Dying Light 2 Stay Human review: Surviving on the edge

Back in 2015, the world was treated to Dying Light, a game that was critiqued heavily by the industry but found a cult following with fans of zombie titles. Now, almost a decade later, Techland has a sequel for players to sink their teeth into: Dying Light 2 Stay Human. This entry in the franchise looks to dive back into the infected-filled world, albeit with a different protagonist and in a different location.

A lot of what made the original game so popular returns, from the parkour, freerunning and melee-based combat to the huge open world full of quests, crafting, and exploration. Unfortunately, though Dying Light 2 Stay Human reaches out to grasp at greatness, it too often stumbles, the opportunity slipping through its fingers.

Ground zero

The story of Dying Light 2 takes place 15 years after the events of the first game and follows Aiden as he tries to find his long-lost sister. Aiden isn’t just your every-day survivor either, he’s a Pilgrim, a sort of social outcast who moves between settlements to deliver information and other important things. The start of the game finds him in a walled-off city called Villedor, where two factions wrestle for control, as the infected and marauders bite at their heels and bash at their doors.

As far as the narrative goes, there’s plenty of intrigue to propel the story along, as you work to not only find your sister but uncover the mystery of why Aiden and her were being experimented on as children. Beyond this overarching plotline, the feud between the scrappy Survivors and the militia-like Peacekeepers works to enrich the world of Dying Light 2.

Part of the appeal of the game’s story is player agency whereby, at certain moments in the plot, the decision you make will affect the path you take. Siding with the Survivors or the Peacekeepers each has its own benefit and effect on the general course of the campaign.

Despite the narrative offering some interesting story beats, there are elements that are predictable, which can lead to moments of frustration where the player has to watch Aiden expertly fail to put 2-and-2 together.

There was another thorn in my side when it comes to the narrative in Dying Light 2, and it has less to do with the plot and more to do with the construction. Because this is an open world game, quests can often take players to far-flung corners of the map. This is a great way to get players to explore and find new encounters, but it made many of the main missions – and side quests – feel more like fetch quests than something that actually propels the narrative along.

When Dying Light 2 Stay Human finally eases up on the fetch quests and instead lets you loose in one of its epic set piece moments, it starts to feel quite good. Scaling a huge windmill, sprinting away from infected in a darkened subway, and ascending the biggest building in the city made me forget for just a moment that I’m basically this city’s errand boy with another handful of delivery missions ahead of me.

The problem of almost reaching greatness can be best summarized with the aforementioned ascension of the game’s biggest building. After being given a parachute, taught how to use it, and told to climb the largest building, I excitedly began the task thinking I would get the chance to dive off the top and glide down. Just as I was getting ready for my moment, Dying Light 2 took it away from me, and instead made me watch a cutscene of Aiden gliding down to the second tallest building, where I promptly regained control.

Delivery man with a knife

Where Dying Light 2 Stay Human starts to shine is with its gameplay. The game is at its best when you’re bounding across rooftops, stringing together a variety of parkour moves like wallrunning and vaulting over objects, and even paragliding between buildings as you use air vents to send you higher.

Beyond this, after spending a few points to unlock new moves, the combat starts to feel more robust than just mashing the melee button until everything dies. You’ll be able to use enemies as objects to jump over and even start doing some mid-air moves to handle the foes. In saying this, the block and parry system is sluggish and it can often feel more efficient to just mash the attack button until you whittle a foe’s health down.

When these elements do gel together is when Dying Light 2 feels good, but too often the fluidity of movement and combat slams into a wall. It felt like a coin toss as to whether Aiden would move through the environment in a predictable manner or come to a complete stop as a doorframe or the lip of a ledge slightly obstructed his pathing.

Mechanics like parkour elements and combat maneuvers should become second nature, fading into the background as muscle memory kicks in. However, I was constantly wrestling with the controls, taking me out of the moment and leading to quite a lot of frustration.

In the times where the movement worked well, exploring the city of Villedor was a treat. The level design on offer here is rather impressive. There are an almost overwhelming number of avenues available to the player as they traverse the city. Ziplines connect distant rooftops, launch pads and vents propel Aiden into the air, while walls, railings, ledges and scaffolding grant access to an intricately layered city.

But again, the sense of speed and freedom comes to a shuddering stop whenever the player needs to start searching for materials for upgrading, adding mods to weapons, or for trading. Containers must be opened by holding a button, while each individual item must be looked at and picked up, and both of these have their own animation of Aiden reaching out to interact with the item. It’s slow going and feels at odds with the game’s speed.

Where this slow and methodical approach does work is in Dying Light 2’s stealth moments. Players are encouraged to get out and explore the city at night, despite the infected being more numerous and stronger. Nighttime means being able to access special buildings that hold valuable resources, and also means using stealth to slink by sleeping infected.

To add to the tension of these moments in the darkness is Aiden’s own infection. He can only be in the dark so long before he turns into one of the infected. This means players will need to manage this ever-ticking clock, consuming mushrooms to increase the time they can linger in the dark or stepping into UV light to stave off the effects of the infection. It’s an element that felt like more of a nuisance to deal with than an interesting constraint, and that’s coming from someone who actively enjoyed Dead Rising’s ticking clock. Plus, Aiden can eventually use a UV flashlight, which he is unable to use on himself when in the dark.

On the point of UV light keeping the infection at bay, there are also windmills to climb and claim that turn into little safe zones. At night, these are lit up with UV lamps, preventing the infected from chasing you. The windmills are one of the many side activities that fill the city of Villedor. There are also Dark Hollows and Forbidden Stores that yield high level rewards but can only be explored at night along with Evacuation Convoys, Military Airdrops and a ton of quests to aid the citizens of the city.

The other major facet in Dying Light 2’s design is its crafting systems. Weapons can have attachments added to them, increasing their killing potential and even extending their life just a bit longer. However, like the previous titles in Techland’s catalogue, these weapons will inevitably break, forcing you to keep looking for the next pointy stick to use against your enemies.

As for the upgrades and blueprints, these must be found or purchased and then crafted using the various items you’ll scavenge throughout the city. Some also require trophies from special infected or military-grade electronics from side quests and hard-to-reach locations.

Visually, Dying Light 2 is a gorgeous game to look at. The rooftops are lush and overgrown with green vegetation and flowers while the buildings and people take on an almost medieval flourish, with striking colors and clothing designs.

Contrasting this are the streets of Villedor. Much like the lower levels of some futuristic dystopian city, the alleyways and roads are clogged with grime and mucky colors. If the infected weren’t reason enough, the soiled environment is sure to encourage you back to the rooftops. It’s also a neat visual storytelling moment, showcasing that humanity is surviving, albeit on the fringe of the world.

The dizzying highs and breath-holding intense stealth moments are punctuated by a soundtrack that is an immediate classic. There were pieces that reminded me of the sombre moments from 28 Days Later and even electrical tunes that got the adrenaline pumping as I hacked and slashed through a building full of marauders.

While the gameplay has a lot of rough edges, these are easier to ignore thanks to the inclusion of co-op. During my time with the game, I was lucky enough to get into a co-op session with the Techland developers in Poland, as well as a lovely bloke from Canada. The four of us adventured through the city, took down infected, sneaked through enemy-filled buildings, and generally enjoyed the freedom Dying Light 2 provides its players. We even engaged in some friendly competition with the game’s challenges: a checkpoint time trial and one that had us using an automatic crossbow to defeat as many enemies as possible within the time limit.

Once bitten, twice shy

One massive grievance I have with Dying Light 2 is the lack of controller customization options. Though players have gotten somewhat used to it with the original Dying Light and the likes of Mirror’s Edge, having jump tied to the right bumper and no means of changing this on my controller is frustrating.

Another critical mechanic in the game is Aiden’s Survivor Sense, which pulses out and highlights items within a few feet around him. When using a controller, this is activated by holding the right thumbstick. This is dreadfully cumbersome and made worse by the fact it has a hidden cooldown.

The game is also full of jarring sequence breaks when talking with characters. Sometimes they’ll end a conversation, walk out of shot, and when you regain control of Aiden and turn to see where they went, they’ve disappeared. At one particularly egregious point, Aiden was talking with a character on a rooftop, turned, and spoke to another. He asked where the first person went and this new character pointed to a rooftop 100 feet away. Moments like these are just strange and ultimately break the immersion.

Not a Bite Hider

There’s a lot going on in Dying Light 2 Stay Human. The story that’s presented is moreish, despite having predictable beats and clichés. Its movement is sleek and fast when it’s working but often stumbles over itself. The combat has glimpses of greatness but can wind up feeling a bit average. Overall, each element taken by itself has potential but when mixed together dilutes what could be a rich experience. 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.

This review is based on a Steam code provided by the publisher. Dying Light 2 Stay Human is available on February 4, 2022 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler