Believe it or not, the end of the world isn’t so bad. Sure, there are the usual drawbacks like marauding bandits, a lack of resources, and clothing that smells like it had been splashed with a glass of freshly-squeezed onions. Normally we refer to that as Stage 3 Loadshedding, but Dying Light 2 Stay Human takes the reality of South African life and makes matters slightly worse by throwing legions of zombies in your path. Flesh-eating ghouls are a minor annoyance though–compared to their nocturnal brethren at least–because Dying Light 2’s post-apocalyptic world of cutthroat survival is an absolute joy to explore.

If you’re familiar with the first game, then you know that Techland’s not just a master at constructing a terrific sandbox, but at making it fun to explore. It probably hits a little too close to home considering that we’ve all been living in a pandemic-stricken era where the only thing more dangerous than a contagious virus are the idiots out there who refuse to vaccinate for the greater good–the greater good–but Dying Light 2 is a fun adventure that hits a sweet spot between edge-of-your-seat survival and fighting back against a new world order with a toolbox of creative options.

That’s not to say that it’s a slam dunk victory as there are bugs aplenty in the current build, some dodgy graphical issues, and an ambitious focus that bites off more than it can chew, but Dying Light 2 is far from undead on arrival.

But these are more annoyances than deal-breaking gripes, as Dying Light 2’s moment-to-moment gameplay is where the game truly shines. Being acrobatic in a first-person title is an idea that few games have managed to pull off successfully, but Dying Light 2’s parkour provides a fantastic edge for the shambling hordes below you and the relentless Volatiles who’ll chase you down when given the opportunity to do so. Running across rooftops, sliding under the gap of a barrier, leaping across urban chasms, it all feels better than ever in this sequel.

It’s a system of locomotion that feels organic in execution, and with 20 parkour skills to unlock throughout your journey, the options for agile survival grow in metaphorical and literal leaps and bounds. There’s something wonderfully satisfying about leapfrogging over a zombie and chaining that movement into a dropkick that sends a nearby lurker flying. Later on in the game, you’ll even get your hands on a paraglider that can help you transition between skyscrapers more easily.

For those times when nimble feet aren’t enough to escape a heavily-mutated monster that can easily keep up with you, you can count on some solid combat to bail you out of a grossly sticky jam. Building on the core foundation of the first game, Dying Light 2’s combat hits hard and fast with a system of brutal strikes, quick counters, and satisfying parries. While you can get away with wildly swinging a machete at the majority of cannon fodder undead who’ll be lurching towards you, taking down more heavily-infected and human enemies requires some quick thinking and improvisation.

Fortunately, you’re able to whack away at body parts like a pro during the day, and once you’ve got the rhythm of enemies memorized in your thumbs, you’ll feel nigh-unstoppable as you rip and tear through hordes. Combining parkour with combat makes a huge and gratifying difference, and even when you’re faced with a horde of flesh-craving chompers, you won’t be breaking a sweat too often unless their numbers swell to a ludicrous size.

Until it’s nighttime, that is.

Just like the first game, Dying Light 2’s day and night cycle represent diametrically opposed challenges. The night is when the most volatile of infected roam the streets: acrobatic undead, burly bastards with wrecking balls wrapped around their limbs, and two-legged shrieking alarm systems will bring all kinds of hurt down on you. Don’t be too surprised if your fight or flight instincts urge you to cheese it out of the danger zone. The catch here is that a more dangerous environment presents better rewards, ranging from more durable loot to essential upgrade points that can be obtained by pilfering from a dark zone that is normally crawling with zombies during the day.

A quick job then, in and out to grab double the XP and better rewards, right? Not exactly.

The other big wrinkle in Dying Light 2’s sandbox is that you’re constantly racing against time when the sun has set. The protagonist Aiden becomes infected in the early stages of the game, and without a constant supply of natural or artificial UV light, he’s five minutes away from joining the undead ranks. These limits gradually increase as Aiden uses performance-enhancing…consumables…to get a leg up on the infected and bandits roaming the city. There are other ways to keep Aiden from succumbing to the effects of his infection, such as breathing in UV fumes, making your way to one of many safe houses across the city, or snorting a handful of mushrooms that have soaked up sunlight during the day. Mario, eat your heart out.

With that delightfully-solid gameplay creating a firm and fun foundation for Dying Light 2, it’s off to explore, help random strangers along the way, and gather an arsenal of gear that can be used to cut down even the most resilient of enemies with a few well-aimed slashes. You’re basically Doctor Who if they traded their sonic screwdriver in for a machete.

That’s a great slab of concrete to build a game on, but it’s not without some cracks in the cement. While it has been a few days since launch, Dying Light 2 is still in desperate need of some technical tweaking. On PS5, it wasn’t uncommon to encounter bugs that ranged from mildly annoying to literal game-breaking. Dialogue occasionally fizzles out, I’ve been locked out of quests for reasons that can only be described as astrological, and there’s a wonky number of graphical glitches you’ll have to brace yourself for.

Even worse, the game’s various graphical options leave much to be desired. For a title where daylight plays such a crucial factor, Dying Light 2’s resolution and quality modes provide great luminance at the cost of the jankiest of frame rates. Sacrificing visual fidelity for a 60 frames-per-second experience in Performance Mode alleviates this problem, but you’ll be stuck playing a game where rendering resolution is locked to 1080p and a soft image overall.

When it comes to performance and graphical quality, you’re going to need to pick your poison very carefully here.

Another issue here are the choices you’ll have to make throughout the campaign, or at least the illusion of free will you’ll have to contend with. Techland went to great lengths to hype up that its sandbox was one where choices had actual consequences on your progress, but in practise, this boils down to different side-quests being available to you depending on the faction you choose. You can be as big a bastard as you want in Dying Light 2, and you’ll mostly get away with these shenanigans by the time the end credits.


Dying Light 2 Stay Human review

Gripes aside, I still had a blast with Dying Light 2 . It’s a dirty and plucky combination of euphoric parkour combined with savage combat, its world is constantly fun, and there’s always something to do on the dangerous streets below you. When everything works, Dying Light 2’s unmatched gameplay loop offers a thrilling ride into the post-apocalypse.

 8
Dying Light 2 Stay Human was reviewed on PS5