Video Game / Dying Light 2 Stay Human

The New Age is Coming.

"Take heed and bear witness, for this is the news of the last city standing."

— Herald

Dying Light 2 Stay Human is a Zombie Apocalypse Survival Horror First-Person Shooter developed and published by Techland. It is a sequel to the 2015 game Dying Light.

The Virus has won, and most of humanity has regressed to a pre-industrial dark age. The last holdout of modern civilization is Villedor, a massive city located in Europe that maintains some semblance of modern society. Set 22 years after the events of the first game, Dying Light 2 players step into the shoes of a new protagonist, a wanderer named Aiden Caldwell, who has come to Villedor in search of his missing sister.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human was first announced in 2018 and was originally slated for a 2020 release. However, in January 2020, the developers announced that the game would be delayed and would not come out in 2020, nor did they give an updated release window. A few months later, a new release date of December 7th, 2021 was announced, but the game would later be delayed again to February 4th, 2022.

A tie-in Comic Book Dying Light Stories From The Dying City was released as a Prequel.

Promotional Materials:

• Reveal Trailer
• Cinematic Trailer
• Gameplay Trailer

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Dying Light 2 Stay Human provides examples of the following tropes:

• Achilles' Heel: The infected are weakened and burned by UV light, be it natural sunlight, or artificial flashlights. Even the mighty Volatile will recoil in fear when exposed to UV light.
• After the End: Most of the world has completely collapsed and regressed to the Dark Ages.
• All for Nothing: Choosing to save Lawan in the Last-Second Ending Choice ends like this. Aiden's mutation acts up while saving her, causing enough chaos for the missiles to launch. The city is severely damaged and at the end Aiden has to leave because his state is still getting worse. Worse yet, if Aiden chooses to save Mia instead, Lawan successfully destroys the missiles and if Hakon is still alive she survives anyway.
• All There in the Manual: Much of what happened between the events of the two main games is told through scattered archives or side-material.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Hostages are completely immune to damage while they're tied up, so as not to be killed by wandering biters or a plaguebearer's gas. This means that you can just huck a molotov right at them and the flames will kill the hostage takers while leaving the hostage unscathed.
  • When dismantling gear, you have to hold the dismantle button longer for rarer gear, just to be sure you don't accidentally dismantle a strong item you wanna use later.
  • The April 2024 update added gear loadouts, so no having to equip items one by one if you wanna fight a different way.
• Apocalypse How: Planetary Scale, Societal Collapse. According to the trailers, Global society has completely collapsed with a rare few holdouts. A monitor in X13 towards the end reveals that 4.7 billion people are dead and 3 billion are ravenous infected.
• The Apunkalypse: Downplayed. Most people tend to wear a mix of stitched rags and patched-up clothing from before the Fall, while many weapons were clearly improvised from scavenged debris. The Renegades, however, play it more straight, with their armor and leathery attire almost straight out of Mad Max. They even speak with ridiculous gargling and/or screeching voices very much like goons from Mad Max or Fist of the North Star.
• Army of Thieves and Whores:
  • The Renegades are largely comprised of thugs, criminals, and the generally deranged, further exacerbated by the enhancements given to them by Waltz. There are, however, some who were actual military in the past, including the Colonel.
  • The various bandits plaguing parts of Villedor, by comparison, are nothing more than petty thugs either going after their fellow man out of desperation, or with delusions of grandeur. Only without the muscle or organization to be more than a local nuisance.
• Asshole Victim: By all accounts, Commander Lucas, whose death kicks off the main conflict of Old Villedor, was a murderous thug who was directly responsible for the needless deaths of multiple innocent people due to his trigger happy nature. Even several Peacekeepers will admit he got what was coming to him and they're only investigating his murder due to both protocol and that the killer could target them next.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • The Boomstick, the one usable firearm prior to the firearms update, is a juryrigged shotgun that's capable of both wiping out enemies with ease and pushing stronger foes back, buying you time to escape or finish them off. Catch is, the blueprint for it shows up towards the lategame in your initial playthrough. Moreover, it can only fire two rounds before breaking without upgrades, though this is compensated by being relatively cheap to craft.
  • Aiden's infected form. When in this state he's essentially unkillable, immune to infection, and can One-Hit Kill anything he attacks. On the other hand it's also slowly killing him and Aiden makes it clear that he can just barely control himself while in this state.
• Axe-Crazy: Most of the Renegades are violently insane due to taking drugs that enhance their physical capabilities.
• Badass Boast: In one sidequest Aiden is accosted by a group of bandits. When they try to extort him he claims that it's 3-on-1 and he likes those odds. When two more show up and the bandit leader tells him to count again he drops this gem if you choose to fight:
  Aiden: I counted. Five corpses.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist is Waltz, a scientist turned warlord who possesses Super-Strength and who has ties to Aiden's past.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Juan and the Colonel can both wind up running Villedor if the Renegades emerge victorious.
• Bittersweet Ending: The best ending counts. If the player does everything right then almost no one is killed in the missile strike, the Survivors manage to unite the city into a more peaceful state, and Aiden accomplishes his goal of finding Mia. However, Mia’s so weak that she dies just a couple of hours after their reunion and Aiden is forced to leave the city due to his infection. If Lawan survives and has a strong enough attachment to him, however, she chooses to join him at the end.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: Neither the Survivors or the Peacekeepers are saints but they're both far less evil than the Axe-Crazy Renegades. Their ending is by far the worst one. The Survivors are treated as the Golden Ending while the Peacekeepers are more bittersweet, showing them hang four civilians who stole water including a child, but still keeping order. The Renegades, on the other hand, announce that forty people died in one night while the Renegades hoard food and water for themselves.
• Boring, but Practical: Molotovs return from the first game and are just as if not more powerful than before. They don't create noise to draw in viral swarms (unless they catch a propane tank or other explosive in the fire puddle), can deal tremendous damage over time and stun both zombie (even Volatiles will spend some time panicking while lit ablaze) and human enemies alike by causing them to flail about, allowing you to follow up with melee, ranged or other item attacks. When fully upgraded, a single molotov is able to wipe out an entire group of hostiles no questions asked. And they're still very cheap to craft.
  • Throwing Knives are even cheaper to craft, requiring only scraps and rags which can be found en mass in forsaken stores or bought in bulk from shopkeepers/craftmasters. They can easily stunlock any enemy and can be flung out at a very rapid pace, enough to keep several enemies at bay. Their ranged nature means you can use them in stealth against Howlers or Bandit camps. They also don't cost any stamina to use, so if you run out of stamina in a melee battle, backing up and chucking these out can buy you some space to regenerate stamina. At the end of the day it's just some metal being thrown, nothing flashy compared to, say, improvised grenades or straight up C4 explosives, but they are a very reliable backup weapon to have on hand.
• Breakable Weapons: Weapons and most gear will break over time, requiring you to either repair them, craft new ones, or pilfer them from foes.
• Brick Joke: At the beginning of the game, Spike and Aiden have a few beers in an abandoned house. Unfortunately, they're flat. At the end of the game, Spike walks into the Fish Eye Bar and orders a beer, "But only if it's not flat."
• But Now I Must Go: Regardless of the ending, Aiden leaves the city due to his infection and returns to the open road. If Lawan survives she can go with him. In some circumstances Hakon can take her place instead.
• Celebrity Survivor: In-universe. The Herald, Villedor's main source of news, used to be the editor-in-chief of VNC News before the Fall. It's implied that he never quite got over the loss of his media empire, especially when he now literally lives in the shadow of his old workplace.
• Character Development: Aiden goes through this, partially controlled by dialogue choices. At the beginning he only cares about finding his sister and makes it clear he doesn't care about any of the factions if they can't help him. Once he makes it to the City Center and interacts with Lawan, however, he shows a more empathic side and begins to care about the people of Villedor. He can choose to give the signal tower to Frank even if it means losing Jack Matt's or Juan's promise of helping him find his sister. He's also distraught when the GRE key breaks in the ending because it means the death of most everyone inside Villedor. At the end he can even choose to save Lawan over Mia, which the bartender in the epilogue comments on.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Averted in the first area where Aiden can leave allies to focus on his own goal and refuse sidequests. Played Straight once the player reaches the Center where Aiden will immediately offer help to people in distress without the option to refuse or even ask for payment beforehand.
• Continuity Nod: Spike, Dr. Zere's bodyguard from the first game, appears in the tutorial as Aiden's Pilgrim mentor, having somehow managed to survive Harran and eventually escape. He also appears in the game's epilogue, no matter which ending the player chooses.
• Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: Downplayed somewhat but it applies to Crane and Aiden. The former got involved because he was tricked into thinking that Rais releasing the virus data would hurt thousands and he often prioritizes the needs of others over himself. Aiden is driven by a personal goal (finding his sister), and while he is capable of helping others he makes it very clear that finding his sibling trumps any arguments or conflicts the locals get into.
• Cool Old Guy:
  • He might not look it, but Spike should be in his early 70's at this point (even in the first game it was remarked how Spike was Older Than They Look). He nonetheless seems to be in top shape and can still run, parkour, and fight with the best of them.
  • Many of the veterans who were alive before the apocalypse also count. Characters like Hakon and Frank have to be at least in their 40's given that they mention being adults and part of special forces before the world ended.
• Cozy Catastrophe: In the initial years after the Fall, life in Villedor was very much this. An influx of refugees, viral outbreaks, botched attempts at containing/exploiting them, and civil war, however, ultimately turned a genuine beacon of civilization into the decrepit, barely functional mess that Aiden winds up in.
• Crapsack World:
  • Villedor itself, at least by the time Aiden steps into the picture. Even putting aside the brewing conflict between the Survivors, Peacekeepers, and Renegades, living from day to day is a constant struggle. Meanwhile, the safest parts of Villedor tend to be in makeshift homes built atop rooftops and skyscrapers that are difficult to reach. And if you're not within range of a UV lamp come sundown, your chances of survival drop dramatically.
  • What's seen of the outside world is even worse. While Villedor has some semblance of modern civilization and functioning infrastructure in spite of its circumstances, the rest of humanity seems to have regressed into a new Dark Age, with scattered communities barely subsisting on the detritus of the old world.
• Crazy-Prepared: Deconstructed with X13. With all the functional equipment, as well as the supplies and materiel being stored, it's clear that GRE also intended to use it as a shelter for its VIPs to wait out the ensuing apocalypse. The pandemic, however, went out of control far too quickly before they could evacuate there.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Noticeably averted; the game's backstory indicates the global pandemic started in 2021, several years after the Harran Incident, after a sample of the virus escaped from a GRE research facility. This avoids conclusively establishing whether Crane either nuked Harran or turned into a Volatile and escaped the quarantine zone. Even the presence of Spike doesn't conclusively indicate anything one way or the other, as the "Spike's Story: Last Call" event for Dying Light shows Spike leading a large group of survivors to escape the city shortly before the events of The Following. The closest thing we get to a cohesive answer is the fact that Spike mentions early on that he wishes Crane could have seen the world as it is, meaning he is thought dead, but that does not imply anything about how such an event happened or if it is even true. On the other hand, it is mentioned that Harran had been wiped off the map during the first outbreak, though whether it was caused by Crane or by someone else remains ambiguous to this day.
• Cutscene Incompetence: Aiden tends to get sucker punched a lot in cutscenes leading up to fights, which has already caused some jokes among players. Another case is during the second meeting with Waltz where he just stands around while Waltz kills Aitor and his squad and barely defends himself when he's the last one left.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Depending on certain choices the player makes, the budding feelings between Aiden and Lawan can go nowhere with him leaving alone in one ending because of his degenerating condition. This can be averted by making various choices such as sparing Hakon and choosing certain dialogue during the "Shoes" quest. In this case Lawan leaves with him.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Killing or parkouring during a chase. At the start of a chase, you will be swarmed by Virals constantly, but any exp earned is doubled. At a max level chase, you will be swarmed by Volatiles instead, but any exp earned is quintupled. And to actually cash in on the bonus exp, you need to survive the night or skip to morning at a safe zone.
• Drugs Are Bad: The Renegades are bar none the most dangerous and violent faction in large part due to their soldiers taking physical enhancement drugs. Aiden even derisively calls them Juicers in one mission.
• Early Game Hell: Similar to the first game in this regard. At the beginning the player has low health and stamina, crappy weapons, and skills that seem outright necessary such as Active Landing or even the ability to sprint. They also lack access to ranged weapons and traversal gadgets such as the paraglider. As the game goes on and the players get more skills and items the difficulty drops steeply.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: There's a very specific path you have to take in order for the Renegades to take over Villedor, under the Colonel's rule. Mainly, requiring Aiden to not only get on Juan and Williams' good side, but also follow their orders to the letter.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • When Aiden first stumbles in the Bazaar they immediately decide to lynch him due to his infection with some taking obvious sadistic glee in it. After being rescued by his first ally and returning barely a day later he has no issues doing quests for the people there apart from some early snarky comments.
  • The only way to progress in the first major act of the game is to take sides with either the Survivors of the Bazaar or Peacekeepers, which draws many lines in the sand. But Old Villedor is completely cut off from the main center of town, including communications, so whichever side you went against in Old Town doesn't know about (or care) what you did.
  • Zig-zagged with Aitor. Even if the player betrays him he'll treat them like a friend if he's saved and even give them the special brass knuckles he searched for as a gift. Could be justified in that Aiden did choose to save his life despite knowing that he could out him as a traitor so he figures they're even.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Aiden's infection worsens at the final stage to the point that he continously turns into a feral state. In gameplay terms this means he can One-Hit Kill every single enemy with a single swipe, up to and including Volatiles.
• Elite Zombie: A new host of nasty zombies are present within the game world. This includes:
  • The Banshee: Dying Light's crossbreed between Left 4 Dead's Hunter and the Volatile. Fast-moving and leaps about, even using other zombies as stepping stones.
  • The Howler: a zombie that attracts others through howling.
  • The Revenant: A zombie that buffs other zombies by emitting a cloud of gas around itself, and keeps reviving more as reinforcements.
  • Drowners show up at the endgame provided you don't trust The Colonel. They're essentially an even tougher suicide bomber zombies who have to be taken out at range. Attacking them in melee will always lead to them exploding against the player.
• Empowered Badass Normal:
  • As revealed in the intro, Aiden and his sister were experimented on by the GRE and as a result Aiden is stronger, faster and more durable than the average person. He can also use Inhibitors to increase his health and stamina with other characters noting that said drugs have a decent fatality rate, making Aiden's casual usage all the more noteworthy.
  • The antagonist, Waltz, benefits from a more advanced form of the augmentations Aiden has (due to being the scientist who developed them in the first place), giving him strength on par with advanced infected like the Volatiles. In his second scene he absolutely demolishes Aitor and his squad with Aiden falling not long after.
  • Aiden's main ally Lawan was similarly experimented on and also shows enhanced abilities, particularly her deadly accuracy with a crossbow and the speed at which she and Aiden escape a berserk Waltz.
• Enemy Civil War: It's revealed that the Renegades have one between those following Waltz and the ones still loyal to the Colonel, with the latter somewhat more disciplined than the former. And depending on Aiden's choices, this could also happen to the Peacekeepers.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Colonel does have a name, Chris Williams. Most everyone, however, just calls him either that, or "The Butcher."
• Evolving Title Screen: Well, loading screen, but whenever you continue a saved game, it will display the relevant area for where you are at the story (i.e, starting out you get images of Old Villedor, once you unlock Central loop, it shows images of its skyscrapers)
• Face Death with Dignity: The long-dead inhabitants of first house Aiden visits evidently spent their last days partying away, opting to go out on their own terms.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Played With. Partly as a consequence of Villedor being locked down early on during the pandemic, as well as the civil war that wracked the city in the past, firearms are almost entirely absent. Most instead make do with melee weapons and crossbows. That said, some such as the Colonel are shown carrying functional guns, while Aiden can eventually craft a powerful makeshift shotgun by the lategame called the Boomstick.
• Fallen Hero: Jack Matt's obsession with revenge leads him to betray Frank and attempt to trick Aiden into killing the Colonel.
• False Flag Operation: If Frank survives his poisoned arrow attack in the finale, Lawan learns that the "Renegades" that attacked him were actually Peacekeepers in disguise, as a means by Jack Matt to instigate direct war with the Colonel.
• Fetch Quest: The Carriers side quest chain is an inverted series of these. Rather than collecting plot coupons, you're delivering them.
• Foreshadowing: When Waltz and Auden first cross paths and he realizes Aiden's identity, he does not seem angry or amused, but rather genuinely shocked at his survival. This is because they once promised each other to stick together, and had been working to cure Mia, with Waltz being, if not benevolent, at least less volatile than originally implied.
• Former Regime Personnel:
  • The Peacekeepers were founded by soldiers and other military remnants, making them the closest thing Villedor has to a professional fighting force. The Colonel, and at least some of Renegades, are also revealed to be former military personnel.
  • Hakon mentions how he served in the special forces before being discharged and ending up a cab driver in Villedor, just in time for the pandemic.
• Future Imperfect: Downplayed, but it's already begun to take root thanks to the collapse of modern civilization. Aiden in particular only has a vague recollection of what life's like before the Fall, and finds certain old world relics genuinely puzzling.
• Gambit Pileup/Spanner in the Works: Aiden's arrival in Villedor throws the city's entire power balance into chaos, as his status as an independent Pilgrim means he has no stake in the success of any faction, thus making him a wild card. This causes all of the major factions to try and find ways to court Aiden's favor while using him to backstab the other factions, which are trying to do the exact same thing.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: If Aiden expresses reluctance when fighting Hakon in the church, paving the way to being merciful to him, he will be defeated at a higher health threshold rather than at 0% health, signifying that he is Not Quite Dead.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Even when Aiden expresses reluctance in fighting Hakon and allowing him to be spared later on he is still affected by Ludicrous Gibs when defeated, inexplicably recovering when he confronts you at the church's exit.
  • Aiden is often blindsided or treated as far more vulnerable in cutscenes than he is in gameplay despite being an Empowered Badass Normal One-Man Army.
  • Later tiers of headgear completely cover Aiden's face. Despite that characters have no problem recognizing him and he can do things like eat or drink without removing it.
  • Waltz takes the GRE key right before the start of the endgame missions. The player's still free to run around using it to open GRE locks to gather items. Doubles as an example of Acceptable Breaks from Reality since the alternative would be depriving players of useful items such as Inhibitors and Military Tech.
• Great Offscreen War: In addition to the Fall, there's a civil war that wracked Villedor sometime around 2025 in the backstory. Its legacy can still be seen in the dissolution of the Nightrunners and the city's decrepit state, as well as the tense situation between the Peacekeepers, Renegades, and everyone else caught in between.
• Godzilla Threshold: In a last-ditch attempt to contain the pandemic, the authorities and GRE resorted to launching missile strikes and even chemical weapons on the very people they claimed to be saving. The reason why Villedor escaped that fate was because the warheads intended for it were never launched, until X13's activation restarts the protocol.
• Golden Ending: Choosing to spare Hakon, give the Survivors control of the VNC tower, save Jack instead of pursuing the Renegade assassins who poisoned him, trust the Colonel and save Mia over Lawan leads to the best outcome. Aiden manages to say goodbye to Mia despite only having two hours to spend with her, Villedor prospers with food clinics being open, the Nightrunners come back as an organization, and Hakon redeems himself by saving Lawan. While Aiden is still forced to leave the city Lawan goes with him and he's still remembered as a hero who saved them all.
• Gray-and-Gray Morality: The Survivors vs the Peacekeepers. The former just want to survive and live their lives as a relatively tight-knit community but can be ruthless, selfish and outright spiteful to others around them. Meanwhile the Peacekeepers are draconian and aren't above things like torture and hangings for rulebreakers but most members do actually want to help others and put Villedor into some degree of order. The Survivors also have Barney as their leader's second in command while the Peacekeepers have Aitor.
• Harder Than Hard: The April 2024 update added Nightmare mode. Here, your stamina and HUD are more limited, boosters are less potent, your flashlight flickers, and there's a fifth chase level. But it also comes with...
  • Hard Mode Perks: In Nightmare mode, you have a 5x XP multiplier, higher drop rates for legendary weapons, and beating it gets you a unique skin: Waltz.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Aiden, and Pilgrims in general, have a bad reputation for vague reasons, mostly alluding to rumors that all of them are thieves and murderers. This is averted the more missions Aiden does, however, with some NPC chatter even saying that he's one of them now because of how much time he's spent there.
• Had to Be Sharp: Most everyone still alive has to be this out of necessity, even more so for Pilgrims.
• Hidden Elf Village: Subverted with Villedor. The city is seen as the last bastion of modern civilization, was spared from the devastation seen elsewhere, and had been fully functional in its initial couple years. 15 years after the Fall, however, its streets and darkened corridors are filled with infected. Conflict, meanwhile, is simmering between the various factions, with everyone else caught in the middle. Even then, however, it's still comparatively safer than the wastelands around it. Cillian, a former Nightrunner, lampshades this by bluntly telling Aiden that the city is no Garden of Eden.
• History Repeats: The intro reveals that even though GRE managed to beat the Harran disease by manufacturing a cure, they still went on working with the virus despite claiming to shut their research down. As result, when the modified virus strain broke free out of its containment, it became unstoppable and proceeded to ravage the whole planet instead of a single city.
• Humble Hero: Despite being a One-Man Army who near-singlehandedly starts reclaiming territories of the city in order to restore water and power, Aiden never brags or even seems to care if people know he's the one who did it. Even when passing by NPC's wondering aloud who's responsible he never says anything.
• I Did What I Had to Do:
  • The Colonel is shown to not really condone much of what the Renegades do. He believes, however, that they're a means to an end with regards to ensuring the greater good of human civilization. This also extends to the lengths he made to prevent Villedor's destruction, even it meant being reviled by the survivors.
  • Hakon seemingly defects to Waltz, but only so as Lawan could stay alive.
• Idiot Ball: As stated above the whole setting of the game came about because GRE couldn't leave well enough alone despite seeing the Harran virus practically decimate a city that was barely contained in the first game. But as usual, military gotta military and try to make a weapon out of it. They not only make a new variant but lose control of it entirely, resulting in the world going to crap. It's even worse in the tie-in comic interquel, where it's revealed that a major reason why things in Villedor went downhill was because of a corrupt military commander releasing the "unfinished" cure and sending half the city either to their deaths or into the swelling ranks of infected zombies, just for a quick buck.
  • After Waltz makes his first appearance and easily takes down several well armed peacekeepers and Aiden himself, Aiden follows Waltz to an abandoned car factory by himself. This one is perhaps a Justified Trope given his obsession with Waltz, meaning he cares more about finding him than his own survival.
• Immune to Flinching: Volatiles are VERY resistant to being stunned outside of UV lights. When a dropkick would cause nearly any other enemy to get heavily staggered or outright flying away, it barely even shoves a Volatile. A heavy melee attack if it connects with an enemy will make them stagger around in pain. A connected heavy melee attack against a volatile just makes it madder. Even fire which normally causes enemies to flail about in a panic until it's snuffed out only momentarily stops a Volatile before it pounces on you.
• Implied Love Interest: Lawan. While she and Aiden never have any overt signs of affection the two grow extremely close to one another and can have moments of emotional intimacy and vulneralibility. In the best ending she also chooses to leave the city with him despite the danger that it entails.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Most characters are apparently modeled after their voice actors. This is most apparent in the case of Lawan, played by Rosario Dawson. A notable exception is Hakon, who is listed as having a separate voice actor and facial model.
• Infinity -1 Sword: The Crossbow, which can be accessible early on if you align with the Peacekeepers. Semi-automatic, with decent range, different upgrades, and plentiful ammo, it can make short work of zombies and human opponents alike before you can even close in for the kill.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The fittingly named Boomstick, at least in your initial playthrough. Though it can only fire two shots before breaking, it underscores how powerful guns can be in a landscape where most have to make do with bows and melee weapons.
• Interface Spoiler: If you use survivor sense at the Plague Witch's place, you'll notice that she herself is green, aka friendly, but her "bodyguard" is red◊, aka hostile.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Aiden (20 years old) is friends with Spike (60's to 70's) and forms a friendly mentor-student relationship with Hakon (implied to be in his 40's at least) once he arrives at the city.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: The game establishes early on that Waltz is your ultimate adversary, however he's currently working for Colonel Williams, a tyrant who controls the Renegades and fills a similar role as Rais did in the original game. Subverted, as Waltz is only barely working with the Colonel, and by the time Aiden meets the latter, Waltz has supplanted him entirely as the antagonist.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Unlike Crane's Nice Guy, Aiden leans more towards this, at least in the beginning. Whether he focuses more on the jerk or heart of gold part can depend on certain dialogue and action choices. He can, for example, sympathize with a young man forced to send others to die due to his brother being held hostage and even talk him out of committing suicide later out of guilt. Or he can offer No Sympathy and tell him he plans to tell the community leader what he did, causing said young man to die when he fights Aiden in a panic to keep his brother safe.
• Killing Your Alternate Self: In the Tolga and Fatin update, Aiden meets his self from an alternate dimension who decides to purge the entire timeline in order to get rid of the infection. If Aiden disagrees with him and then fights him to the death, then he manages to kill not just the alternate Aiden, but several Aidens from other timelines, as well.
• Large Ham Radio: The Herald runs and voices the closest thing Villedor has to one, giving an almost preacher-like flair to his delivery. Given that he used to run VNC News, however, it's almost likely deliberate.
• Last of Its Kind: Villedor was one of 20 cities quarantined early into the pandemic. 15 years after the Fall, it's the last beacon of modern civilization as far as anyone knows, with its isolation ironically sparing it from the devastation that ravaged the rest of the planet. The real reason, however, is because the warheads intended for it were never launched.
• Le Parkour: Parkour mechanics return from the first game. The justification being that Aiden as a Pilgrim naturally needed to learn how to traverse rough terrain while all the physically capable people in the city needed to learn how to move across the rooftops to avoid the roving band of infected at street level.
• Meet the New Boss: If the Renegades emerge victorious with the Colonel at the helm, they end up instituting their own version of what the Peacekeepers considered "order." With Williams going so far as to recreate the PKs in his image.
• Multiple Endings:
  • The game has multiple endings depending on which of the 3 factions you bring to power, as well as whether or not certain major characters lived or died due to your actions. While there are many variations, the main outcomes of the ending are whether the Peacekeepers or the Survivors control Villedor (or if the Renegades take power through your inaction), and whether or not Lawan was able to destroy the nukes before they could destroy Villedor, and if she did, if she survives doing so. Of the three faction endings (assuming Villedor isn't destroyed), the Survivor ending is unambiguously the "good" ending, as the Peacekeepers will execute anyone who break any of their draconian rules, and while the Renegade's Colonel turns out to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist he's still a hated tyrant leading an army of thugs who hoard the food and water for his own faction.
  • The Tolga and Fatin update also presents two, similar to The Following from the first game: you either agree with alternate universe Aiden and purge the whole plane of existence in order to get rid of the virus, or refuse and kill him, saving the prime timeline and earning a congratulatory letter upon return, along wtih several new bonuses.
• Mythology Gag: Aiden can find an LP of "Who Do You Voodoo" in the first house you have the chance to loot.
  • There's also a very well-hidden blueprint for a new version of the "left hand of Glova" secret weapon from Dead Island, which lets you send enemies flying by pointing your finger.
• Nerves of Steel: While Aiden panics at times, in general he’s rarely ever fazed by anything. Even when surrounded by multiple people who threaten to kill him his first response is to snark or threaten them right back.
• Nice Guy: Aiden becomes this at the second half of the game. Sidequests often start with him offering help without asking for anything in return and he can make truly selfless choices such as giving the VNC tower to Frank even if it means losing one of his best leads to find Mia. Waltz even comments on it, saying that Aiden was always noble and kind even as a child.
• Noble Demon: As seemingly far gone as the Colonel is, at no point does Williams actually try to harm Aiden or Lawan unless directly provoked. He's shown as well to be much more stable than his erstwhile Renegade underlings, and a man of his word.
• Not Blood Siblings: The late game reveal shows that Mia is Waltz's daughter. Given that Waltz only ever refers to Mia as his child and not Aiden this means that Aiden and Mia are unlikely to be related. Further hinted by the fact that Aiden is five and says Mia is his younger sister but a photo of her birthday shows her as five as well, meaning they're the same age. Aiden himself doesn't really react to this revelation, however, due to the harsh stakes by the end, and is more shocked by his memory of promising to stick with Waltz instead of with Mia.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: As Aiden makes clear early on, he has absolutely no stake in the conflict between the Survivors and the Peacekeepers and only cares in as much as they can help him find his sister. When Sophie tries to ask for his help in the war he bluntly tells her he doesn't care what happens to either side.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Aiden's initial thoughts on the Peacekeepers bring up how they seem little different from the petty warlords in the wastelands beyond Villedor.
  Aiden: On the trail, I met a lotta tough guys who talked about...the 'new order'. It always seemed like the same old shit to me.
  Hakon: Yep, it's like that here too. And the PKs are getting worse.
• Once More, with Clarity: In the final mission, Aiden's flashbacks come into much greater clarity, revealing Mia is Waltz's daughter, and he had promised Waltz, not Mia, that they would stick together.
• One Bullet Left: Not literally, but justified. While Villedor had apparently long run out of ammo, the Colonel saved a few rounds for his pistol. One bullet in particular's intended for Waltz, though it's implied that the remainder are meant for himself and his wife if it comes down to it.
• One-Man Army:
  • Just like Crane before him, Aiden becomes this at higher levels. In the middle and later stages of the game the player will fight entire squads of heavily armed enemies and come out on top. This is commented on by at least a few people who express disbelief, shock or admiration when they see Aiden's capabilities.
  • Other enhanced people such as Lawan and Waltz are also shown to be this. The latter in particular takes down a squad of Peacekeepers unarmed in his second scene and even manages to defeat Aiden.
• One World Order: With nations and governments around the world crumbling amidst the Fall, there was an attempt to establish a "Council of Humanity" in Villedor. This didn't last long, however, before the military stepped in, setting the stage for the civil war that ensued in 2025.
• Optional Sexual Encounter: Completing the book recovery sidequest ends with Thalia inviting Aiden to her room where, dependent on player choices, they can spend the night together. It doesn't go farther than that since Thalia knows Aiden has his own goals and he can't stay with her.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The zombies are, in general, much more sensitive to sunlight and UV light than even in the first Dying Light game (due to it being a different variant of the virus). Various sub-types exist such as the mega-powerful Volatiles, the fast-moving Virals, the "living alarm bell" howlers, and the massive Goons.
• Ragnarök Proofing:
  • 15 years on from the pandemic, Villedor has clearly seen better days, bristling with dilapidated buildings (a good deal of which have trees growing on them) and overgrown roads. On the other hand, there's still a lot of relatively intact infrastructure thanks in part to the locals doing their best to maintain what they can and Villedor escaping the missile strikes that destroyed several other cities in a failed attempt to stop the virus.
  • X13 plays it straight. Largely intact and for the most part operational, GRE purposefully built it, and by extension the rest of its equipment, to last. Unfortunately for its VIPs, however, the pandemic got to them first before they could evacuate, leaving the complex abandoned.
• Rare Candy: Salvaging Inhibitors from GRE medical crates is the only way to increase your Health and Stamina totals, which caps most of your skills. The fact that they often kill normal people is one of the reasons they're still in fresh supply around the city, albeit in caches.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: Despite the moniker, the Renegades aren't this. Instead, it's the Peacekeepers who are this, having broken off from the military forces under the Colonel's command during Villedor's civil war.
• The Reveal: Aiden's promise to "always stick together" wasn't made to Mia, but to Waltz, who wished to protect his research, which in consequence would save Mia from her condition. The reason why he believed it was made to Mia is because he was too young to clearly remember those moments.
• Ruritania: Downplayed with Villedor. While not very stereotypical, the city has a lot of Romanian, Hungarian and German influences in its overall aesthetic, with some French and Dutch-style structures in for good measure.
• Sadistic Choice: Apart from a few the player's forced to make, Aiden faces one in the ending. Waltz took the GRE key to save Mia but in doing so caused a failsafe to launch missiles at Villedor. If Aiden takes it back he can save the city but Mia will definitely die from her condition. In the end he chooses the city, with Mia's acceptance, but Waltz accidentally knocks the key to a vat of chemicals which destroys it. From there he can choose to save Mia and let Lawan die or save Lawan at the cost of Mia and the most of Villedor.
• Sanity Meter: Aiden has to continually check his immunity and infection level, which could be remedied by UV lamps and sunlight, among others. Let that infection go too far, however, and he'll develop a zombie-like gait, as well as increasingly sound like a Volatile until eventually turning.
• Schizo Tech: The Crossbow used by the Peacekeepers is a repurposed gun, complete with a red dot sight, modified to fire bolts that are loaded in through magazine clips. Meanwhile, one of the melee weapons available is a warhammer comprised of an empty pistol strapped to a long pipe.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you kill multiple bandits in a group quickly, the last bandit may decide to drop his weapon and run away instead of risking combat with you.
• Sequel Hook:
  • The Peacekeepers' HQ, the Missy, is a grounded relief ship with valuable supplies that was seized in the civil war of 2025. This heavily implies that there were, and possibly still are, outposts of civilization aside from Villedor out there.
  • Even long after all the ammunition had seemingly run out, there are persistent rumors of hidden weapons caches full of guns and bullets somewhere around the city, which turns out to have been foreshadowing the firearms update.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story:
  • Aiden’s search for Mia will never go well. Even if he saves her she’s so weak that she dies just 2 hours after her rescue, meaning his 15 year journey amounts to almost nothing.
  • Villedor's existence since the Fall counts. At first, it was initially a genuine success story, living up to being the last bastion of civilization. Civil war, a viral outbreak, and an attempt at remedying it Gone Horribly Wrong, however, resulted in its degeneration into its decrepit state by the time the game's set. Depending on Aiden's actions, it can either be averted, or played completely straight,
• Shout-Out: Just like the previous entry, there's a multitude of references in this game that also doubles as Easter Eggs.
  • While scaling the cliffs in the Prologue, if you have a keen eye and look in the distance. You can see a corpse hanging from a palm tree. An reference to the logo of Techland's other zombie game Dead Island.
  • In one of the missions, you meet up with a dying sole survivor of a squad that got ambushed by Volatiles. Said survivor's name? Leon. Not only does he sport the same hairstyle] as Leon Kennedy, but he mentions a fellow squadmate named Chris who he states to have punched his way through the volatiles. If that wasn't enough, if you actually get to meet up and kill the zombified Chris, you can take the dog tags off of his body and find out his full name. Which happens to be "Chris Redfield".
  • When you meet the "Liquidator" in one of the tall skyscrapers, he gifts you a briefcase that holds blueprints that allow you to craft a strange weapon called the "Cyberhand 2077", which is not only an obvious reference to Cyberpunk 2077 but the weapons themselves are based on the iconic Mantis Blades.
  • Another Easter Egg involves being transported to a replica of E1M1 from the first Doom game and having to blaze through the level with a sawn-off winchester-like shotgun, just like one of the primary weapons of the aforementioned game.
  • In addition, you can obtain a special blueprint that will allow you to Force Choke your enemies for a brief amount of time.
  • At one point, Lawan tells Aidan that "this is the way." Since Lawan is voiced by Rosario Dawson, it's hard not to see this as a deliberate reference to The Mandalorian.
• Shown Their Work: When the missiles hit one of the skyscrapers after Aiden accidentally kills Veronika and you have him go through the dust cloud by either foot or by paragliding to get back to the Peacekepper's HQ, his immunity level starts ticking down due to the thick dust cloud obscuring sunlight.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: The Colonel notably wears a still-pristine military officer's uniform and a loaded pistol under his rugged trenchcoat, evidently from his service before the Fall.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Some humans never learn from their past mistakes no matter what happens. The intro states that GRE was able to finally cure the THV and keep it stored in their labs - and yet despite promising to stop their research, they still opted to work on modifying it for military purposes. It was only a matter of time before the second, far more devastating outbreak would occur. To make it worse, the Harran tragedy experience provided little to no help at all because the second strain was completely different and far deadlier.
  • After dashing backwards three times in a row, Aiden will trip, something that would happen to anyone because dizziness would get to them quick.
  • The devastation wrought by both the botched attempt to contain a second outbreak within the city and the subsequent civil war in the backstory do a good job explaining why Villedor is practically running on fumes at its current state. Despite the Nightrunners' best efforts, it's difficult to maintain high standards of living and sophisticated tech when a good deal of people are dead (or infected zombies), ammunition is seemingly all but nonexistent, and the means to support the necessary infrastructure have largely been blown up or abandoned.
  • Related to the above, guns have almost been completely supplanted by blade and club weapons following 15 years into the apocalypse. The main reason is that all ammunition (at least in Villedor) has run out and crafting bullets has become impractical. Most survivors are using melee weapons, bows or crossbows for being extremely versatile, quiet to use and easy to craft. The closest substitute for a firearm you can make, the Boomstick, eventually breaks apart after several shots due to being not as durable as the professionally manufactured firearms.
  • In all endings where Mia is rescued from the X13 facility, she eventually dies merely two hours afterwards. Having been experimented on through over a decade in a remote place would leave anyone's organism virtually unsuitable for life in the outside world.
  • If the Colonel comes to power and takes over Villedor, the Renegades will have to deal with constant riots from citizens due to keeping most of provision to himself and his army. While the Colonel did save the City by delaying the nukes launch before the events of the game, many people still think of him as The Dreaded Colonel Killgore. No matter how sympathetic Williams may be, he is still presented as a Hero with Bad Publicity at best. And if Juan is still alive, then he will crack under the pressure and lock up in his hideout because not even he was ready to deal with consequences of the takeover.
• Used Future: Villedor initially averted this trope in its early years, with fully-functional infrastructure, a stable technological base and an environment safe enough for people to live comfortably. A combination of an unintended viral outbreak, civil war, and an attempt at mass-vaccinating half the city with a modified viral strain Gone Horribly Wrong led to near-complete collapse. By the time Aiden arrives, it's just barely functional, running on fumes and whatever could be scavenged or patched up.
• Variable Mix: When you are just milling about, only ambience plays. However, when you start parkouring across rooftops, music begins to play. The longer you go, the more the music picks up. Jumping across large gaps or falling great heights causes the music playing to distort for a bit until you land.
  • The chase music also ramps up, starting tense and fast pace with level 1 being accompanied by the screams of virals. When the chase reaches level 4, the music is "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" levels of frantic, and is accompanied by the howls of volatiles instead of virals.
• Villainous Breakdown: If Frank survives his assassination attempt, Jack Matt is reduced to ranting for the Peacekeepers to attack the Nightrunners as he is removed from command, as they refuse to attack civilians.
• Walking the Earth: The Pilgrims. Wandering messengers and couriers connecting the various scattered communities, they're seen as the only ones brave and crazy enough to travel the abandoned highways. Aiden returns to doing this by the ending no matter which one the player gets.
• Weakened by the Light: The zombies of Dying Light are more like vampires. Aside from the brainless "biter" types, all of them hide during the day (and the biters who do stumble about in the light are visibly smoking.) Which is a mechanic in the game since Aiden cannot spend too much time in the dark lest he turn into a zombie. Justified, since the virus seen here was modified by the GRE and is a bit different from the one that had devastated Harran.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • The Peacekeepers in general are shown to genuinely believe that their increasingly draconian measures are necessary for the survival of human civilization, and they don't particularly relish in it. If they emerge victorious, they succeed in bringing order and safety to Villedor...but at tremendous cost.
  • Unlike the more thuggish Renegades, the Colonel seems to truly believe that his efforts are not just in the name of saving the people of Villedor as he did when he called off the warheads meant for the city amidst the Fall, but for the greater good of all mankind.
  • Waltz himself, despite his monstrous behaviors, is trying to save the life of Mia, his daughter, and needs the GRE key to save her life.
• Wham Line: A twofer from Waltz before the final battle.
  Waltz: "Whatever happens, we have to stick together." You didn’t promise her, you promised me. […] I would never hurt my own child. Mia is my daughter. You knew that.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After the final mission, the tensions between the three factions can potentially remain unresolved, as the game can end with Frank, Jack Matt, Juan and the Colonel all left alive. Apart from which faction controls the city, the inevitable faction wars are never referred to.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Some bandits will pretend to be hostages, only for them and two nearby hiding buddies to attack you.
• You Have Researched Breathing: Shortly after the intro, Aiden is bit by a Volatile and his health and stamina take a major hit that is only restored by repeated uses of Inhibitor injections. His ability to jump and climb become severely depleted as a result and he has to re-learn all his old moves from before. (His default running speed is equivalent to Crane's sprint from the first game, but the real, stamina-draining sprint, requires a lot of dedicated point investment).
• Your Days Are Numbered: Everyone in Villedor wears "Bio-Markers," wrist-mounted displays that track how long an infected person has before they turn, which is to say just about everyone in the city. Unlike the virus in the first game, however, the disease doesn’t progress as long as the infected person has access to UV light whether from natural sunlight or lamps, meaning there’s no need for drugs like Antazin to curb infection. All the zombies in the game have visibly red bio-markers on their wrists.
• Zero-Effort Boss: At the final stage of Waltz's boss fight, Aiden is at the peak of his infection. Apart from a brief chase, nothing Waltz can do matters: Aiden's infection meter won't rise, he won't take damage even if hit, and his swipes will drain Waltz's health in just a few hits.
• Zombie Apocalypse: Has escalated from a single city to the entire world.

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Herald: People of Villedor, one hour until dusk. Return to your homes. Good night and good luck.