

The only difference is you get to boost strength (health) or parkour (stamina) whenever you find three inhibitor needles. The tech tree has been simplified somewhat this time around, with the survivor points gone and a split between parkour and combat. While it definitely feels light on to start with, especially for returning maxed-out parkour pros from Dying Light, the familiar and new mechanics elevate the free-running with every unlock. But in the rare times that I fast-travelled in Dying Light 2-part of a system that first must be unlocked-I felt like I was cheating because the free-running is incredibly addictive. Outside of a bevvy of story missions, side quests, random (totally ignorable) encounters, and a whole host of other truly tempting distractions, Dying Light 2 boils down to two key pillars for its gameplay loop: parkour and gore.Īfter a while, open-world games tend to lead to the kind of fatigue that makes players seek out that faster mode of transportation, be it horses, cars, planes or fast travel. He’s a so-called Pilgrim who, like Jules Winnfield, walks the Earth.ĭavid Cage games are loved or loathed depending on whether the player can see behind the curtain of which choices matter and which ones are lies that lead us to believe they matter, but Techland truly seems to have gone all in on empowering players to make different choices and, more importantly, rewarding you with a real impact on the world.īut that deeper beneath-the-surface stuff wouldn’t be as impactful if the core gameplay wasn’t as addictive as it is in Dying Light 2. The game takes place around 20 years after the first game, where you play as all-new protagonist Aiden. That’s the impressive thing about Dying Light 2: even after 40+ hours of gameplay, I wonder whether the parts of that 2019 gameplay section that seemingly didn’t make the cut are still possible in the world. As great as it was, it’s best forgotten and definitely not best sought out because some of the scope of that trailer has clearly been watered down for the release version of Dying Light 2.

The devs were even cool enough to release a version of that dev play-through from E3 2019 a couple of months later. As a fan of the original game, warts and all, it was incredible to see how much developer Techland had built on the foundation of Dying Light.

Rewind to E3 2019, and I was fortunate enough to be in a crammed hands-off preview session that fully sold me on the vision for the post-apocalyptic sequel. Dying Light 2 feels like one of those games that’s been so delayed it’s a surprise it’s actually coming out.
