CHENNAI: Dying Light 2 Stay Human released this month. It is an open-world, action-RPG game featuring a world that is left devastated after a zombie apocalypse. Now if you see “Zombie apocalypse” written on the one-line description of a video game, it is only reflexive to say “Oh, not this again”. But I believe that this is a video game format that has somehow remained unsaturated, despite its repeated use. The gaming world has somehow managed to differentiate its hundreds of games on the zombie apocalypse.
DL2 is different because it has parkour! Parkour is an integral part of the open-world exploration experience. Equipped with an expansive skill-tree, it is thrilling to try the different frustrating possibilities in which we can run away from the infected when night-time hits. The first-person camera can get dizzying at times but is almost worth it once we unlock the double-jump and wall-run skills.
The story features Aidan, a survivor who travels to some of the last remaining human civilizations in search of his sister. Plagued occasionally by flashbacks of the past, he is determined to use his cool parkour skills to fly over buildings, guided by nothing but UV-lights, to hopefully reunite with his sibling. DL2 offers the advantage of pursuing a co-operative campaign — which means that you can now survive both zombie attacks, and long cutscenes with your friends!
I am not a fan of the combat in DL2, the reason being that I am terrible at it. Primarily melee combat in first-person view is not my strong suit. The skill-tree for combat is as detailed as the one for parkour, and it gets considerably easier as you progress in the game. But I found it almost impossible to move through a horde of salivating “Biters” in complete stealth. I was apparently as loud as a fire alarm in every room I entered, with 20 zombies at my heel at any given point. Admittedly, they do fall after a few whacks, but I’d really prefer avoiding the slow, groaning creatures altogether. Mostly, I was just frustrated with how hard I found to parry attacks in the game.
I played DL2 on the PlayStation — but the game is available across different consoles, on the Xbox, PC and Nintendo Switch. The open-world format, the day-light progression, and the countless side-quests offer both a varied experience, and hundreds of hours of gameplay.