Dying Light 2 Stay Human is a big open-world game packed with systems and challenges that aren’t always terribly well explained. This is the type of game where it’s quite easy to overlook things and get off to a less-than-optimal start if you don’t go in informed, but thankfully, we’re here to make sure you have a good time. Get the lowdown on the day/night cycle, which skills to grab, upgrading blueprints, and more! Grab your UV flashlight, and let’s dive in…
Don’t be afraid of the dark
Like its predecessor, Dying Light 2 features a day/night system, in which the streets are significantly less packed with the undead during the day. This may lead some new players to avoid exploring at night, but you’re actually hampering your progress pretty significantly if you do. While the streets fill up with infected at night, the various Dark Zones and other places they hide out during the day actually clear out, and this is where you’ll find the large majority of the game’s best rewards. There’s also nice little Combat and Parkour XP bonuses for doing stuff at night.
And really, there’s not that much reason to be afraid of the dark – so long as you stay on the rooftops and clear of the Howlers that will alert the hordes to your presence (these are helpfully marked by an icon, making them easy to avoid) you’ll be fine. You do have be mindful of your dwindling immunity at night, but as long as you keep some UV Shrooms and Immunity Boosters on hand, it isn’t a huge concern. Basically, if you feel like you’re progressing too slowly and you never have enough resources, chances are you’re not going out at night enough.
Always grab Inhibitors
While you can upgrade your character by collecting XP and unlocking new skills, almost as important are Inhibitors. These collectibles are found in special crates and are the only way to upgrade your health, stamina, and immunity. The game will beep and provide you with a little radar when you’re near an Inhibitor crate, so they’re usually not too hard to find, and almost always worth pursuing. Oh, and in classic Breath of the Wild style, it’s best focus on upgrading your stamina before your health (I generally purchased two stamina upgrades for every one health).
Save your money for the Craftmasters
In addition to XP and Inhibitors, Dying Light 2 also rewards you with good old fashioned cash. There are a wide array of merchants available to spend that cash on, but you’re going to want to save most of it for the Craftmasters. You can’t repair weapons once they’ve broken in Dying Light 2, so spending money on them is ultimately a waste, and you can get decent gear just by exploring. Craftmasters, on the other hand, can improve your tools like the paraglider and grappling hook and will sell you blueprints so you can craft consumables and weapon mods. Each of these blueprints can be levelled up numerous times, making the Craftmasters arguably as important as unlocking skills and finding Inhibitors when it comes to boosting your capabilities. Oh, and applying mods is the only way to extend the durability of weapons, so if you’ve found something you really like, the Craftmaster is the key to keeping it longer.
Activate the Windmills and Metro Stations first
Dying Light 2 is packed with plenty of side missions, collectibles, and other activities to pursue, but probably the first thing you’re going to want to do once you have some freedom is unlock the Windmills and Metro Stations. Activating a Windmill is a simple matter of climbing to the top and flipping a switch and provides you with outpost where you can escape the infected, sleep, store items, and perhaps do some shopping. Metro Stations have to be cleared of enemies at night to be activated, but once you do, you get a handy-dandy fast-travel point. The combination of Windmills and Metro Stations makes getting around the map, particularly at night, much easier, allowing you to focus on more lucrative activities rather than just commuting.
Focus on these Skill upgrades
Dying Light 2 has pared down its skill trees somewhat, so that there’s now only two – one focused on combat and one on parkour. That said, there are still enough options contained within both that you might be a bit intimidated. Thankfully, the trees are designed in such a way that you have a fair amount of freedom to choose what you want. Here’s a few upgrades you should focus on early…
Combat
- Perfect Dodge – Dodge at the right moment to stagger your enemy. This is more useful than the similar Perfect Parry skill as there are some enemies that can’t be parried, but all can be dodged.
- Grapple – If you’re having trouble with parries and dodges, Grapple essentially allows you to toss around pretty much any approaching regular enemy with wanton abandon. Amp the move up even further with the Grapple Throw skill.
- Dropkick - The almighty Dropkick returns, more unbalanced than ever! Break through pretty much any defense and send enemies flying like you’re Randy Savage.
Parkour
- Active Landing – Survive high falls. Level it up further with Safe Landing.
- Firm Grip – Allows you to grip onto surfaces more tightly, and gives you one last desperation jump even when you’ve run out of stamina.
- Far Jump – One of the easier skills to overlook, but don’t do it. Allows you to spring off obstacles as you’re free running. This skill is the key to moving quickly and stringing together those really fluid XP-rewarding parkour runs. Level it up further with Double Jump.
- Dart/Dash – Allows you to sprint, which is obviously important in a game about running from zombies.
Side with the Survivors
Dying Light 2 allows you to assign regions to either the Peacekeeper or Survivor factions, which will result in some changes to the map. While you should feel free to go with your heart, the fact is, the Survivors install much better improvements than the Peacekeepers. While the Peacekeepers install various defenses against infected (of sometimes questionable usefulness), the Survivors give you ziplines and other improvements that make Parkour easier. In terms of utility, one side is obviously better than the other.
And there you have it. A few tips that should make surviving Techland’s horror-parkour playground a little easier. Feel free to share any tips of your own below as you play through the game! Dying Light 2 Stay Human is available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. You can check out Wccftech’s full review of the game here.
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