Dying Light 2 Stay Human Reloaded Edition & Firearms Update impressions — How to make a single-player game explosive two years later

It’s hard to make a video game. In our industry you see less and less people making it through a single release, and unfortunately the numbers show it. With how rare that is, it’s certainly rare to see a game making substantial changes to their formula two years later. Even more so when it’s a single player game, and as a free update. Somehow, Techland continues to defy logic, and after some time playing their latest update, I’ve come away awestruck at what Dying Light 2 Stay Human has become.

The team has truly thought of everything, having a side mission appear after a bit of time in the story to onboard you with this new feature. A man named Jai has information for you that will lead to finding these guns, which he wants to distribute to the right people. I’m sure there are some underlying motives here, but everyone has one in this world. After dealing with a few steps and multiple tasks along the way, you finally have a pistol in hand, and the ability to get ammo from Jai. It’s a great choice, and a meatier side mission than you might expect.

What’s immediately apparent is that Techland has a good feel for designing gunplay. Everything is in its rightful place; they look good, they shoot well, they sound great, and the recoil patterns are correct. There are a lot of different guns to use as well, with pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, and shotguns available. You won’t be one tapping most enemies either – beyond a good close up with a shotgun – meaning the more limited ammo will haunt you if you run around emptying clips. I’m impressed because they all feel like they belong in this game despite the game not being designed around them; something other developers should take note of. Given the devs’ proclivity to add different variants of melee weapons, I’m also excited to see what kind of legendary guns they might introduce over time.

The only thing I’ve noticed is how I’m having to retrain my brain while playing Dying Light 2 Stay Human because of the difference in controls. It already is a bit different in having your right bumper as jump and right directional button for swapping weapons, along with a few other choices that I have to constantly remember. When using a gun, you’ll use your R3 (clicking the right stick) to aim down sights; something that won’t be totally unusual if you’ve been playing games for a while, but certainly throws you off if you’ve not played Dying Light 2 Stay Human in a bit. While I’d probably prefer the use of the left trigger to ADS, this is an okay solution.

Jumping headfirst into using guns is tough, because ammo is limited. There are ammo dumps you’ll be able to fight for in the wild, taking on bandits at military convoys to find it. You’ll also get occasional drops from specific zombies, but it isn’t all that overboard. The economy overall seems fair; guns are a game-changer, but not so much in that there is no reason to use melee weapons.

Your easiest methods to try these weapons are the combat challenges. There are specific gun related ones that are a lot of fun to try; picking up different weapons around you while killing the zombies within the time limits. These challenges are simple, contained, and they don’t waste your personal ammunition in the world while giving you a chance to learn the ins and outs of guns as well as earning a few rewards along the way.

Survivor Missions are another new addition to Reloaded, with a little more choice in your gear and more risk during them. Here, you’ll jump into deeper quests, chasing down specific objectives and trying to survive. Dying Light Franchise Director Tymon Smektala likened these to Left 4 Dead style missions, and I totally get the vibe. If anything, these missions might be exactly the kind of evolution we would have expected from that series, but given life in Dying Light 2. The risk in these is your life; you can run out of respawns and you’re using your own equipment. That said, the rewards are great, with the points you get adding up to some fantastic gear from Jai. These can be finished without guns, as well as alone, but the challenge presented means it’s not bad to have both a couple of guns and friends to play co-op.

One of the coolest recent features in Dying Light 2 Stay Human is the Community Maps, fan created levels for everyone to enjoy. I’m glad to say that not only is it going strong, but that several new ones were commissioned by Techland to get guns rolling for the community. I tried a few different creations, and they’ve been so much fun to play. These have offered a different feel compared to the standard Dying Light 2 Stay Human experience, along with allowing you to experience the weapons in a controlled environment similar to combat challenges, although you can turn off your brain a bit easier without a time limit.

As mentioned, this is all added in completely free of charge. Not only that, but the previous DLC, Bloody Ties, has been included in the Reloaded Edition update. That means all owners of Dying Light 2 Stay Human can enjoy the first expansion for the price of zero.

I still need to sink more hours in, but it’s easy to see how big of a win this update is. It’s crazy to me that you can add a feature like this so late in the life cycle of a game and make it feel natural. Moreso, these completely change the game while managing not to upset the balance of it, allowing you to engage however you wish with the enemy, both living and dead. Couple this with an already phenomenal title, droves of previous updates and new missions and more to experience? You’ve got the sensational package that is Dying Light 2 Stay Human.

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