Dying Light 2 - E3 2019 Hands-Off Preview | Make Every Choice Count

Dying Light still remains one of the best action-adventure games available to this date. Having players survive in this deadly world while using an array of parkour movements to avoid and attack both the infected and human enemies offered an exotic thrill that many find absolutely profound. Dying Light 2 is taking all those systems from the first game and ramping them up, providing an extensive story with a consequential system combined with more ways to explore the everchanging environment. Dying Light 2 is looking to surpass the original and may become one of the best games this generation.
 

Dying Light 2 features a brand new world, with 7 regions to explore. This doesn't mean you'll explore all the game in one playthrough. With the consequential system providing access to certain areas depending on your decisions. The developers made it clear that players will only be exposed to 50% of the content through a single playthrough. That multiple playthroughs are required to see everything.

During the demo, I saw the protagonist Aiden who lives in a city of infected people having to get into a military stronghold after a deal with a colonel about the city's water supply. After the meeting goes south Aiden must chase after a member of the Colonel's militia. Aiden is given ample decisions to make, whether it's staying with his ally after he was shot or choosing to spare or kill the driver who's heading into the military complex during this single mission. All with the central goal being obtaining water for your people after the supply runs dry.

This extensive collection of choices simply are overwhelming as they each change the story. Characters will die, regions will expose new enemies, and seeing your decisions unfold as you play will encourage players to play the game again. The developers made it clear that they are not compassionate, any decisions you make are final through the autosave feature. Most importantly, this large world can be explored without having to endure a loading screen and if you want to take to the skies you can! With the paraglider, players can take to the skies and find new ways to run through the environment.
 

The infected still play a major role in the game. While I didn't see a lot of gameplay featuring the infected the developers made a point to ensure these creature have evolved since the last game. With the demo ending with a new infected with retractable spikes on its arm. Combat with the infected is much more intense as they've grown more aggressive and powerful, grabbing the player off ladders. But you have your own counter defenses such as a UV light to directly blind the infected or a UV flare that lasts only a few seconds.

Human enemies are just as challenging. Instead of mindless predators chasing their target these enemies will attempt to ambush the player and use their numbers to their advantage. Often surrounding you and waiting for one to attack to expose a break in your defense. Since weapons do break you must take advantage of the environment and grappling hook to disarm and use the enemy's weapons against them. It's all very hectic and players will need to use everything to survive.

Of course, you can bring your friends along with the ride. With 4 player cooperative play available but the host will have full control of all the decisions being made. I didn't see any cooperative action but having friends along will definitely be a plus considering how layered this one demo area was. And with 7 regions, you're going to need allies if you want to maximize exploration.
 

Dying Light 2 looks amazing. Everything from the original has been either built or improved on. With more ways to move, a complicated and layer story littered with decisions, and finally a combat system that encourages you to utilize the tools at hand. If this is what we can expect from the final product, this could become a true masterpiece from Techland.

 

 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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