I am compelled to investigate these pockets and side quests further during my preview – apparently, some have rare craft parts – but, aware that time is ticking away, I resolve to come back to them at a later date rather than letting them lure me from my main objective.Īnd I’m glad I don’t get pulled away by their siren song, because the main questline in Dying Light 2 showcases what the sequel really has to offer. Often I find myself stumbling into empty apartments, usually filled with Infected during the day, providing pockets of intrigue between main and side quests. Traversal is brilliant fun, when you do it smoothly, and there’s something extremely satisfying about fluidly navigating the rooftops of the vast City where the game is set. You’ll likely spend most of your time atop dilapidated buildings in an effort to avoid the Infected, only venturing to street level when a mission – or some enticing gear – calls for it. Verticality is important in Dying Light 2. Interacting with Peacekeepers and survivors is basically one of the tools you can use to help you reach that outcome." Tymon Smektała - Lead Game Designer "The main narrative is actually not that much about the survivors and the Peacekeepers, it's about your own quest of finding the sister and uncovering the mystery of what happened to her.
If there’s a ledge, I can probably grab it if there’s a zipline, I can most certainly zip across it but, if I don’t get my aim right, it’s possible I’ll go plummeting to the ground below – and this happened a fair bit. It doesn’t take long after my bloody detour and soon I get a sense of the parameters. While the world feels familiar, I need some time to get comfortable in it again after six years away. Jumping into Dying Light 2 feels like slipping on an old pair of shoes that have been resoled. I clamber onto the roof of a nearby deserted bus, taking in the chaotic aftermath with pride and reeling from enjoyment. As the fuse sizzles down, I try to aim to where the explosion will have the most impact, then I let go of my makeshift bomb just before it detonates and takes out a herd of Infected. I hack and slash through each of my tormentors, heads rolling as I aimlessly swing my machete, taking out a few creatures at a time, occasionally vaulting over them to a less enclosed position when things get hairy.
Okay, maybe it is my fault that the Infected caught on to my whereabouts and an angry horde ascended upon my position. But it is all in the name of gaming science – I swear. Does it require setting the area around me aflame with Molotov cocktails? Definitely. Does that learning experience involve randomly throwing knives in the direction of Infected? Maybe. Instead, the quest has taken somewhat of a turn, and I’m now playing detective with the subtlety of a brick as I attempt to get to grips with Dying Light 2’s mechanics during the first half-hour of my 4.5-hour preview session. The Infected attack is arguably unprovoked I am simply minding my own business, on a side quest that was only meant to see me lighting a memorial candle to pay respects to March Madness (no, not the basketball one), a mission that subtly hints why I am using a machete rather than a gun to knock these creeps back to hell – or wherever they came from.