Dying Light 2 was a game almost 7 years in the making, designed to exceed its predecessor in every possible way, and yet it fails to live up to that conceit. Dying Light 1 was a surprise hit, with DLC and add ons to spare but this game struggles to hit the same high notes. The game itself does several things extremely well but fails in numerous other areas and, consequently, the game feels like just another diversion, rather than a special experience. While Techland might fix the game in time with updates and DLCs, I and many gamers won't be around to see the improvements come to fruition.

(Unusually long loading time)...

To start, the game is attractive but not stunning. Lighting through the UE 4 engine is particularly good. Textures range from excellent to blurry mush and most 3D character models are par for the course for a game that's been made in the past 4-5 years (i.e. they're serviceable but not stunning). Movement animations are acceptable, except for the laughably bad swimming animations. Facial and behavior animations are poor and closer to the original game's rather than a modern, 2022 AAA title.

(A grating cut scene)...

Character designs are ok, but not terribly inspired. Some characters have particularly charismatic designs like Hakon and Lawan but most just exist as typical game filler fare. Zombie designs are also serviceable but not particularly gruesome or fearsome except for the muscular volatiles. The city of Villedor is attractive and entrancing at times. More often than not the city's designs simply make little to no sense. Villedor feels less like a city most of the time and more like some giant playground sandbox.

(Another obnoxious cutscene)...

The game's title track and soundtrack are *excellent*. Some of the in-Bazaar or advertisement tunes are catchy but ill-suited to the game's identity. Voice acting ranges from great (Lawan, Aiden etc) to cartoonishly poor. The game has a large, expansive world, with tons of explorable buildings and locales, ranging from cathedrals, towers, underground facilities, as well as cramped city streets. Unfortunately, most areas are reused again and again throughout the game and once you've seen one area, you'll likely see it rehashed again.

(Even more pointless black-screened loading)...

Despite the reasonably large world and competent, if unspectacular graphics, the game demands monstrous system performance. Nothing short of a 3080 or 6800 XT will produce great framerate at higher resolutions. Despite running Resident Evil Village at 4K ultra and 60 FPS, I could barely run this game at 45-50 FPS at 4K/High. This is surprising since the game looks worse in every conceivable way from characters, to world models, to textures...you name it. As badly as this game runs on console, it hardly runs better on PC.

(Another grating cutscene)...

Despite its poor optimization, Dying Light 2's greatest sins stem from its awful plot and a miserable litany of bugs. The story focuses on Aiden a pilgrim that enters Villedor looking for his sister. What transpires soon after is a cocktail of cringe worthy brother-sister flashbacks, a wholly unimpressive villain, mixed with an endless parade of insipid, asinine MMO-like side quests that completely obliterate any player's interest in the game's outcome. The game's bugs are legion, with game breaking bugs appearing almost each time I started the game.
Bugs ranged from post cutscene black screen application panics, map locations being reset after restarting the game, key press bind becoming locked until a restart, character glitching, and more.

(Another unusually long black-screened loading screen)...

In fact, the game is so buggy that my friend and I had to restart the game half a dozen times just to fix issues the game had developed during gameplay. More embarrassingly, Dying Light 2 has an obsession with peppering a never-ending stream of constant cutscenes at the player, that often take forever to recover from and that obliterate gameplay momentum. It doesn't help that the last leg of the game probably constitutes more than 20% cutscene. In an open-world game, this is painful.

(Two characters blather to each other like statues)...

Why am I recommending this game if it has poor performance, maudlin graphics, a stream of game-breaking bugs and weak plot? The parkour in the game is still stellar. Exploration does still abound and when you manage to find a way to get to some isolated spot on the top of a skyscraper or within some other location, you feel accomplishment. Melee combat is well executed, even if guns were inexplicably removed. Acrobatic combat is well done and a variety of updates, upgrades and specializations abound.

(The game's action spikes...so of course its time for a momentum-crushing cutscene)....

Additionally, the game can be great fun with a friend, either as you both work together to clear zombies (quite gorily), or whether you laugh at each other as the glitches and plot points keep coming. Just don't expect replayability or an end game once the main storyline is completed. The game upticks the difficulty level and hints at better loot but the loot never comes and there are almost no areas left to explore once you complete the main quest. Maybe the DLC will change that but the decision to push Level 9 characters/gear when almost no end game exists is puzzling at best.

(Oops...game panics and your character is stuck in a crouch animation...better restart!)...

Still, the co-op components are fun and the parkour and melee combat are sublime, making Dying Light 2 a worthy pick if you can get on a deep sale. At full price however, this game is dead on arrival.

Worth a look.

7/10.

Dying Light 2 was a game almost 7 years in the making, designed to exceed its predecessor in every possible way, and yet it fails to live up to that conceit. Dying Light 1 was a surprise hit, with DLC and add ons to spare but this game struggles to hit the same high notes. The game itself does several things extremely well but fails in numerous other areas and, consequently, the game feels like just another diversion, rather than a special experience. While Techland might fix the game in time with updates and DLCs, I and many gamers won't be around to see the improvements come to fruition. (Unusually long loading time)... To start, the game is attractive but not stunning. Lighting through the UE 4 engine is particularly good. Textures range from excellent to blurry mush and most 3D character models are par for the course for a game that's been made in the past 4-5 years (i.e. they're serviceable but not stunning). Movement animations are acceptable, except for the laughably bad swimming animations. Facial and behavior animations are poor and closer to the original game's rather than a modern, 2022 AAA title. (A grating cut scene)... Character designs are ok, but not terribly inspired. Some characters have particularly charismatic designs like Hakon and Lawan but most just exist as typical game filler fare. Zombie designs are also serviceable but not particularly gruesome or fearsome except for the muscular volatiles. The city of Villedor is attractive and entrancing at times. More often than not the city's designs simply make little to no sense. Villedor feels less like a city most of the time and more like some giant playground sandbox. (Another obnoxious cutscene)... The game's title track and soundtrack are *excellent*. Some of the in-Bazaar or advertisement tunes are catchy but ill-suited to the game's identity. Voice acting ranges from great (Lawan, Aiden etc) to cartoonishly poor. The game has a large, expansive world, with tons of explorable buildings and locales, ranging from cathedrals, towers, underground facilities, as well as cramped city streets. Unfortunately, most areas are reused again and again throughout the game and once you've seen one area, you'll likely see it rehashed again. (Even more pointless black-screened loading)... Despite the reasonably large world and competent, if unspectacular graphics, the game demands monstrous system performance. Nothing short of a 3080 or 6800 XT will produce great framerate at higher resolutions. Despite running Resident Evil Village at 4K ultra and 60 FPS, I could barely run this game at 45-50 FPS at 4K/High. This is surprising since the game looks worse in every conceivable way from characters, to world models, to textures...you name it. As badly as this game runs on console, it hardly runs better on PC. (Another grating cutscene)... Despite its poor optimization, Dying Light 2's greatest sins stem from its awful plot and a miserable litany of bugs. The story focuses on Aiden a pilgrim that enters Villedor looking for his sister. What transpires soon after is a cocktail of cringe worthy brother-sister flashbacks, a wholly unimpressive villain, mixed with an endless parade of insipid, asinine MMO-like side quests that completely obliterate any player's interest in the game's outcome. The game's bugs are legion, with game breaking bugs appearing almost each time I started the game. Bugs ranged from post cutscene black screen application panics, map locations being reset after restarting the game, key press bind becoming locked until a restart, character glitching, and more. (Another unusually long black-screened loading screen)... In fact, the game is so buggy that my friend and I had to restart the game half a dozen times just to fix issues the game had developed during gameplay. More embarrassingly, Dying Light 2 has an obsession with peppering a never-ending stream of constant cutscenes at the player, that often take forever to recover from and that obliterate gameplay momentum. It doesn't help that the last leg of the game probably constitutes more than 20% cutscene. In an open-world game, this is painful. (Two characters blather to each other like statues)... Why am I recommending this game if it has poor performance, maudlin graphics, a stream of game-breaking bugs and weak plot? The parkour in the game is still stellar. Exploration does still abound and when you manage to find a way to get to some isolated spot on the top of a skyscraper or within some other location, you feel accomplishment. Melee combat is well executed, even if guns were inexplicably removed. Acrobatic combat is well done and a variety of updates, upgrades and specializations abound. (The game's action spikes...so of course its time for a momentum-crushing cutscene).... Additionally, the game can be great fun with a friend, either as you both work together to clear zombies (quite gorily), or whether you laugh at each other as the glitches and plot points keep coming. Just don't expect replayability or an end game once the main storyline is completed. The game upticks the difficulty level and hints at better loot but the loot never comes and there are almost no areas left to explore once you complete the main quest. Maybe the DLC will change that but the decision to push Level 9 characters/gear when almost no end game exists is puzzling at best. (Oops...game panics and your character is stuck in a crouch animation...better restart!)... Still, the co-op components are fun and the parkour and melee combat are sublime, making Dying Light 2 a worthy pick if you can get on a deep sale. At full price however, this game is dead on arrival. Worth a look. 7/10.