Summary:

Really awesome parkour, feels great 99% of the time
Played on hard co-op; difficulty is unbalanced and broken
Story is predictable and cheesy; it is at its worst when it takes itself seriously
Music is not bad for the most part; it sometimes adds and takes away from what you're doing
Still looks visually pleasing despite its age
Skill trees for agility and survivor are cool
Combat is completely broken and terribly designed; revolves around spamming the same moves
Crafting system for weapons is made useless by DLC creep
Crafting system doesn't allow for quickly crafting a lot of things

Dying Light 1 is bad, but the freedom the movement system offers you alone can make this game worth it. Buy on an extremely heavy sale; third party sellers sell keys for dirt cheap. I bought the platinum edition for 6$. 23.4 hours for 100% main story and 35/44 side quest (the rest are just fetch quests)
6/10; Traversal and map alone makes it worth it, but a flawed combat and crafting system can really hurt the experience. Best experiencied in Co-op.


Traversal:

Parkour is incredibly smooth and fluid. You regain stamina by climbing up onto things, which is really good so you can just run these really long lines and never stop going. Abusing the little oversights and bugs in this system is really rewarding and allows you to do some crazy ♥♥♥♥. Vaulting over your co-op partner can let you reach insane heights and do crazy stuff. It's so fun and so fluid; easily the best part of the game. Only issue I have is that the sections where you're just climbing up aren't fun at all, like antenna towers. The routes aren't totally clear, the routes are always super linear, and it's really just not fun to climb up stuff.
TL;DR Best part of the game

Map:

The first area feels quite vast and expansive with tons of stuff to do. It always feels like you're somewhere you haven't been before, but manages to avoid looking completely same-y. It's impressive. You can easily spend 20-30 hours just in the first area, and it's only half of the game. The map is intelligently designed to allow you to create routes in the buildings and streets and do really awesome parkour. Loot respawns after a day, which can easily be abused (to the game's deficit)

Story:

The story is cheesy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that is at its best when it doesn't take itself seriously and has fun. Any time it tries to be serious, it utterly fails. Dialogue is often cut short with weird cutscene timings, regardless of who the host is, and voice actor performances do leave something to be desired. Main character is the most self-insert self-insert I've ever seen. Final boss is a QTE.

Crafting:

You can craft in this game, right? So by buying the DLC, one specific DLC gives you access to a craft called Lupus and another craft called the Vindicator. Lupus requires a Short Knife (specifically that; not super easy to find) and some basic items that you probably already have in your inventory just by looting. By crafting Lupus, your damage on your Short Knife goes from 60 to 560. Then you can add stat boosts and upgrades on top of that to push it up to 660. It has a high handling stat, so you can use it really quickly and shred literally anything except a Goon. There are no level requirements on crafts, so you can literally get this day one, and it's the only weapon you SHOULD use because all of the other melee crafts are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ besides Inmate's Kiss which is an even cheaper Lupus but does less damage.
Another craft is the Vindicator, which is a simple craft for a revolver which makes it instakill goons with a single headshot. No durabililty on pistols, so I will use it until the end of the game. Great design.
It's way too easy to never run out of basic crafting materials as well, which should really not be a thing. You also can't craft multiple things at a time; it has to be one at a time at a set quantity.
TLDR Crafting system is made useless by DLC weapons.

Combat:
Difficulty at least on Hard Co-op is literally insane at times. It's so unbalanced across the campaign it's crazy. The first sidequest fight vs some bandits in a safe house is extremely difficult. Combat hinges on abusing certain skills to gain easy kills. Actual melee combat with weapons is basically forgotten. Human enemies are like weak Marauders from Doom Eternal in that they throw axes infinitely if you're too far away and they don't get hitstunned so any melee combat is always the two of you trading blows. Latter one is a weak analogy but you get the gist; they're annoying, and not in a good way like Eternal does it. You're fighting groups of these guys, sometimes ones with guns, so you need a gun or ranged weapon to counter them unless you're able to use cover and MAYBE get in close before they mow you down. DLC crafts like Lupus trivalize this stuff though, but at a base level it's flawed, and then gets even more flawed through use of Lupus and the Vindicator, and pistols not losing durability.
There's no parry or blocking either with your weapons. You have to get a mid-game skill in order to use a shield, and then you have to have an inventory slot taken up by a shield. Why? Human enemies can block with their weapons; I should be able to do the same.
Alternatively, You can just grapple them and then finish them, but that's skill spam and really dumb. Why does no one seem to talk about this?

Exploding enemies and environment objects are really dumb and their timing can be weird. Boomers can and will walk around corners and instakill you without you even having the chance to do anything. Some are placed in spots that are DESIGNED to actually instakill you. Zombies can accidentally set off explosions and instakill you. It's so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

The damage required to kill basic enemies is absurd.
TL;DR Combat sucks hard.

DLC:
Got through part of a DLC and my buddy and I lost interest. We probably just got burned out, no fault against the DLC itself.

Misc:
Arena fight is absurdly hard and nothing around it is remotely close in difficulty.

Summary: Really awesome parkour, feels great 99% of the time Played on hard co-op; difficulty is unbalanced and broken Story is predictable and cheesy; it is at its worst when it takes itself seriously Music is not bad for the most part; it sometimes adds and takes away from what you're doing Still looks visually pleasing despite its age Skill trees for agility and survivor are cool Combat is completely broken and terribly designed; revolves around spamming the same moves Crafting system for weapons is made useless by DLC creep Crafting system doesn't allow for quickly crafting a lot of things Dying Light 1 is bad, but the freedom the movement system offers you alone can make this game worth it. Buy on an extremely heavy sale; third party sellers sell keys for dirt cheap. I bought the platinum edition for 6$. 23.4 hours for 100% main story and 35/44 side quest (the rest are just fetch quests) 6/10; Traversal and map alone makes it worth it, but a flawed combat and crafting system can really hurt the experience. Best experiencied in Co-op. Traversal: Parkour is incredibly smooth and fluid. You regain stamina by climbing up onto things, which is really good so you can just run these really long lines and never stop going. Abusing the little oversights and bugs in this system is really rewarding and allows you to do some crazy shit. Vaulting over your co-op partner can let you reach insane heights and do crazy stuff. It's so fun and so fluid; easily the best part of the game. Only issue I have is that the sections where you're just climbing up aren't fun at all, like antenna towers. The routes aren't totally clear, the routes are always super linear, and it's really just not fun to climb up stuff. TL;DR Best part of the game Map: The first area feels quite vast and expansive with tons of stuff to do. It always feels like you're somewhere you haven't been before, but manages to avoid looking completely same-y. It's impressive. You can easily spend 20-30 hours just in the first area, and it's only half of the game. The map is intelligently designed to allow you to create routes in the buildings and streets and do really awesome parkour. Loot respawns after a day, which can easily be abused (to the game's deficit) Story: The story is cheesy bullshit that is at its best when it doesn't take itself seriously and has fun. Any time it tries to be serious, it utterly fails. Dialogue is often cut short with weird cutscene timings, regardless of who the host is, and voice actor performances do leave something to be desired. Main character is the most self-insert self-insert I've ever seen. Final boss is a QTE. Crafting: You can craft in this game, right? So by buying the DLC, one specific DLC gives you access to a craft called Lupus and another craft called the Vindicator. Lupus requires a Short Knife (specifically that; not super easy to find) and some basic items that you probably already have in your inventory just by looting. By crafting Lupus, your damage on your Short Knife goes from 60 to 560. Then you can add stat boosts and upgrades on top of that to push it up to 660. It has a high handling stat, so you can use it really quickly and shred literally anything except a Goon. There are no level requirements on crafts, so you can literally get this day one, and it's the only weapon you SHOULD use because all of the other melee crafts are dogshit besides Inmate's Kiss which is an even cheaper Lupus but does less damage. Another craft is the Vindicator, which is a simple craft for a revolver which makes it instakill goons with a single headshot. No durabililty on pistols, so I will use it until the end of the game. Great design. It's way too easy to never run out of basic crafting materials as well, which should really not be a thing. You also can't craft multiple things at a time; it has to be one at a time at a set quantity. TLDR Crafting system is made useless by DLC weapons. Combat: Difficulty at least on Hard Co-op is literally insane at times. It's so unbalanced across the campaign it's crazy. The first sidequest fight vs some bandits in a safe house is extremely difficult. Combat hinges on abusing certain skills to gain easy kills. Actual melee combat with weapons is basically forgotten. Human enemies are like weak Marauders from Doom Eternal in that they throw axes infinitely if you're too far away and they don't get hitstunned so any melee combat is always the two of you trading blows. Latter one is a weak analogy but you get the gist; they're annoying, and not in a good way like Eternal does it. You're fighting groups of these guys, sometimes ones with guns, so you need a gun or ranged weapon to counter them unless you're able to use cover and MAYBE get in close before they mow you down. DLC crafts like Lupus trivalize this stuff though, but at a base level it's flawed, and then gets even more flawed through use of Lupus and the Vindicator, and pistols not losing durability. There's no parry or blocking either with your weapons. You have to get a mid-game skill in order to use a shield, and then you have to have an inventory slot taken up by a shield. Why? Human enemies can block with their weapons; I should be able to do the same. Alternatively, You can just grapple them and then finish them, but that's skill spam and really dumb. Why does no one seem to talk about this? Exploding enemies and environment objects are really dumb and their timing can be weird. Boomers can and will walk around corners and instakill you without you even having the chance to do anything. Some are placed in spots that are DESIGNED to actually instakill you. Zombies can accidentally set off explosions and instakill you. It's so dogshit. The damage required to kill basic enemies is absurd. TL;DR Combat sucks hard. DLC: Got through part of a DLC and my buddy and I lost interest. We probably just got burned out, no fault against the DLC itself. Misc: Arena fight is absurdly hard and nothing around it is remotely close in difficulty.