Flashback: After the events of Dying Light, humanity was able to bring the Harran virus (THV) under control with difficulty, a plague that turns people into zombies. In the city of Harran itself, however, there were officially no survivors. A vaccine was developed and the global catastrophe was averted for the time being. However, contrary to all promises, GRE secretly continued to research the virus in order to acquire an expensive bioweapon. It came as it had to: a new, even more dangerous variant of THV was accidentally released, this time allowing the infection to spread very quickly and uncontrollably around the world, far too quickly to respond adequately. All containment measures were futile, the vast majority of people died or became undead.
It is now 2036, fifteen years after the great outbreak. The few survivors of this pandemic now live in small enclaves, only the fictional European city of Villedor is still inhabited to any significant degree as the last bastion of humanity. Due to the lack of technology, communication between the places is handled by the pilgrims, brave and/or desperate people who take on this highly dangerous task. We play Aiden - one of these pilgrims - who, driven by the desire to find his little sister, whom he still believes to be alive after all these years, gets stranded in Villedor. There, in order to get the information he needs, he must help the two major factions that govern the city. During the course of the story, decisions must be made that affect the relationship with these groups. While the survivors are rather free and indulge in a sort of anarchistic way of life, the paramilitary and hierarchical Peacekeepers see themselves as peacekeepers who strive for clear rules and insist that all inhabitants follow them. This can sometimes lead to conflicts. The end of the game depends on your alliances and decisions.

The game plays similarly to its predecessor and you should be in it quickly as an experienced player. You move through the two districts of Villedor with skillful parkour movements and defend yourself against all kinds of zombies as well as human enemies with melee weapons (swords, machetes, butts, etc.). Fighting with these has been significantly improved, for example, it is now possible to block enemy attacks and not just dodge them. Projectile weapons have been removed, but bows or a crossbow are available as long-range weapons. This loss doesn't hurt, loud noises like explosions or gunshots eventually attract the particularly aggressive infected, which are hard to get rid of without a fight. In addition, designs can again be used to make and use medicines, weapon mods, throwing knives or grenades. These blueprints can also be improved at master craftsmen in exchange for special resources and money, which is also necessary since, in contrast to the predecessor, the zombies are stronger in some parts of the city than in others, which makes it necessary to procure stronger and stronger weapons. These can also no longer be repaired specifically, which is only possible if you perform a modification.
However, there are also major deviations from the first game. Particularly strong special abilities like cloaking with entrails or immediately tearing loose have been removed, while crushing heads or breaking necks have been weakened. Also, the Spider-Man throwing hook has been replaced by a weaker throwing hook that can mainly be used for swinging. Parkour remains significantly more important as a result, even if the newly introduced glider saves the one or other tedious path, especially in Villedor's city center.
Threats have also changed. Due to the mutation of the THV, all zombies are now susceptible to UV light, which is why relatively few of them hang around outside during the day and hostile humans are your main problem. At night, however, the beasts dare to come out of hiding, including special mutants like the newly introduced Howlers, which attract infected people by screaming if you don't kill them in time. The dreaded, very powerful Shadowhunters of the first part still exist, but only appear in the so-called Dark Zones during the day or when the Howler level is high. This makes playing at night easier than before, since there are no Hunters on patrol that you have to constantly avoid, since few zombies can climb. There is one thing to note, however: Aiden gets infected at the beginning of the game and threatens to turn, only UV light suppresses this process. Therefore, in dark rooms or at night you have to watch out for a gauge that slowly empties and leads to death when completely drained. It can be replenished with medicine or by staying in sunlight or UV light in hiding places.
Oh yes: Climbing, swinging and gliding consumes stamina, this must be taken into account when climbing higher buildings.

As in DL, there is once again a leveling system to make Aiden stronger and more agile. On the one hand, there is the collecting of points to buy new combat and parkour skills, which you get by completing missions and collect while fighting or climbing. On the other hand, you have to increase the basic health and stamina values by collecting so-called inhibitors, which are distributed in boxes throughout the city and have to be looted. These are mainly found in quarantine zones, which, like abandoned stores, are especially suitable for visiting at night.

There are many more of these than in Part 1, especially more parkour challenges, but also quarantine zones and subway stations that you have to clear of enemies to unlock fast travel points. At the same time, you can get windmills working again, which the faction ruling the area in question will upgrade to a security camp with merchants. In most areas there is a water tower or substation, which you have to assign to one of the two factions after conquering it, thus acquiring advantages. The survivors make moving around the chosen district easier, the peacekeepers focus more on traps against enemies. Consider your choice carefully, it can't be changed.
Let's move on to the NPC side quests: some are quite nice and have a certain humor, while others are far too extensive or simply trivial. Certain clients have up to ten missions, which is a bit too much for me (for example, going to fetch books 10 times is really fun... not). Variety is there often not given, often has to get something somewhere or deliver messages. For me game time stretching, since there are not many main missions. You notice this when you ignore the optional tasks.

The graphics are very nice, the atmosphere fits perfectly in a post-apocalyptic world. Occasionally I come across bugs, for example some cabinets dissolved halfway when opened, this happens preferably in substations. Also, I could swear that the general controls were a bit "smoother" in the first part, but that could also be because Aiden has mastered more moves than Crane. On the whole, though, the game runs very well for me.

Dying Light 2 has become a solid game for me, which nevertheless remained somewhat below my expectations. Especially the story disappointed me personally, as it was the biggest point of criticism of the first part. Otherwise, the game offers a long playtime for the price and a lot of fun if you want to dedicate yourself to all tasks.