Dying Light 2: Stay Human is certainly one of the most anticipated games among those coming out in these first months of 2022. The title developed by Techland appears on the shelves after a creative journey made of ups and downs, with the announcement in style during E3 2018, only to lose pieces along its path. As the most attentive will remember, in the initial stages of the communication of the project the focus was mainly on Chris Avellone, famous figure in the world of video games for contributing to the development of numerous role-playing games such as Fallout New Vegas, Star Wars KOTOR, Planescape Torment and many others.
Precisely for this reason, his removal for harassment and the constant postponements on the project seemed to portend a bad fate for Dying Light 2: Stay Human but, fortunately, this was not the case. We would like to clarify one thing before going into more details: the game is definitely not perfect, on the contrary, there are several gaps that would have been better taken care of in the development phase, however the whole system set up by the team is very solid, amuses and entertains, extending very well the formula of its predecessor. It is probably not, at least in our view, the title that will change your life, but Dying Light 2: Stay Human certainly does not make these claims. One way or another, you will be able to stay glued to your peripheral from start to finish, always stimulated and engaged between missions and genuine exploration.
Discovering Villedor
Forget the former Dying Light, or rather, forget a part of it. As it is obvious that, despite an unpublished story, Stay Human exploits the narrative bases of the first chapter. However, in this adventure you will take on the role of Aiden, on a more personal mission than ever. You will soon discover that infection and treatment, very important aspects of the first chapter, are hardly taken into consideration here. In Dying Light 2: Stay Human the main character’s goal is to find his missing sister, and to reach it he will be truly willing to do anything. The entire events of the adventure are based on this incipit, considering that in the background of this family drama there are thick plots of deceptions and wars. The search for her sister will lead Aiden to Villedor, a city as big as it is difficult to manage.
In the chaos generated by the infection, different factions try to take control of the situation in their own way, moved more or less by the same ideal but pursued in a diametrically opposite way. In addition to the almost insignificant presence of the bandits, we find the Peacekeepers and the Resistance. Needless to say, the former tend to maintain control with brute force, an almost fascist dictatorship that forces the survivors to a strict regulation, the latter are more in favor of the community, in fact the goal is to create safe places where people can resume living in apparent “normality”. Sure, they too use violence to maintain control, but only when really forced.
Basically the game will shape your path based on the choices made during the campaign and every time you make a decision you will be siding more towards one faction than towards the other. Each of the two can help you reach your goal, but which path to take is up to you. Aiden is a pilgrim, a person used to traveling outside the walls. Precisely for this reason, his neutral status will allow him to become the perfect infiltrator for both factions. Regardless of the purpose, your purpose will be far greater than you imagine. Siding on one side or the other will not only change some missions, but at a certain point in the adventure you will also significantly change some main elements of the experience itself. Offering help to one faction over another will not result in a simple expansion of power over the territory for your allies, but it will also substantially change the very structure of the area. While giving Peacekeepers a territory will allow you to have more environmental options in fighting the infected, helping the Resistance will grant you a greater range of options for parkour and a level design that will make it easier for you to escape in case of pursuit.
To see the real weight of the choices you should actually do a second run, but at present it seemed to us that, as usual in this type of games, there are really few choices that drastically change events. However, it is impossible to deny that our decisions have real weight in the game, more or less marked according to the cases. In one way or another you can shape your city and create a real playground. Precisely by virtue of what has just been said, the setting is an integral part of the adventure: each neighborhood has its own peculiarities and its own setting, and jumping left and right is so much fun that it doesn’t matter if every now and then you feel like you feel déjà-vu as you enter an abandoned house or shop. Net of this, however, there is a small applause to the level design, designed specifically to take full advantage of parkour mechanics and capable of offering the player different possibilities to reach the same place. Big mistakes excepted, there is always more than one escape route available, you just have to catch it on the fly. This makes the game always dynamic and fun, as you will always be on the move in one way or another.
This is also due to the open world, which will distract you a lot. Obviously we are not at the level of Red Dead Redemption 2plus some activities turn out to be quite repetitive after a while, but all in all the rewards are good, so there appears to be a great balance between give and take. The open world created by Techland it is essentially giant, full of side missions and small events in real time. All this, although not in an exceptional way, makes the world credible and fun. At night then all this acquires another flavor, as you will become the favorite prey of the different types of zombies out there. Stealth will be essential and, if you are seen, try to escape as quickly as possible. The nocturnal phases are probably the funniest and most terrifying onesand here too Dying Light 2: Stay Human improves on what its predecessor did. If in the first chapter the nocturnal phases were almost marginal, here they are an integral part of the adventure. At night you can also find otherwise inaccessible missions, as well as some scripted events, random encounters and much more.
Between somersaults and severed heads
The range of solutions that make up the gameplay of Dying Light 2: Stay Human it is very large, even if punctuated by some imperfections that break all the magic a bit. Let’s start with the naked and raw combat system, therefore basically what in fact represents the backbone from which the entire play system is unraveling. Users who have played the first chapter will immediately find themselves at home, since in a nutshell nothing has changed. But now comes the beauty: the protagonist can get experience points by performing various actions that can then be used in the branches of skills: in practice skill three is divided into combat and parkour, you just need to do the same things to increase the level. Character growth can obviously be influenced by external factors, but all in all it comes naturally enough. Mainly it depends on personal tastes, you will decide whether to focus on a protagonist ready to fight or more versatile in terms of movement. Although the changes are substantial, with a little commitment and patience you will be able to unlock all the skills.
The good things just said, however, are in contrast to a less than perfect combat system. The artificial intelligence will always try to surround you, especially in the most chaotic moments, but the enemies you will encounter will always approach one by one. This means that it is enough to be covered behind to have full control of the situation or, alternatively, you just need to spin like tops, hit and run away. This leads to a loss of depth to the combat-system, but everything remains pleasant and honestly it didn’t seem so problematic to us. Fortunately, in addition to the aforementioned skills, they think about breaking a hypothetical monotony even gadgets and weapon modifications. Making a weapon particularly effective with damage from fire, poison and so on proved to be simple and intuitive, you just need to have the relative modification that will be applicable several times even on different weapons, without having to worry about consumption. Body equipment also has various functions, but basically everything is very balanced. As for the defensive side, in fact, choosing the right clothing will help you based on the mission, so keep this in mind.
You will be able to create disposable items such as Molotov cocktails, throwing daggers and more, the general inventory will grow more and more as you progress through the adventure. Although the progression occurs quite quickly and naturally, always being in possession of stocks with different items will be essentialbecause you will soon realize that good preparation for missions, especially those at night, can really make the difference between life and death.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human, our conclusions
Dying Light 2: Stay Human on the technical side he defends himself very well. Of course, he does not have iconic views or breathtaking views, but his work does it well especially in closed places or in certain settings. The dubbing does not have the Italian language in the audio and even in English it appears a bit fluctuating, as well as the care of certain NPCs. However, the work done is of excellent workmanship, and our test on PS5 took place without particular drops in the frame rate. During the adventure we found a potentially very annoying bug but which, fortunately, resolved itself, while for the rest we saw small things like NPCs that came out of nowhere and nothing more. The team, however, was keen to point out that these problems will be fixed already on day one with a dedicated patch. Even the sound turned out to be of good quality and the music did justice to the environments, but even here we feel like not to report anything particularly memorable.
In conclusion, how is this Dying Light 2: Stay Human? Giving a judgment that is reduced to a simple vote is a bit reductive, because on balance we are faced with a game thought and finished in a certain way. The title is consistent with its nature from start to finish, improving the good things done by its predecessor and filing some defects. The story does not excite, in the end it is very simple and more functional than anything else, certainly we are not talking about a particularly complex plot. However, some events and missions are very impactful and capable of making us reflect; In short, when the plot decides to push, it does so at the right pace. The gameplay at the end is also enjoyable, varied and allows you to create your ideal survivor. So, in the end, do we recommend the purchase? Dying Light 2: Stay Human it’s a great game, this is undoubted, despite some uncertainty. The title developed by Techland kept us glued to the screen, and this is enough to reward it.
#Dying #Light #Stay #Human #Review #apocalypse #zombie #parkour