figure out the safe for a while. This is an example of how careless this game actually is, even with the most trivial of activities. ..
The game feels unfinished and unfulfilled, despite some decent graphics. The world is beautiful, but the game feels like it’s unfinished.
The game has numerous bugs that will be patched out, but the combat is poorly implemented and the main quest – when you finally do find Mia and learn what happened to her – falls apart with a really poorly implemented final act.
Dying Light 2 is not a game I can recommend at that price point. If you love zombie games, I’d recommend renting this one instead. If you’re sold after 5-10 hours, buy the game. For everyone else, given how stacked 2022 is shaping up to be for the videogame industry, save your money and stay away from this post-apocalyptic mess. ..
