Dying Light 2 Stay Human Review

Release Date: February 4, 2022

Developer: Techland

Series: Dying Light

Engine: C-Engine

Publisher: Techland

Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows

Introduction: Dying Light 2 Stay Human is a game I played back in February (2022) that I made 368 gameplay videos for Jason’s Video Games Source. With that in mind this review opinion piece is based off those 368 gameplay videos. Think of this as a off the top of my head review. If you have to know this instant if Dying Light 2 is better than it’s predecessor. It’s not. Review done! Log off! Jokes aside I hold 2015’s Dying Light as a generational sleeper hit of sorts. My standards were set pretty high from the first game but that’s not to say Dying Light Stay Human isn’t good, because it really is.

Presentation: Production values were decent. I mean come on Rosario Dawson is one of the main NPCs afterall. Dying Light 2 Stay Human also had less bugs than Dying Light. There are more gameplay mechanics, better sound design, cutscenes and NPC dialogue tree sequences and better quests. Dying Light 2 Stay Human has way more content than it’s predecessor with fun easter eggs scattered about it’s open world. For an open world zombie game of this magnitude presentation was good but not great.

Story: Goodbye Kyle Crane and hello Aiden Caldwell. Better yet Chris Redfield from Resident Evil (he’s an easter egg). To make a long story short Aiden is a pilgrim of the zombie apocalypse who’s in search of his love Mia Caldwell daughter of main baddie Waltz. Along the way you as the player will come across cities with factions tied to them. Each faction including side missions have mini-stories tied into the big story of Aiden finding Mia.

Gameplay: Dying Light Stay Human is an open world zombie slaying wonderland. You can dropkick zombies into the sky, para-glide, slice and dice the Infected into smithereens. Aiden (protagonist) has a mini RPG leveling up system that improves all sorts of his gameplay mechanics. You can upgrade via XP points his combat, traversal, crafting skills just to name a few. Infected (zombies) range from harmless Biters, Drowners, Volatiles, Revenants, Howlers, Banshees and many others.

Each infected zombie has a purpose often becoming more aggressive at nightfall. You as Aiden Caldwell kill infected zombies with various hand held weapons and useful gadgets that are up-gradable as well customizable. The open world itself has NPCs that pop up giving you side quests. One thing this game doesn’t lack is side quest content.

Graphics/Visuals: I played Dying Light 2 on my Playstation 5 which had various options ranging from ray tracing, quality and performance mode. Ray tracing mode looked the best but ran like hammered shit. I spent most of my playthrough in performance mode which was a smooth 60fps. Quality mode was a small step down visually compared to raytracing mode but had a stable 30 fps atleast.

One thing is for sure each mode did what it said. It depends on how you want to play. I would have loved a 4k 60fps mode but oh well. Dying Light 2 is a decent looking game being open world and all with so much going on. Just don’t compare this to say Ratchet & Clank PS5 or some other visually stunning game. I’d say Dying Light 2 is average looking at best when describing visuals.

Sound/Music: I really enjoyed the music in Dying Light 2. It has that straight-up somber dread dispair tone that I enjoyed about the first game. Rosario Dawson is the big ticket voice actress who plays Lawan. Bottom line she was good. Voice actor who played Hakon was also decent. Writing for these characters could have been better.

Final Verdict: Dying Light 2 is a really good follow up to Dying Light (which I loved). Is it better? No. As of 7/2/2020. Dying Light 2 should be discounted or maybe playable on a service for free? Either way, if you can buy this brand new for 19.99 today buy it. It’s a steal. I enjoyed it’s open world zombie combat, traversal and it’s quests had some depth. Story was meh though. Visuals were okay. You can play this in coop and experience various story choices over. Content wise this game is stacked.

7/10