For those who have sunk dozens of hours into the thrilling story campaign of Dying Light 2: Stay Human and are approaching the finale, you may be wondering – what next? The great news is that yes, you can absolutely continue free roaming the expansive open world after the credits roll. There are still tons of side activities left to complete, challenges to overcome, and areas left unexplored.
What Changes After The Story
Once you finish the critical path story missions and view one of the multiple possible endings, Dying Light 2 will revert the world back to its state before the pivotal final chapters. This means any major narrative choices and their impacts will be undone.
For example, if you gave control of the Water Tower to one faction, after the story that region will revert back to being disputed. This allows players to wrap up any unfinished business that may have been affected by their endgame decisions.
So while you won‘t see the long-term consequences of your choices, the core open world and all activities within it remain available. Time to clean up any remaining side pursuits!
Satisfying Side Content To Keep You Busy
Beyond the 24+ hour critical path, Dying Light 2 has a staggering amount of optional content. According to lead designer Tymon Smektała, completing everything the game has to offer would take over 500 hours!
Some of the highlights include:
- 76 story missions across all narratives and factions
- Over 100 side quests with their own plot lines
- 500+ collectibles like notes, voicemails, and artifacts
- 58 hidden greystone treasure vaults with rare loot
- 37 challenges testing your skills in races, fights, and parkour
- Dozens of often massive landmarks to explore
And these numbers don‘t even include the countless hidden environmental puzzles and secrets. Suffice to say, completionists have their work cut out for them!
Enjoy The City However You Want
Dying Light 2‘s map is an astonishing 7 square kilometers in size. To put that into perspective, the sprawling city of Villedor is 50% larger than the landscape of the original Dying Light! You could easily spend hours just traversing the rooftops.
Not only is the world huge, but it‘s incredibly dense with content. Using the new Portal system, you can rapidly travel between checkpoints and key locations as you clean up activities.
Whether you want to focus on side quests, scavenge for loot, go hunting for collectibles, or just parkour around the city looking for stunning views, the choice is yours. The open world is your playground even after you‘ve left your mark on the city through the story.
Hone Your Skills For Endgame Challenges
Completing the main story is just the beginning. The most hardcore challenges await in the endgame, testing your parkour and combat abilities to the extreme.
The pinnacle is no doubt the new Dark Hollow – a quarantined cavern filled with the most lethal zombies ever created. Venturing deeper against ever more terrifying hordes will earn you the best rewards…if you can survive.
Maxing out your character by finding all inhibitors will grant you the strength and resilience needed to overcome these threats. And crafting a complete arsenal of upgraded gear certainly doesn‘t hurt either!
Connect Back To The Original Game
It‘s been over 7 years since the launch of the original Dying Light. Yet despite the gap, Dying Light 2 is very much a continuation of that formula – expanded and enhanced thanks to new technology.
In fact, some key characters cross over:
- Kyle Crane was the protagonist of the first game
- Brecken was a leader of the survivors in Harran
- Rahim was Kyle‘s ally who sacrificed himself
Dying Light 2 is even set in the same world, just decades later – 22 years after the fall of Harran.
So while you don‘t need any knowledge of the first game, long-time fans will enjoy the connections.
Critics Praise The Rewarding Open World
Reviews widely applaud Dying Light 2‘s massive open world and wealth of content. Critics at IGN called it "an amazing sequel that expands the parkour gameplay and open world with great success."
GameInformer praised the rewarding exploration and progression, stating players can "expect to be continually amazed at the skillset you can unlock if you choose to put in the hard yards the game happily provides."
So if seeing the credits roll has you worried the fun is over – fear not. The rich expansive city of Villedor is your playground, so enjoy it! Whether you just want to immerse yourself in the atmosphere post-story or test your skills against deadly new challenges, the adventure continues as long as you want it to.
