Why Dying Light 2 isn't as scary as the original

Dying Light was a breakout hit that bucked the trend of zombie games over the last few generations. Although much bigger, its sequel is somehow less scary - but why?

[pietro1212]

Yeah, going out at night isn’t as tense as the first title, but I’m still having a blast playing it.

[camel_toad]

Agreed it's not but I remember that danger also meant I avoided night as much as possible. I think they traded fear for fun which is a fair trade I guess.

[brewin]

In think it's still pretty tense at times, especially early on. But you get so many tools and moves later in the game that you are able to escape, find shelter, and overcome the odds much easier than before. It's actually kind of refreshing to have a somewhat hopeful narrative rather than just dread all the time. More people have learned how to survive in the apocalypse so you see more safe zones and stuff like that all around.

[leemo19]

Beside the Volatiles not really being out at night, beside the chase, its the fact there's so many UV places now you go to at night or buildings in general that have some form of UV light to be safe from. Where in the first unless its a main safezone place or you had enough UV lanterns on you, you were very cautious at night. To me the problem is the over use of UV everywhere. They minimize those and only have main places with safezone with UV, night would be more like the first one.

[brewin]

It tells you why throughout the story. Basically, it's been like 15 years since the outbreaks so people have learned to live with it. It's actually a pretty realistic representation of how humanity would adjust to a zombie outbreak.

You just can't fully break the human spirit and this game totally nails that tone. I'm sure most people would give up, but there would always be pockets of people willing to fight for survival (and that of the human race) no matter what! I am really impressed with how your choices have a direct effect on the world around you. I've made some choices that have had a real emotional impact on me personally. Very few games have had that effect on my psyche.

[RickRoland]

Dying Light was just nearly impossible at night at times. I think it was more the dread of just expecting death rather than the scare factor itself. Plus the lighting system was just so poor that everything was pitch black without a flashlight. Dying Light 2 has a beautiful moonlit night time that allows you to see on the rooftops.... accidentally fall onto the street though and it's another story. The first dying light made most people just sleep off until daylight skipping half the experience.

Maybe Volatiles need to come out sooner when a chase is activated to keep up with intensity as you gain more parkour skills to easily evade. They dont show up til what chase level 3/4?

[Traecy]

I didn't think the first one was scary. To each their own.

[SeTTriP]

But its equal parts awesome

[Demetrius]

To me dying light isn’t really spooky like that but it does had its moments with those jump scares lmao it’s a dope game

[RavenWolfx]

Yahtzee/Zero Punctuation has a review on this that addressed it directly. When you have a glider and vents everywhere, even the fast zombies at night are no problem to leave behind.

[TchaikovskyP]

I liked the game. It would seem that such a hackneyed theme as zombies served very fresh.