Another video game with zombies ? Yes but no. Available since February 4 on PC, PS4/5 and Xbox One/Series, Dying Light 2 : Stay Human is the sequel to the 2015 game, itself a spiritual heir to
Dead Island, from the same Techland studio. After Harran in the Middle East in the first Dying Light, it is around Villedor in Europe to be the scene of a pandemic and a quarantine. The original virus has been replaced by a
variant (sic), which decimated 90% of the world’s population. The rest of humanity lives behind walls and divides into factions. Only the Pilgrims are brave enough to travel in this post-apo world and serve to make the connection, to transport resources and information, like the hero Aiden, in search of his sister Mia.
A very open world and narrative choices
the universe Dying Light does not necessarily draw its originality from the story, even if this second opus, under strong serial influence (hello Walking Dead and Game of Thrones), involves the player more with a system of narrative choices that can have long-term consequences, especially on which faction will take control of the city. A city and a map four times larger than in the first game and conducive to an open world that the player can explore on several levels, day and night, according to encounters, side quests and progression of the story.
PARKOUR !
This is the “Techland’s touch”: creating an organic, living world, like the day/night cycle, already present in 2015 with its zombies who fear the day and come out at night, but revisited today because everyone is infected, can transform and needs his dose of UV. The player must therefore go fast, and well, which combines with THE gameplay of the game. Dying Light has indeed found the appropriate, integrated game mechanics, whether to explore the world or fight zombies, namely parkour, already at work in Assassin’s Creed and especially Mirror’s Edge.
Helped by discipline boss David Belle, also a character in the game, Dying Light 2 : Stay Human pushed movement, fluidity, realism, and made parkour a way of life, like aerobatics in Spider-Man. The player would almost forget about the undead. You have to, since Techland is advancing 500 hours to turn the game around. But “only” 20 to finish the main story.