The fans of Dying Light 2 keep discussing that the survival game is much easier than its predecessor. In particular, the night is simply no longer “scary.” Many of these whiners were previously too soft to even play at night.
One of the biggest topics in the Dying Light 2 community is the difficulty. There are ongoing discussions about whether the survival game is too easy and fans are wishing for harder difficulty levels.
Particularly, the night is criticized. In part 2, you walk the streets at night and have hardly anything to fear except for the lapse of immunity. The zombies are not particularly frightening, especially for the pros who have already mastered part 1.
Meme comparisons between the nights of the two parts or discussions on the general difficulty often appear on reddit:
Part 1 was so much scarier, to the point that you didn’t dare to leave the safe houses! So, how do you all know that everything was better back then, hmm?
Dying Light 2 encourages playing at night – And everyone was a scaredy-cat before
Is it really easier at night? Compared to before, yes. The night is indeed easier, especially since the difficulty of the enemies has generally been reduced. Zombies and human enemies die simply faster. Additionally, there are overly powerful skills in Dying Light 2.
In part 1, a careless movement or a loud noise could ensure that a horde became aware of you and tore you apart. But that was precisely the reason why many players simply stayed home at night.
Under the mockery thread on reddit, some players say: “I just always slept through the nights in Dying Light 1.” It was nearly “impossible” to survive at all. Therefore, many just skipped the night and thus missed more or less half of the game.
What is there to see at night? The difference between day and night in Dying Light 2 determines which places you can or should visit. During the day, zombies linger in the houses because they cannot tolerate sunlight.
This means that the streets are empty and you can walk around largely without danger. This way, you can more easily reach your quests or look for the secret safes with particularly strong loot.
At night, zombies flood outside and make the city more dangerous. However, this also brings unique opportunities and mechanics:
- previously occupied stores and other buildings with good loot are now emptier and easy to loot
- certain missions can only be completed at night
- however, your immunity decreases and you can only be outside for a limited time without UV light
- if volatiles spot you, the “hunt” begins and more and more zombies will stick to your heels
Dying Light 2 is more accessible and thus attracts many more players
That players no longer have to fear at night and thus miss out on almost half of the game is clearly well received. Alone on Steam, Dying Light 2 can boast almost 5 times as many players as part 1:
- Dying Light 2 has a peak of almost 275,000 players simultaneously (via steamcharts)
- for Dying Light 1, the record is just over 45,000 players (via steamcharts)
On average, nearly twice as many people are playing Dying Light 2 right now as the predecessor had in terms of simultaneous players at all. So the game must be doing something right.
So yes, even if Dying Light 2 is easier than part 1, it is clearly well received. Especially since the criticism of the too tough nights before has likely led to everything being easier today.
The demand for a new difficulty, the “Nightmare Mode,” is certainly justified. Those who want it harder should also be allowed to suffer. But there are already numerous updates and DLCs coming in the future that will expand the story and possibly bring new difficulty levels:
Dying Light 2 brings a ton of content after release – The roadmap and DLCs in overview
