Dying Light 2 is one of the most anticipated games on Steam – What makes it so special?

The upcoming survival game Dying Light 2 is already attracting more players on Steam than almost any other upcoming game. But why are over a quarter of a million players waiting for it? MeinMMO explains what is behind the fascination.

What is this game anyway? Dying Light 2 is the second part of the series, which tells a survival horror story. A virus has wiped out almost all of humanity and turned it into zombies. A classic end-time setting.

You play an infected who has not yet transformed. This gives you superhuman powers, which you now use to help the survivors. Like the first part, Dying Light 2 is also based on obstacle courses, combat and, above all, a lot of story.

You can read my first impression of the game in the preview: In Dying Light 2 you have to make difficult decisions all the time, but that’s exactly what fascinated me

How many people are waiting for Dying Light 2? The game is currently the 2nd most wanted game on Steam (via SteamDB). Throughout 2021, Dying Light 2 was #1 until it was replaced by the Elden Ring in early 2022.

Exactly how many players want it, we can’t say. But at least 270,000 people are “following” the game on Steam alone, meaning they want to be kept up to date with the latest info. The wish list entries should be even more, especially since Dying Light 2 also appears on other platforms.

Where does the interest come from? Despite such a huge mass of gamers being interested in the game, many gamers don’t quite understand where the interest is coming from – especially in Germany.

This is partly due to the fact that the first part ended up on the index here, so it wasn’t just for sale. Part 2 is also only released in cut form in Germany. Nevertheless, the game was able to build a large fan base. It comes from the unique approach to the genre.

Survive without a fight – Dying Light’s unique system

This is what makes Dying Light 2 so special: Survival games are usually about surviving and most representatives of the genre rely on combat and weapons. From improvised knives to swords to modern firearms, you can find everything here.

You can also fight in Dying Light, but there the system serves more as a “last resort”. The safer way is always to flee. In addition, the game has a unique, distinctive parcours feature:

• Like Assassin’s Creed, you’ll climb walls and cross streets in the air.
• House roofs are not just shortcuts, but your frequently used paths. Especially at night when the zombies wake up.
• With rope slides and fall cushions improvised from garbage bags, you ensure reasonably safe and fast movement on the breakneck course.

In Dying Light 2 you will even be rewarded for parcours and you can spend skill points to get better. If you support the game’s factions, they will build even more ways for you to get through the city safely.

Depending on the faction you choose, you get more traps that you can use against zombies or more zip lines or fall cushions.

Unlike other survival games, exploration in Dying Light is not just a feature, but necessary for survival. Only if you know the city well can you take safe escape routes from zombie hordes.

Is there only a course? No, in addition to the fast-paced racing passages, Dying Light 2 also uses a combat system. With homemade melee weapons and a single gun you can heat up opponents.

Sometimes literally, because mods can be used to further customize your hatchets and machetes. As with the course, there are also different skills for the fight. However, the environment is also important here.

Dying Light 2 has a “contextual combat system”. This means you can use nearby walls or cars to throw your opponents at them or push yourself off them. At least in theory – I was too stupid to do this during the test.

In any case, Dying Light 2 is fully based on its world. It’s not just another feature, it’s a tool you can use and interact with. This adds depth to the entire game world while emphasizing that humanity has reached a point where it must fight to survive by any means necessary.

Incidentally, we spoke in the new MeinMMO podcast with editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski, editor-in-chief Gerd Schuhmann and myself as a survival expert, among other things, about Dying Light other … shooters.

Release in February 2022, content for 5 years

When and where will Dying Light 2 be released? Dying Light 2 will be released on Friday, February 4th, 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. The Switch version will be slightly delayed, but is said to be delivered “within 6 months”.

You can play Dying Light 2 alone or in co-op with up to 4 players. At least there is no crossplay at release and you have to pay attention to the version. The cut (German) and uncut versions cannot play together.

How is this continuing? For the time after the release, the developers have already announced that they want to deliver new content by 2027. It will probably mainly be DLCs, although some events are already known.

Some of the DLCs appear just a few days after release, others months later. At what intervals exactly the new content will be submitted later, we cannot say yet. At least for the beginning there is already a roadmap:

Dying Light 2 brings massive content after release – the roadmap and DLCs at a glance