The lead-up to Dying Light 2 has been rocky, at least from the outside looking in. A sequel years in the making, Dying Light 2 has been delayed several times now, painting a troubling picture of what’s been going on behind the scenes.
It’s a similar cycle to Cyberpunk 2077, the fallout of which seems to be fueling many of the concerns behind Dying Light 2. Game Rant recently got to go hands-on with Dying Light 2 during a press event, spending about four hours with a work-in-progress PC build. While that’s not enough to draw any final conclusions, Dying Light 2 seems to be heading in the right direction.
Set years after the first game, Dying Light 2 takes place in a “modern dark ages,” which inspires the design of the game's characters and its world. The remnants of the old world are still scattered around with most NPCs decked in makeshift clothing cobbled together out of roadsigns and scraps of cloth. The exceptions to that are the Peacekeepers, Dying Light 2’s militant faction, and protagonist Aidan Caldwell himself, who manages to piece together a robust arsenal of gear. Even the building design emphasizes the modern dark ages aesthetic, as captured resources are transformed into bizarrely blended post-collapse fortifications that resemble medieval forts.
Building on Dying Light’s Parkour Foundation
The Dying Light 2 demo starts in a rundown part of an old city district with plenty of multi-story buildings, open streets, and parkour objects to jump on. It’s immediately striking how evolved Dying Light 2's parkour feels compared to the original. It's a lot floatier and forgiving, affording more freedom as players traverse the city at the expense of feeling a bit less grounded. That's not to say that feeling grounded was always a positive, though, as the first Dying Light's parkour could get a bit monotonous.
Dying Light 2 feels more like a playground than its predecessor, peppering the landscape with monkey bars, climbable surfaces, and traversable obstacles. Instead of hitting the jump button to move from one object to the next in a straight line, Dying Light 2 gives players more freedom to get around the city however they see fit, and that variation goes a long way.
That freedom to explore is supported by the perks offered on the Parkour skill tree. With enough experience, players can unlock the ability to wall run, scramble up higher vertical walls, and chain leaps together more efficiently. It’s all in the name of fun, to the point that it feels like Aidan has reduced gravity. That's perhaps Dying Light 2's biggest improvement, though, as the parkour is radically more engaging than the original's and the world has been designed to support that.
Most importantly, parkour and combat are now more closely intertwined. Parkour is an essential part of being effective while hacking away at enemies, and the environments certainly have been designed with that in mind. Areas with world bosses in them tended to have ample climbable surfaces, allowing players to reach better angles and fight in more interesting ways, like leaping from a roof, wall running for a few moments, and then slamming down on an enemy.
Day and Night Redone
One of the biggest issues with Dying Light was how it handle the day and night cycle. While players were more or less free to explore during the day, the night was host to deadlier zombies that were difficult to handle. Apparently, players would often simply skip the night cycle rather than play through it, something that Techland wants to address in Dying Light 2. Players will be encouraged to spend more time soaking in the day and night cycle this time around, as some areas are more dangerous to explore during the day and other objectives have to be completed at night.
During the day, Dying Light 2 will pit players against human enemies, and zombified foes at night. The ways the world interacts with that cycle aren't particularly innovative, though they can lead to some interesting moments. For instance, at one point during our demo, we stumbled into a room full of hibernating zombies during the day, which was next to empty when we returned at night. While that trick will likely only work once or twice, it did a much better job at creating an atmospheric tension than the first Dying Light ever had.
Dying Light's Old Habits Rise From the Dead
There are a few returning elements in Dying Light 2 that were contentious in the first game and haven't shaken that stigma in the time since. This time around, the stamina system doesn't feel quite as oppressive as Dying Light's, at least not for the build we played. The same goes for weapon durability, though the process of repairing weapons is a bit different. Instead of using simple components, players have to use mods to restore durability, which can take considerable resources.
By the endgame, players will likely have a big enough stamina pool that it won't matter, but that still leaves a significant portion of Dying Light 2's runtime where players have to put up with a system that feels antiquated in 2021. Weapon durability is less of a concern with so many new options lying around, though it certainly still has the potential to be annoying. The mechanics aren't necessarily dealbreakers, but it's easy to imagine Dying Light 2 being better off without them.
Based on the demo, Dying Light 2's parkour and combat overhauls make it feel more frenetic and entertaining than the original. Plus, the "modern dark ages" aesthetic works well, giving it some unique visuals. Fans can't be faulted for any doubts now that Dying Light 2 has been delayed a few times, but those delays seem to be worth it so far.
Dying Light 2 is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Game Rant was provided with hotel and travel accommodations to attend this event.