Dying Light 2: Stay Human Reviews
Dying Light 2 does little to shake up the open-world formula, because it could be so much more, especially after the initial reveals promised so much. With that said, if zombie decapitations, sick parkour moves, and true next-gen graphics are what you're looking for then Dying Light 2 certainly fits the bill.
Despite a healthy dose of jank, Dying Light 2 Stay Human manages to come out as a worthy follow-up to one of the most popular open-world zombie slaying games out there. Fans of the original won't want to pass this one up.
Dying Light 2 is a messy, brilliant game. For all my issues with it, there is no denying just how fun it is to play. Some of the best movement in a first-person title is matched by solid combat and choices that helped me shape the narrative how I wanted. It doesn’t always hit, but boy, when it does it hits hard.
The story here pulled me in quickly, and is well worth paying attention to. Exploration with parkour is just plain fun. The game doesn't feel like it's forcing the player to explore and complete every marker on the map, but rather giving the player options for how they want to approach the game. The survival aspects aren't overwhelmingly hardcore, but feel tuned to provide the perfect amount of tension.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human is an entertaining game with enjoyable characters and fun parkour elements. Unfortunately a lot doesn't hold up to scrutiny. If what you're after is more Dying Light though, then this is your game.
After completing Dying Light 2, I was left with conflicting emotions. On one hand, the moment-to-moment gameplay is exciting, tense, and filled with a fluid parkour system, while the main narrative lacks in almost every area.
With a significantly improved movement system, an engrossing, branching narrative, and an open world that's consistently engaging, Dying Light 2 was well worth the extended wait.
Gone is the grit and limited color palette that set the grim tone for Dying Light, but the brighter aesthetic provides hope in an otherwise hopeless world. Dying Light 2 Stay Human gets so much right, and feels so much better to play that I can’t help but get excited at all the things I have yet to do. Techland has made a more compelling, complex, and well-paced game where pushing the player to make decisions without a known outcome is easily its best feature. While it has a familiar open-world design we’ve seen before, it’s one that I’m eager to return to. Dying Light 2 Stay Human has the best melee combat and parkour in the business, and is now the most satisfying of the series.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is an excelent title that combines all its elements with exceptionally
Review in Greek | Read full review
Its combat is as brutal as one would hope while bringing the mechanical density and numerous options to engage any type of player. Its narrative is gripping with veins of humanity throughout that make it nearly impossible not to get invested in it. While sometimes feeling a bit sluggish or as though they just need a tiny bit more tuning, its new mechanics have brought new life to the series in a monumental way.
To some degree, this feels like an early access game in everything but the release schedule and pricing. It has its core down. It knows exactly what it wants to be. However, everything around that needs more polish before it’s ready for primetime. So, even though I didn’t really like my time with the game, I guess I believe in Dying Light 2? I truly think I’ll look back in a year or two — when memories have faded — and think past me was dead wrong for giving it such a low score.
Okay, admittedly - Dying Light 2 might look like the next generic open-world game with a zombie theme that is doomed to end up on the pile of shame of many gamers. And this is completely unjustified, because Techland's sequel manages to stand out from the crowd of its genre colleagues, especially with its atmospheric game world and the at least equally fun gameplay mix. While disturbing zombie hordes groan for blood on one side, we find playing children and blooming flower gardens on the other. Techland stylistically succeeds in creating an immersive and coherent image of a post-apocalypse that can be so gloomy and dirty at the same time, but also hopeful. The run-down open-world metropolis has many small as well as larger stories to tell, which we were only too happy to listen to off the beaten path. Of course, Techland's vision of an open game world also suffers from some well-known problems: Bugs, game crashes and the obligatory icon clutter are issues that genre fans are probably familiar with by now. Nevertheless, the bottom line is a fun and immersive zombie adventure that was able to raise our adrenaline level to unimagined heights more than once.
Review in German | Read full review
Improving upon its predecessor in all aspects, Dying Light 2 presents a compelling argument that we humans are the biggest threat, even when the undead roams the world.
It’s been a long road to release for Dying Light 2, and at times its future seemed uncertain. However, having braved the ruins of Villedor for this review, I’m happy to report that Techland’s long-awaited follow-up to their survival horror RPG is a smashing success. With its mix of gripping narrative, hard-hitting combat, and exhilarating exploration, Dying Light 2 is a spectacular sequel that breathes new life into the franchise.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human adds more than enough fresh content to keep it feeling like a necessary follow-up. Aside from a tepid story, you'll find a rewarding experience that will appeal to those coming back for seconds and the newly initiated.
Dying Light 2 doesn't bring the revolution to the genre, but it is a fine zombie action with a truly human face.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Dying Light 2 Stay Human is another exhilarating parkour and zombie-pummeling playground from Techland, although at times, the seams holding it all together are a bit obvious. Given the game's glitches, minor gameplay annoyances, and crudely bisected story and world, reports of behind-the-scenes issues feel all-too-plausible. That said, the foundation here is rock solid, and Techland has proven they're capable long-term builders, so I'm confident Dying Light 2's embers can be stoked to a full flame in time.
"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 has been a long time coming, and thankfully it's worth the wait. I loved the time I spent exploring Villedor; finding random events and scaling buildings took me back to the old days of Assassins Creed II. While I wish I wasn't being timed on the occasions I went into a dark building or decided to explore at night, it's a minor issue to overlook when most of the game is so brilliantly executed and fun to play.