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Dying Light 2 - A Sequel That Lost Its Way

Crit Croc

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Join Croc as he revisits Dying Light 2: Stay Human, a sequel built around the promise that your choices would shape the fate of a dying city. This video essay explores its story, characters, and the consequences of your decisions, asking whether the freedom it offers leads to a meaningful narrative or simply the illusion of control.

Alongside its story, Croc examines how Techland has changed Dying Light 2 in the years since release, and why those changes have pushed the game in a direction he finds increasingly frustrating. With a sequel that places so much emphasis on choice, some of its most disappointing decisions happened outside the story itself.

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20 Comments

@goozilla123 9 days ago

Dang, I never knew they removed the intro. I liked the downtime Aiden had with Spike just shooting the shit.

@yaptcha 5 days ago

2 and a half hours of dying light content i can add to my work sludge playlist? Yes please

@Leek_Under_Sink 3 days ago (edited)

1:33:15 I think they could have expanded on that by explaining that he got abandonment issues from loosing mia when he was younger. That would have explained also why he was acting so worried for spikes in the beast.

@TheOnlyTaps 8 days ago

"Quicker doesn't mean better" 💯

@jaredrobinson7071 9 days ago

Dying Light 1 is one of the best video games ever made. I’m with you on how much I was looking forward to DL2. And it’s just not the same game. Don’t know why they can’t reach that same bar again.

@MitchyFooDog 8 days ago

I think the biggest thing that took me out of the experience was the beginning of the game, I played post-patch and didn't know about all of this. But when you get to Old Ville, you can do a bunch of side missions before doing the main survivor camp proper story missions, and everyone acts like you've been there for ages helping. Then if you do the main story finally, suddenly it's your first time ever walking in and no one knows who the hell you are and talks major trash to you. I still played a little further but once I got to the main city I just kinda gave up. I do not enjoy DL2, and I'm kinda sad I missed out on the pre-update version, it sounded more grounded and fun honestly.

Also keep up the work, I love seeing that you've posted! The vids really get me through the daily grind c:

@lakenate6025 8 days ago

1:32:50 ayyeee, gameplay croc. 🐊 🐊🐊🐊

@Austin_the_pitmaster 9 days ago

Ubisoft had such a huge inpact on games, and gaming from this era (2015-2025). It really felt like every game studio was trying to capture that far cry 3 vibe. Idk maybe im crazy

@DeanBiddler 9 days ago

I platinumed Dead Island , didnt play DL1, and currently playing DL2. DL2 is so far so tedious to play, like farcry without guns or vehicles (havent got o guns yet but if like DI will be very late game). Playing in Sep2026 and the parkour mechanic is stiff and the zombies are just a chore. Just started the vid, thanks for making my day a little bit better again Croc, glad i found your channel.

@siggytv_7810 9 days ago

I just finished Dying Light 2 for the first time literally last night after avoiding literally everything about the game for years! And to say I was disappointed was an understatement.

The story made me want to just drop the game entirely, but because I love the series I still continued playing it hoping it would get better but it never did.

I work within the TV industry and writing is what I want to do. If I was given the pen to write a new installment (not DL3) i’d personally have it focus on Breckan with a small group of survivors in a remote village in Wales that actually comments on survivors guilt (which was shown from him in DL1).

I personally feel that Dying Light can and should be a vehical to tell harrowing and heart wrenching character driven stories but it really feels like Techland haven’t even scratched the surface of what this series is capable of

@ShubhamBajajOriginals 9 days ago

I've been waiting for this video for years

@xnour2_G 8 days ago (edited)

As much as I LOVE DL2, there are points that truly can't be ignored: The game feels empty, yes it has a lot of content but still.
The characters are good tho, maybe as good as DL1's but I wish they had more screentime like Aitor or Rowe.
And the human combat, it's very fun but very easy too, like I wish it was closer to DL1's but not as close because the combat in DL1 is literally impossible if you only use melee weapons, u have to combine parkour moves with melee so u can hit the humans.
And the things that got removed from launch version like the stamina (which I adored and don't fully know why they removed it, it's literally the one thing that made the parkour closer to DL1 aka you have to think before you jump and make moves) and prologue obviously and that amazing gritty filter a few updates back that looked identical to E3, I don't know why they removed it...

@Ethan_Likes_Rowing_It 8 days ago

I disagree with the human combat point. Human combat is horrendous in DL1 and just constantly block and dodge, but when you dodge, you might still get hit because of the bad hitboxes all the enemies (especially the goons) have in the first game.

@definityID 7 days ago

Bro give us 150 minutes of essay, holy shii

@wifi_soldier5076 6 days ago

I remember "playing" this game when it first came out. I didnt even make it to the city before giving up because the characters / story was so bad in the first part.

I only finished the full game just before the beast came out, by the end of dying light 2 I wasnt even paying attention to the story.

@reaweshi 3 days ago

38:42 It's funny you say that because I didn't even realize we were in Turkey in the first game at the time, and I'm Turkish. It's pretty much how Westerners perceive Turkey, which is more like the Middle East than actual Turkey. I guess it's all a matter of perspective...

@Embozine 2 days ago

I had no incentive to improve my stamina about a quarter through the game except when I got the glider upgraded. They def should have made stamina drain slower instead of just removing it