Do Not Resuscitate: ‘Dying Light 2’ Review

The original Dying Light was one of my favorite games when it came out. The zombie parkour open world adventure was fun, engaging, and addictive. So, when Dying Light 2 was announced, like many, I was pretty excited. More than half a decade, we are finally getting our hands on it, was it worth the wait? Unfortunately, not really. While it’s a competent game, it just never reaches the highs and fun of its predecessor. It’s a Bland, Bland World Taking place in the fictional city of Villedor, Techland has given us a huge sandbox to run, jump, climb, and explore. You play as Aiden, a “Pilgrim” who’s trying to find his long-lost sister. Along the way you’ll meet the people of Villedor and make choices that will ultimately decide which faction will be in control and which ending you receive. One of the first stumbles in this game is that Aiden is…really boring. The way that he’s portrayed makes it feels like he’s bored with his own game, and it’s kind of hard to blame him. Most everyone he interacts with are cardboard cutouts of character archetypes. Hardened military man, angry young upstart, the dude who’ll definitely betray you, etc. Hell, even Rosario Dawson’s character, while played well, is just basically “Grr, I’m angry,” and that’s pretty much it. The previous game wasn’t Shakespeare, but the characters and story were at least interesting.

The story itself is also fairly uninteresting and inconsistent. You’ll be deciding on whether to side with the Survivors, who’re th…