Dying Light 2: Stay Human is the latest Title released by Techland in the Dying Light Series. This game is an action role-playing game and is the sequel to Dying Light. In Dying Light 2: Stay Human, you play Aiden Caldwell, a member of an outcast group known as Pilgrims, set on a journey to find his lost family in an accursed World filled with Infected (Zombies). The release of this game has hyped the gaming community as it not only brings a fresh look but also new content. But is Dying Light 2: Stay Human worth getting? Should you buy it? Well there, I have made this review just for that. Here is a review that will review everything, good or bad, about Dying Light 2: Stay Human so that you don’t have to.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human Review
World Setting & Main Story
In Dying Light 2: Stay Human, The world plunges into chaos as the Harran Virus escaped its containment from the first game. The Pandemic of this Virus led to large-scale problems and soon Humans find themselves on the verge of extinction. Governments have broken apart, nations have crumbled, and human civilization has fallen to its knees. But at the End of the World, there is still one place standing. The last bastion of hope, Villedor City. Here rules are different, more strict to safeguard the last surviving souls. One wrong move and you are will be surrounded either by the Infected, or rival Human factions. And that’s where the protagonist of the game comes in, Aiden Caldwell. You play as Aiden in this infested world in the search of your sister, Mia Caldwell.
On his journey, Aiden encounters a lot of people like Spike, Lawan, Hakon, Sophia, and so on. Each character is unique from the other and has interesting background stories. The outbreak has been unforgiving for everybody involved. The loss of loved ones, witnessing the horrors, and more, have traumatized those who have survived. Your job as Aiden, save Mia and the people of Villedor City.
Graphics review & World Building of Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Dying Light 2: Stay Human has done everything better than its 2015 predecessor. The map is bigger and better with a lot of open spaces and tiny rooms & narrow passages to set up traps. There were many instances where I would stop and just watch the Sunset as it was very soothing and gorgeous. It brought me joy as I knew the moment I leave, I will be cross paths with Infecteds. Dying Light 2: Stay Human has added a lot of new mechanics and they fit in very well with how the Map of the game is made. The Map is designed with high mobility in mind which opens up to the revamped Parkour system. Along with it, you are given movement-based gadgets like the Grapplehook and the Paraglider which allow you to traverse over wide areas very easily. This will help you cover a lot of ground in no time despite the large map.
In any game, Graphics is one of the criteria that will appeal and draw players to the game. Dying Light 2: Stay Human has done this area justice by including Ray Tracing & DLSS support. If you thought Dying Light 2 looked beautiful before, then just switch on these settings and you will be awed by how beautiful the game gets. Ray Tracing provides realism to Lights & Shadows which makes games more realistic. Dying Light 2: Stay Human has set a benchmark for future games as to how it has achieved realism.
Running this game on 4K with RT & DLSS will make it gorgeous but it will come with a hefty price, and that price is a High-end system with Nvidia RTX 3080 10 GB Graphics Card, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X / Intel Core i5-8600 Processor, and 16 GBs of RAM. If you don’t have that then the recommended AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB / Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti Graphics Card, AMD Ryzen 3 2300X / Intel Core i3-9100 Processor, and 8 GBs of RAM can run the game in Full-HD 30 FPS. That is a lot considering the majority of the Community will only have a decent system. But it is a price you have to pay for the beauty. If you don’t have this then play Dying Light 2: Stay Human without RT.
Game Mechanics
Dying Light 2: Stay Human has brought a lot of new mechanics and has also revamped a few of them. The main ones you will be using will be Combat & Parkour. In this game, you will not only fight the Infected zombies but also other Humans. If you can’t fight them, then use your Parkour skills to escape them. For that reason, Dying Light 2: Stay Human has a skill tree system for both Combat & Parkour which will grant you new abilities and techniques that will help your Fight or Flight response. But the major Game Mechanics that everybody has been hyped about is the Grapplehook & Paraglider. The Grapplehook has been changed to feel like one, instead of the one from the prior game, which felt more like swing with Spiderman’s web shooter.
The Paraglider is the newest addition which allows you to cross large distances with ease but at a cost of stamina. Don’t worry as there are Air Currents indicated with flying Debris that will replenish your Stamina mid-air and fly higher as you pass through them. These two allow the player to easily traverse and Parkour to places that were inaccessible before. Speaking of Parkour, it has also been changed making it smoother and more intuitive. It is very easy to jump up and around Terran in a short amount of time which is a very big bonus. Using the Paraglider and doing Parkour felt a bit overwhelming at first, but after getting used to it it became very intuitive.
The People of Villedor City are infected by the Virus and so will you once you enter the city. Once infected, you will turn into the mindless creature thirsting for Human blood. This is indicated by the Immunity bar. It is the amount of endurance you will have before you will turn into an Infected. Don’t worry, can be replenished by Sunlight or being under UV Light. These are the sources that the Virus and its spawns hate and are the temporary fix to your zombification problems.
Factions – Survivors, Peacekeepers, & Renegades
Dying Light 2: Stay Human has three different Factions which will heavily affect how you play the game. Survivors are a peaceful group and are non-aggressive to the player. There are no fighters so they cannot help you with hordes of enemies but will facilitate you with Air Vents. This will aid your Paraglider and enhance your Parkour. The next faction on the list is the Peacekeepers. They are militaristic factions with a strong sense of righteousness. They will do anything if they deem it right for the survival of the species. Since they are a militaristic group, they have more advanced and refined weapons which are suited to deal with Hordes of Enemies & Infected. The last faction is the Renegades. They are comprised of Ex-Cons and will do whatever they please.
Peacemakers & Survivors are factions that are either good, neutral, or hostile to the player. That depends on how you treat them in-game. depending on how many missions you do for them or how much do you align with them. Renegades are a bunch of radical people that will either be hostile if no alignment or friendly if there is an alignment. Speaking of alignment, your game will be played depending on which Faction you favor the most. The more you do, the more influence they will have over the other factions. That is what you would think but no matter what I did to a certain Faction, they wouldn’t care much. It’s like our actions towards them mean nothing as long as the affiliation was strong enough.
Infected Types in Dying Light 2: Stay Human
The zombies are called just Infected in the world of Dying Light 2: Stay Human. They are a result of the Harran Virus infecting a Human. Once exposed to the Virus through an infectious bite or the exchange of bodily fluids, a Human will quickly be taken over by the Virus and be converted. Infected are sensitive to Sunlight & UV Light as they can kill the Virus. So you will see them avoiding daytime but once it’s night, you will see them swarm the Streets of Villedor. The Infecteds are honestly the best thing in the game. Their mechanics impressed me as they always kept me on high alert. The Chases that occur are amazingly fun as there is a certain satisfaction you get. Its a do or die situation, and it reminded me that they are Hostile and not to be taken lightly.
You will see them sleeping in buildings by Day and roaming at night. Based on this, you will have to strategize when you will explore certain sections of the map in Dying Light 2: Stay Human. In Dying Light 2: Stay Human, there are many types of Infected. Most returning players will see familiar infected types like Biter, Viral, Volatile, etc as they were from Dying Light. But in Dying Light 2: Stay Human, we have new mutations like Hazmat, Spitter, Banshee, and more. Each of them is different and you will have to deal with each of them carefully.
Verdict on Dying Light 2: Stay Human review
Dying Light 2: Stay Human is a post-apocalyptic world infested with aggressive Infected. This has given rise to the world that is Dying Light 2: Stay Human and the people that live in it. Out of the despair and misery that is experienced is contrasted with small victories and a beautiful expansive world. For the Lore itself, the game has done a wonderful job as they make the player experience the emotions of the people you meet. The Main Story though needed a bit more oomph to it. That would have made an amazing immersive experience. For the looks, Dying Light 2: Stay Human has killed again as even on lower graphics you can feel the size of the world. Right from the beginning till the end, the game has not disappointed.
The World opens up to the idea that the Floor is Lava. And those who don’t adhere to it will be greeted with face-biting Infected. With the help of the game mechanics, it is fairly easy to traverse and does not add a skill aspect to it. If you are a Gamer then you will be an elite in Parkour. Even though the game is amazing, there are areas where the game has problems. First off is the system requirements. Granted that to experience high-level graphics, you need a good system. But this limits how many people can experience it. And the second one is the Main Character himself. All the side characters have good background stories but Aiden himself is kind of bland in comparison. Overall, Dying Light 2: Stay Human is amazing and with Post-Game support, it will get better and better from its current state.
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