![]() Pretty early on you can leap off a stunned enemy and knock another one down with a flying kick, which is a laugh, if a bit awkward, but other than that you just have a basic dodge, block and a single attack. You just flail around until your stamina runs out or a zombie stops getting up. It's an even bigger problem when it comes to fights because the combat foundations are terrible. You're just playing a shittier version of Dying Light 2. ![]() And these aren't Metroidvania-style obstacles where the game is trying to nudge you in a different direction until you're able to overcome them-you can still get under that wall by crawling and get across that gap by climbing down to ground level, but there's no pleasure in it. For all the times that you're rushing across rooftops with seemingly unbreakable momentum, there are countless more where you have to stop because you can't slide under a broken wall yet or you've encountered a jump that you're not yet capable of making. The parkour still feels good from the get-go, mind, but it's impossible to not notice you've been hobbled. It's like having to grind to get access to the letter A in a crossword. Both the parkour and violent encounters are essentially puzzles for you to solve, but you're not given the tools to do so. It's so dispiriting to approach a bunch of zombies with a plan and then realise you can't do it because you've not got the right abilities. The city is a brilliant parkour sandbox, but it's designed for a character who can clamber around like Spider-Man. It makes the entire levelling system feel like a gargantuan tutorial, preparing you to play the real game, the fun game, 20 or 30 hours down the line. ![]() The city is a brilliant parkour sandbox, but it's designed for a character who can clamber around like Spider-Man, slide through wee gaps and make impossible landings without breaking a sweat-none of which you'll be able to do for a bewilderingly long time. You're constantly being reminded that there's lots of fun to be had, too. Sure, I really like being able to jump a wee bit further, and I breathe a sigh of relief whenever I unlock another crucial combat ability, but only because Dying Light 2 just isn't nearly as much fun without them. And the moment-to-moment choices, like what ability to pick next, just aren't very gripping when you're sifting through really simple stuff. The marketing makes a big deal out of the creative potential of the sandbox and the interesting choices you have to make, but none of that is evident-at least not until you've put in the time. Techland sure has crammed a lot of stuff into this game-as is the open world way-but individually few of these things are within spitting distance of compelling. And few of these systems really stand up to scrutiny. ![]() Dying Light 2 is a game that just loves systems, throwing them in with wild abandon, regardless of how they fit into a cauldron overflowing with bullshit. This is just Techland being fixated on something that's become a weight around its games' necks.Ī decent Dying Light RPG isn't outside the realm of possibility, but this one's just taken all the wrong lessons from the genre, lifting concepts like XP and levels and quests without really considering what role they play. The cynic in me wants to believe that this is the only reason it's an RPG, but Dying Light has always tried to be one, just like Dead Island before it. And seemingly the only way to make a game that massive is by padding it out. Everything has to be hundreds of hours long, apparently, or else it's bad value for money. This is what happens when massive games are put on a pedestal.
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