Dying Light 2 stages its game world as a place where resources are scarce and everyone fights for their survival. However, while playing, you will notice little of this. MeinMMO author Tarek explains why survival is totally relaxed and why he likes it that way.
The setting of Dying Light 2 takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a virus turned people into zombies, and the last remnants of civilization fight for survival.
The remaining humans have split into different factions and now fight for the remaining, scarce resources.
This is what we are told in the game, and superficially, Dying Light 2 appears to be a genuine survival game. This is also evident from a look at the mechanics.
How much survival is in Dying Light 2? Looking at the gameplay components reinforces the impression that Dying Light 2 truly wants to be a survival game:
- There is an extensive crafting system for tools, medicine, various boosters, weapons, and weapon mods.
- You can gather various materials from scrap, flowers to feathers, from which you can craft items.
- Weapons have a durability limit and can break.
At first glance, it seems that this makes the game significantly more challenging. However, a closer look and a few hours of gameplay show: Surviving in Dying Light 2 is quite easy.
Resource scarcity, but every trash can contains loot
This is why survival is so relaxed: Many mechanics are related to Dying Light 2’s crafting system. The items are very useful in combat and can make you significantly stronger. The more you can craft, the easier it becomes to survive.
Ultimately, you can find almost everything you need in the game world at every corner. Nearly every trash can contains some useful crafting material, leading to virtually unlimited resources.
- The cheapest resource, parts (“Scrap”), is not only extremely common, but it is also one of the most important materials and is needed for nearly every crafting item.
- If you have a bow, you can craft arrows from scrap and thus have unlimited ammunition. Bows are also unbreakable, so you have a weapon that can be used indefinitely.
- Containers are constantly reset, so you can actually find loot at any time in any part of the game world, even if you looted the spot just half an hour ago.
In addition, there is the offer from the merchants, which is regularly replenished, so you basically just have to hop from dealer to dealer to stock up on your materials.
For example, during a quest line, I could visit an NPC who is also a merchant. After each quest, I could pick up my reward there, sell the items I found on the quest, and loot a newly stocked offer.
This way, I could replenish my materials for little money each time, so I had more than enough supplies ready when crafting.
Due to the equipment you can find at every corner, you also have a permanent money source and don’t really have to worry about your finances.
Here you can see the various crafting materials and blueprints. 
There is something to collect at every corner.
Aside from the gameplay, you don’t get the impression that people are generally struggling for food. You see satisfied, well-nourished people everywhere pursuing their hobbies, dancing, or listening to the storyteller.
It doesn’t seem like food and drink are a problem, even if the issue of water scarcity is repeatedly mentioned. There is even beer, and you can find valuable strong drinks throughout the game world. The story also changes little about this impression, so there is a certain contradiction at play.
The survival mechanics of Dying Light 2 come across more as “survival light” and it seems as if this is exactly what was intended. The game doesn’t want to pull you into a permanent resource gathering loop.
Survival is easy – And that’s a good thing
This is why it’s the right decision: The focus of Dying Light 2 is more on the transition between day and night and the resulting loot runs.
At night, zombies leave their nests in the houses and stroll the streets. Additionally, dangerous variants venture outside.
However, you can enter GRE buildings to loot valuable equipment and inhibitors. The survival struggle in Dying Light 2 takes place more by sneaking through hordes of zombies and can quickly become quite critical if you’re overrun by a dozen zombies inside these buildings.
So it’s more the fights and the parkour system that make up the survival aspect than resource management and collecting frenzy. Additionally, if you set the difficulty to hard, these fights become significantly more challenging and adrenaline-pumping.
Thus, it is indeed correct that Dying Light 2 keeps its other mechanics so “relaxed”. Collecting resources and gear is very easy and takes little time, which you can then spend on other things like exploring the game world or nighttime prowls.
This creates a very pleasant flow and keeps it motivating to continue playing the game. This sets Dying Light 2 apart from many other survival games, which I rarely get attached to.
Conclusion: Dying Light 2 is mainly seen as a survival game due to its staging and surface. At its core, it is more of an RPG with some survival mechanics, but there is no real resource management or other classic survival elements.
For me, this is perfectly fine, and Dying Light 2 is a successful mix of action-adventure, RPG, and survival game. The individual elements have been mostly balanced well.
Only the grind that eventually shows up can be a bit annoying. However, it is manageable and not a real negative point. Due to the fun parkour and combat system, Dying Light 2 simply has a flow that is incredibly motivating. Therefore, it’s not problematic if you have to gather a bit longer sometimes.
Tarek Zehrer
Freelance author at MeinMMO
But what do you think about it? Would you have wished for a more challenging survival game? Or do you find it sufficient in this form?
If you have problems with orientation in the vast world of Dying Light 2, we recommend here an interactive map that helps you master quests and trophies
