Dying Light 2 Stay Human

fifty hours in Dying Light 2 Stay Human fully make it clear that the sequel developers from Techland a success, and the credit to the studio, which gave us a great original and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, has only strengthened. Now the main thing is not to go to pieces and not to become «♪ a sandbox with towers ♪». These diabolical constructions have already appeared here, but things are going very well so far: Far Cry convection only looms on the horizon, and there is no competitors to the setting.

Particularly good this time with the story. Yes, yes, that's right. The mankind has not learnt a lesson from the events in Harran, and thanks to the efforts of simple-minded scientists, a mutated virus was set free, devastating the continents. People have only radio and the elusive pilgrims, two-legged delivery of your little parcels between the divided hordes of infected settlements. One of these, Aiden, and falls into the hands of the players. The search for his lost sister leads him to the pretty town of Villedore, where the hero quickly gets a deadly sting. From now on, in addition to the search for his relatives, he will have to fight his illness, the stupidity of the local side quests, the illogical actions of key characters and the agony of choosing between two local factions. Perhaps that's why the adventure here is more memorable than Harran's — Too pathosy local characters and strange plot twists. And in this case it's good, even if in the end the story is deprived of the arbitration approach «everyone has his own truth», switching to Shyamalan's here-and-there-turns.

One of the touted features, the dependence of the story on the character's choices, albeit far from elaborate levels «The Witcher» or Mass Effect, but it serves its purpose — Creates a sense of being directly involved in the events and their aftermath. That said, the treatment of the character is fair enough. Saved a man? Great, he will come to your rescue, spitting on your behavior in the other moments.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human in general does not hold back his calls to seem like a role-playing game, not only in terms of variability, but also in the mechanics, which is why there are divided into levels zones and other familiar attributes. The game is average, to say the least, and artificial limitations look not alien, but distracting and unnecessary here. It would be better if the developers, for example, paid more attention to the elaboration of the arsenal and equipment, but no — it still looks impersonal and secondary. And no one is not asking for elaboration of armor and guns level of Destiny or Borderlands, but even the legendary equipment in the sequel is still different from the usual numbers and durability. Pity.

And outside of these moments Dying Light 2 Stay Human behaves as modestly as possible in relation to the original, engaging in benign self-copying. The same activities, only more diverse and therefore more fun, the same parkour — only more unrealistic and therefore cooler, the same fights — only more upbeat and therefore more interesting. Even the plot transition from the low-rise suburbs of Villedore to the high-rise center is spot on. Should we blame Techland for that?? This time, perhaps not yet.

However, some things changed in Dying Light 2 Stay Human more noticeable — the general atmosphere of the game. More colorful and lightweight, it has lost a lot in the gloom of the original, although it still makes itself felt in certain moments — such as the plot escape from the main villain in the first third of the game, the forays into the TV center or the failed attempts to run at night not on the rooftops. It's just that, otherwise, the sense of the world's demise and constant danger here is light, one might even say fantasy. Every now and then it seems as if you just got into a world where people got used to living on rooftops and enjoying life during daylight hours, giving way to the dead climbing out of basements at night. And that's not counting other game conventions like harmless UV lamps, from which the local population does not suffer eye burns and skin cancer.

However, the change of the gloomy Middle Eastern entourage to European bright colors has its pluses. Villedore's juicy colors, coupled with a stunning picture well worthy of 2022, stand out nicely against the budget Harran of 2015. Local vistas and elaborate details are able to delight and make you reach for the screenshot button. The characters do not lag behind, not counting their still wooden facial animation and appearance — The lovely Rosario Dawson, for example, would be much more suited to the outfit and makeup from «Sin City», but what can you do?… Sound was up to the mark, the electronic ambient gives a great pace to the parkour jogging and scuffles with the enemies, and the additional effects like freezing music during the dangerous jumps is worthy of special praise at all. In all this splendor, the only thing that sounds average is the Russian localization. The actors read their texts confidently, but the overall level — C-plus. Including because of the excessive amount of foul language, from which a couple of hours later banal tired. No one expects zombie apocalypse-level communication from the «Culture», but even Geralt of Rivia would agree that the locals have gone as far as coprolalia.

Not without other downsides, of course. The release was again tainted by technical bugs: bounces, stuck in textures, non-functional triggers. Good thing we're talking about a game from Techland — the studio, which for years did not abandon support for the original, and thus the sequel will gradually combed out patches. What you probably cannot fix is the brains of your stupid opponents (you can scout them by the stairs and throw them down), and the final fight with the main villain – as depressing and drawn out as possible. Separately, I want to scold for artificial restrictions: in addition to the division of areas into levels, there are some elements of metroidvaniya — some of the tests, for example, physically impossible to pass without reaching the correct level of endurance (yes, it is now also spent on the elements of parkour). It also looks out of place here.

But all in all, Dying Light 2 Stay Human came out better than the original seven years ago. Past mistakes are accounted for, and the number of new ones is not that great. Exciting parkour, decent combat, a reasonably interesting (if controversial) storyline, a huge beautiful city to explore — What more is needed? For the game of the year, perhaps, it is not enough. But here's to a very good sequel from the Polish artisans at Techland — just right.