After years of waiting, Dying Light 2 is here, and although it struggles in some areas, it's a satisfying sequel to developer Techland's 2015 undead hack and slasher. A larger, more vertical world filled with seedy factions teems with possibility and pulls the player back and forth in a moral tug of war. Players fill the shoes of Aiden, an infected pilgrim on a lifelong search for his sister, Mia, who he was separated from as a child.
In order to get the answers he seeks, Aiden must weed through the chaos brewing in The City and work with feuding factions. Since Aiden is playing both sides of the field, he is inevitably forced to make choices that define his allegiances. The presentation of Dying Light 2's branching storyline is handled expertly, with the weight and pressure of choices looming while also avoiding stereotypical absolutist answers. It's almost always difficult to know what the "right" choice is in Dying Light 2; there is no obvious good or bad in this world, making it difficult to project the bigger impact decisions and people may have. These choices not only impact relationships with characters and the way quests play out, but also how the world behaves.
If Aiden sides with the militarized Peacekeepers, they'll keep the streets safer from other threats, but also make things feel oppressive. If the player sides with survivors, the rooftops will bustle with crops and feel more lively, but the streets won't be protected from bandits. Even though these choices do have an effect and are presented in an engaging manner, the significance of their consequences feel minute in the grand scheme of things. The consequences end up feeling like they just dress the world up, but don't have tangible long-term repercussions. The story of Dying Light 2 is structured to always lead to the same key moments, which does lessen the impact of these otherwise compelling choices somewhat.
An old Dying Light 2 gameplay demo suggested that new zombie types and even new areas of the world could be uncovered by making key choices, but nothing like that is actually present in the final game. As a result, the choices only feel impactful in the immediate moments after they're made. Some of them come back around, but rarely in a way that feels noteworthy. At one point, a character that Aiden had betrayed and was thought to be dead turned out to be alive and just significantly injured. They're wheeled in on a stretcher hours after they were last seen and the player is given the option to let them die or get medicine to save them.
Morally, it's the right thing to save them. However, if Aiden were to let this person die, they wouldn't be able to expose him to the others for being untrustworthy. None of this actually ends up mattering, though. If Aiden chooses to let them live, they're never seen again in the main narrative. The story of Dying Light 2 would've likely been better off if it was more linear, as the core narrative is compelling and filled with rich characters. Some of its more emotional moments are held back by the characters' lifeless faces, but the writing and voice acting manage to make for involved circumstances all the same.
Dying Light 2 may stumble when trying to be more ambitious than necessary, but it thrives in the areas that Techland largely succeeded within in the first game. Dying Light's signature free-flowing gameplay has evolved for the sequel. The combat has a messy elegance to it, where every gory machete swing is accompanied by a grace in the rendering of its movement. Dying Light 2's combat isn't about aimlessly mashing buttons to hack zombies apart, as there's a strategy to timing parries, targeting specific limbs to weaken enemies, and being thoughtful regarding which weapons are used in certain scenarios.
As Dying Light 2 goes on, however, the combat can be fatiguing. Since it's largely melee-based, it can get repetitive. This mostly comes as enemies get more difficult, resulting in more drawn-out fights with bigger crowds. There isn't any gunplay to shake things up or release some tension, meaning variety is sparse, even if the melee combat is consistently gratifying. Since Dying Light 2 boasts 500 hours of content, it would've been nice to have different kinds of combat encounters. Dying Light 2 does feature an excellent bow system, which is great for stealth, but is difficult to use and largely futile after enemies are aware of the player's presence.
Dying Light 2's freerunning, however, is never draining. Fast travel exists, but using it quickly falls to the wayside since rooftop traversal is so enjoyable. As the player picks up speed and chains together moves, the music gets increasingly exciting, and Aiden himself begins to hoot and holler with enthusiasm. The player and the protagonist unify in these moments, highlighting the thrills of Dying Light 2's smile-inducing parkour. There's a perfect amount of weight to ensure it doesn't feel too floaty, but also allows the player to feel like they can gracefully and organically flow through the city, all while creating a sense of tangible danger in each movement.
Virtually everything a person could conceivably climb or grapple on to, Aiden can mount and use to his advantage. There's rarely ever a moment where the player is being chased where they can't bounce off some cars, onto some light posts, and propel themselves onto a rooftop. Dying Light 2 has so much verticality and that only increases as the game continues and opens itself up more. Although it can feel a bit clunkier as the city expands to include massive skyscrapers that are more disruptive to the fast-paced movement, it presents more varied environments with different obstacles.
On top of just offering different locales, Dying Light 2 continues to introduce new tools to traverse the world. Gadgets like upgradable paragliders and grappling hooks ensure the freerunning continues to get new layers long after the player has largely mastered the ins and outs of running and jumping. The ever-evolving nature of the movement alone makes Dying Light 2's existence feel justified.
Dying Light 2 may not match the ambition that it had promised years ago, but it still delivers an experience that substantially evolves its predecessor's formula in a satisfying way. Dying Light 2 is a leap forward for the franchise, even if it's not going to set the industry on fire with further innovation. Thanks to its fluid and refined gameplay and a distinct world filled with content, it's hard not to be entranced by this sequel even with its shortcomings.
Dying Light 2 releases on February 4, 2022 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. An Xbox Series X copy was provided for the purpose of this review.