Combat is the be-all and end-all in a zombie game. You want to feel the rush as you fight through the undead; you want endless enjoyment – if the combat is subpar, it can bring down the whole experience. Dying Light 2 suffered such a fate, proving to be an issue for many members of the community, though there are some who see little to no issue with it, including Dying Light’s franchise director.
We recently caught up with Tymon Smektala for an interview in which we touched on the zombie game’s mechanics, citing how some players don’t find the combat quite so enjoyable in the 2022 sequel, to which Smektala says, “I don’t think it’s fair to say that combat in Dying Light 2: Stay Human wasn’t as fun – it was just different, [and] more focused on action.”
Numerous Reddit threads discuss the combat of Dying Light 2. Some appreciate the changes and the more streamlined feel, though many long for the features from the 2015 survival game.
A point of content is combat takedowns; removing those was quite surprising, not just to the good folks of Reddit but to myself as well. “Combat takedowns need to come back. Putting a zombie in a sleeper hold and shiving it in the guts gets old real quick,” says Redditor Chasemeyoupleb, while sampletext34 acknowledges there are some good things in Dying Light 2 but states, “We hate the downgrades.”
That Reddit thread is from shortly after the game came out in 2022, so do people still feel the same way? Fast forward to 2024, and another thread slating the combat arrives. Reddit user No_Worldliness_4562 asks, “Why did they remove a solid, dynamic combat system and replace it with more static combat and repetitive finishing moves?” It’s a fair question, with numerous people responding with their own disdain for the combat.
But we’re in 2025 now. Are there more recent thoughts? Yes, there are, as this post shows through a comparison between Dying Light 2 and Dead Island 2, with several people claiming that DI2 is better in terms of combat. However, DL2 clearly has its fans, especially as there’s a relatively new thread on Reddit where players insist Dying Light 2 is very much worth your time in 2025.
Whether you’re for or against Dying Light 2’s combat, changes are coming as Smektala tells us that the “combat in Dying Light: The Beast will be more difficult, brutal, physical, and – hopefully – more satisfying. We’ve improved weapon feedback, introduced more visceral finishing moves, and reworked enemy hit reactions to make every attack feel impactful.”
Furthermore, while Dying Light 2 feels more like an action game than anything else, Dying Light: The Beast is returning to the series routes, as Techland is “bringing back the survival feel, making combat more desperate and intense rather than purely action-oriented.”
Knowing this has me more excited than ever for the new horror game, so you can be sure I’ll be playing regardless of the Dying Light: The Beast platforms. Plus, DLTB features a flamethrower. We can finally burn through the undead. “I’m sure everyone will appreciate a flamethrower in a zombie game, right?” They definitely will.