Dying Light set a precedent for zombie games, as the genre was becoming stale and many games (aside from the juggernaut that is Left 4 Dead) didn't really bring anything new to the genre. Becoming one of the best zombie games to date, Dying Light brought new life to an otherwise tired genre. Adding the parkour mechanics that borrowed elements from games like Mirror's Edge and having the day and night cycle affect gameplay made Dying Light stand out. While other games within the genre made players fight through hordes, Dying Light gave players the freedom to run or fight and made the choice their own while being set in an open world.
It wasn't just the gameplay that was refreshing, but the support from the developers of Dying Light helped keep the game more relevant. From releasing content for many years after release to heavy mod support, Dying Light was such a great experience for players who play zombie games and even those who don't. Now with the release of Dying Light 2: Stay Human, and after many delays, the developers seem to build upon that perfect template and make the sequel even better. Here are just some of the things in Dying Light 2, that are done better than the first game.
5 Leveling Up
The leveling system is a little different in Dying Light 2 than it is in the first game. In Dying Light, the overall level of the player goes up when they spend skill points. However, in Dying Light 2, the more the player runs and does parkour tricks or fights well, the more those two attributes go up.
So instead of four traits, Dying Light 2 only has two for players to focus on. When the player gets a parkour skill point, for example, they can only spend it on the parkour skill tree. This allows players to spend less time in the menu figuring out how to allocate points since the choices are clearer and easier to make. Leveling up is more rewarding because it's based on the actions the player does as opposed to it being a reward after a mission. If players want the level up the combat aspect, Dying Light 2 forces players to be aggressive if they want to be stronger.
4 Night Time
One of the best features in Dying Light is how the day and night impacted the world: during the day the zombies weren't as aggressive, players could easily mow down zombies if they were decently leveled up, and at night the more dangerous zombies come out, and the normal zombies became a little stronger. Players should try doing things at night — it's exhilerating and adds more stress, but escaping offers more rewards and faster leveling.
In Dying Light 2 that aspect is pretty much the same, however, the main character faces an immunity issue that can mess with things. At night, players have a limited amount of time they can spend out unless they've obtained the inhibitors that increase max health, stamina, or immunity. If players collect three of each, they can max out all those qualities.
Once players have leveled up their immunity, they can stay out at night longer and level up faster since everything is doubled. While at the start of the game, players have a decent window during the night, it just makes it more exciting and more engaging for players.
3 Fluid Parkour
When it comes to parkour, players won't notice much of a change till late at the start of Dying Light 2 because they haven't leveled up yet or haven't spent the skill points, so the parkour between the two games may look the same. But, as players level up more they'll start to notice how less clunky the parkour is and how much easier is to navigate throughout the world. Dying Light's platforming system was surprisingly well done, which is another reason why it was made even better in the sequel.
Early on, players can get skills that make life easier, like auto grabbing a ledge if their jump misses. Once players progress through the story and learn more moves, moving around in the world becomes more fluid to the point where doing parkour will be second nature.
2 The Map
The city of Harran in Dying Light was initially medium size, but as the new content came out, it grew. The game became more fun as new areas were implemented, especially since many of them posed more difficult challenges to the player. In Dying Light 2, players wanted a bigger map for the base game, and Techland delivered, with the map being much bigger than that of Dying Light.
Having a bigger map can have its issues. Many thought Assassin's Creed Odyssey was over-bloated — which is a fair criticism, because it can distract the player. In Dying Light 2 players may be worried about this. However, in this case, it helps, because the scope of the story is expanded, and the world feels more alive. In both cases, smaller and bigger worlds can work for a game depending on the context. In Dying Light 2, it works because the game rewards the player for exploring the large world.
1 The Graphics
This point may not mean much, but if players are playing on older consoles like the launch Xbox One or PS4, they'll notice how much of a jump it is from Dying Light. Much of the animations look much better even on the older systems. Of course, Dying Light 2 looks amazing on the newer systems, but the fact that players can experience almost the same graphical power on consoles that are almost a decade old shows that the developers really put in the work.
Of course, on the newer consoles that use ray tracing, Dying Light 2 pops much more and the colors, reflections, and other small details make the game look truly next-gen. Everything about Dying Light 2 graphically looks better across the board.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is available now for the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS5, and PC.