Dying Light 2: Stay Human Reviews
A good action game full of content and potential, but it would benefit from a vigorous technical smoothing.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Unfortunately, though, the narrative is a black hole of missed opportunities, surfacing time and again to remind players of what’s missing from the experience even as they try to forget and just enjoy what does work. If only “Stay Human” could navigate its story of post-apocalyptic morality with the same deftness as its assured, acrobatic protagonist.
Dying Light 2 expands and refines a formula Techland has been peddling since its breakout success with Dead Island. This sequel learns a lot from modern open world video games, its massive, zombie-infested sandbox rarely feeling empty, especially as you breeze through city blocks with a Mirror's Edge-like finesse. However, Dying Light 2 inherits the same problems - a dull story, tiresome combat, and character progression that's a tad too sluggish.
A great role-playing game, which bets on a very careful narrative, unique mechanics of navigation and combat, and a terrifying atmosphere. Dying Light 2 is a colossal game that will become a reference of the genre, in terms of the player's decisions.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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.
A little rough around the edges, especially in terms of the storytelling, but the interminable wait for this open world zombie sequel has been worth it
While Dying Light 2 does a lot right with its gameplay and new-gen presentation, it’s still a far cry from zombie gaming greatness. The weak story, uninspired mission design, limitations on initial player skills, and bugs let it down in a big way. Sure, a lot of this will be easy to ignore when fighting the undead as a four-man squad, but “it’s fun with friends” is an excuse that can only get you so far.
Though there are moments of joy to be found, they’re punctuated by fetch quests and odd collision detection. Fans of the original will no doubt find fun in a return to the world, but for everyone else, you might want to wait a bit longer before you take a bite.
With a slow plot and uninteresting characters, Dying Light 2: Stay Human's few redeeming qualities are what sets the franchise apart from other zombie games out there.
Dying Light 2 is probably exactly what fans of the first game wanted. The story may not be particularly motivating, but combat is fun while the PS5 powers a smooth experience. A few questionable tweaks by Techland will not be appreciated by all players, but co-op will make it easy to forgive some of that. If you're not completely tired of zombie games yet, give Dying Light 2 a try. There's plenty to see and do, and you'll likely enjoy your harrowing stay in Villedor.
Dying Light 2 is a bigger and bolder sequel that improves upon the original in every way. Not only does it have one of the most enjoyable traversal systems in any game ever, but it also provides players with interesting characters and quests to break up all the running.
Initially, I was concerned Dying Light 2 wouldn't find its own voice in a world crammed with shallow open worlds designed for busy work rather than fun, but the more I played, the more I found that wasn't the case. Dying Light 2 truly shines with its high-stakes nighttime gameplay, which turns the modern and tired open-world formula on its head. While some of the writing isn't the best and next-gen console performance is a bit disappointing, Dying Light 2 offers a tight experience that builds on the original.
"When the platforming actually works, Dying Light 2 is an absolute blast. Chaining together a high-flying hang glider maneuver, then grappling off the edge of a building before executing a perfectly timed series of jumps makes you feel like a superhero. It’s just too bad that more often than not, something will go wrong and you’ll fall to your death instead."
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is more than a sequel — it’s an evolution that keeps everything that is integral to the franchise intact, but builds on it with enough engaging content that it’s incredibly hard to stop playing.
Techland's horror sequel features crunchy combat and thrilling parkour, but buries its best bits with a clumsy story and open-world excess
Dying Light 2: Stay Human feels like it lost its direction somewhere along the way. It begins as an interesting zombie game wherein the threat feels tangible, your character feels weak, and the world feels primed for a dynamic story. However, the further you get into the game, a lot of its early ideas feel sidelined for a generic zombie plot, uninspiring combat, and the absence of any kind of danger.
If you've played a zombie game in the past decade, this mishmash of tattered post-apocalyptic stereotypes will feel all too familiar
There’s a lot to do here, but I feel like the mechanics of the game itself gets in the way of really letting the player explore what’s around, and in the end, the rewards just may not be enough to bother with a lot of them. That’s not to say I didn’t have a fun time with the game. I did. There are some great shining moments here and when the story ramped up, I was in it until the end. If you have the patience to get to it, you too can have a good time, but don’t say I didn’t warn you that it will take some time to finally get to it.