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<\/a>That\u2019s not to say Dying Light 2 is necessarily bad; far from it, in fact. It does, however, suffer from a misrepresentation in regards to mechanics, and an exceptionally long early game that in many ways just drags.. And then, next thing you know, you\u2019re in the final stretch of the main campaign and realizing you haven\u2019t really been playing an open world story, but a cinematic experience IN an open world, being actively discouraged to run off and do much else for long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dying Light 2: Stay Dramatic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There is a lot of storytelling going on in Dying Light 2; unfortunately, this story is fairly weak, but nobody expected Moby Dick (or even \u201cTaken\u201d) here. The unfortunate part of this is how the story dictates so much in the way of actual gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had my controls taken from me numerous times during the main story just to force some additional tension and drama. If I wasn\u2019t a fast reader of subtitles I\u2019d imagine I would have spent countless hours going through dialog and exposition that ultimately has very little value in the actual story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I DID get to play the main story, it was the way the developers wanted me to play. Sure, I do have some limited choices; I can choose to support one of the 2 main factions of the game, and in a handful of situations can choose to support sub-factions within those factions (more like individuals with ulterior motives), but otherwise the game played more like an on-rails story than a true open world game. Situations where there was an obvious \u201cbig bad\u201d literally roaring behind a door were the worst: I\u2019d have to walk up to it, say hello, maybe knock (yes, literally knock), and then get shoved on my ass as the big bad comes out to say hello, rather than trying to lure it out and handle the encounter on my own terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the game itself has an exceptionally slow pace. So slow, in fact, that numerous gameplay tools are doled out much slower than you\u2019d think. You start with your GRE key (which helps you locate that extra special loot you need to progress), and go from there to unlock the paraglider, grappling hook, a UV flashlight (that can hold back infected while the battery lasts), a GRE signal detector (which ties into later AC\/Farcry-esque-yet-worse claim-the-antenna missions to help you find more loot), and even.. Ranged combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, ranged combat is hidden behind story progression; you don\u2019t even get your first bow until about halfway through the main story (I got mine at around 11 hours of gameplay), and it\u2019s not even clear as to why. We\u2019ll touch on ranged combat later, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of unlocking stuff, the RPG mechanics are interesting, but ultimately \u201ceh\u201d. I found myself enjoying unlocking new parkour skills, and bumping up my health & stamina had a noticeable impact in the game, but it is hard to see the value when those unlocks tend to come when you need them, and choice is rather limited.. And combat skills? \u201cEh\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the \u201cclasses\u201d feature of gear is of dubious use. As someone who thrives on ranged and stealth gameplay, I opted to pursue ranger gear (which provides boost to stealth, parkour and ranged combat) once I finally unlocked my first bow.. And even with min-maxing, the actual impact of this gear is minimal. I could boost my ranged damage and slow detection time, among other random numerical stats tied to gear with various degrees of rarity and level, but it honestly felt like the value in hunting for the best gear isn\u2019t even there. It really appeared that the benefit from gear is just a minimal supplement rather than anything that will improve your game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weapons themselves are a dime a dozen, aside from the bows (and a crossbow). You basically grab whatever you can, modify it when it\u2019s durability is low (in order to get a little more life out of it), and then throw it away when you outlevel it or break it. Thankfully ranged weapons can\u2019t break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve spent a lot of time complaining here, but the game itself isn\u2019t all bad. Once you finally do get to explore the world, it\u2019s fun! Parkour is exciting, and even when you unlock the paraglider it still holds value as a movement mechanic (and becomes even better when you unlock the grappling hook).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond exploring, there are all the random encounters, the weight of swinging a weapon at the undead, and the tension of exploring in both the day and the night that do create a fun atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, and the elevator scene with the PKs? Beautiful and smile-inducing. Despite the story, there are some lovely bits of writing here and there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s set that aside, though, and talk about what GGN readership wants to know about: Stealth in Dying Light 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>